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Dec

25

CROCHET DESIGNER. COULD YOU BE ONE?

December 25, 2007 |

So, do you want to be able to design your own crochet? I ran across a couple of sites that will be helpful in this endeavor. There are also any number of books that can make this process clearer and less painful. Check these out and see if you find some help here:

smart-crochet.jpg

http://www.smart-knit-crocheting.com/index.html

The smart-knit-crocheting site has a wealth of information, including how to properly measure a body for good fitting garments, stitch guides, and other helpful information. The picture above is just one of the garments that can be designed using this site owner’s techniques.

This site:
http://www.wikihow.com/Special:LSearch?fulltext=Search&search=CROCHET

offers much very practical advice about crochet in general, including such basics as how to hold your hook and how to repair crochet. While this is not exactly designing information, it is quite useful for reference.

Of course, all design begins with basics. What stitch will best suit the shaping you have in mind? What stitch works best with the yarn you chose? What yarn and hook work best together? Should you work in DK, worsted weight, or sport weight.

http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa052398.htm

crochet.about.com contains a wealth of information that will keep you moving forward. Good stitch guides are a great reference.

http://www.nexstitch.com/Tutorials.html is another site that will be quite useful as a reference for stitches. There is also a lot of eye candy on this site to jump start our own design endeavors. Every stitch is described and comes with a video for greater clarity.

Of course, the humble granny square remains a mainstay of crochet design for everything from sweaters and dresses to rugs and afghans. Here’s a great blog that will inspire you to get busy with granny squares:

purl-bee-granny.jpg
http://www.purlbee.com/

I don’t really consider myself to be a crochet designer - but I do tend to use patterns as starting points for my crochet. I have designed any number of small items. You probably have too. My friend Donna Jo routinely crochets a chain to fit her waist, then works up or down to create a skirt or sweater. She rarely uses a pattern and creates wonderful garments - that fit - out of her own head. Another friend, Ronnie (the Queen of Crochet Interpretation), also sees patters as mere suggestions for her crochet. Once she has an idea, she runs with it and completes numerous projects each month. I call her the Queen of Crochet because I have yet to find a pattern that she cannot figure out or a stitch pattern that she cannot duplicate. I take all my crochet problems to her.

So, if you are inspired to do a bit of designing with your crochet, don’t hesitate. With few exceptions, we are able to frog our failures, hoard our gauge swatches to create finished objects from them, or change the project in midstream (say from an afghan to a scarf) if things are not proceeding well.

So, go crochet something - something of your own design.

Visit again soon when I review another batch of wonderful crochet blogs that I’ve run across. The creativity of crocheters never ceases to amaze me!

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