Mixing Colours

Colour isn’t something I think about too much, my priority is to work through my stash the best I can.   It is made up of donations and charity packs that I pick up whenever they’re available, so I don’t have much say in the colour choices.

 

We saw my getting into colour darning last time

 And I did once purchase a pack of cottons only for their colour appeal

I dived straight in to making some squares, curious about how random combinations would turn out.  I do have a taste for eclectic and bright colours all mixing together.  This lovely sample from Le Monde de Sucrette

So this is how some of my squarish squares came together

Another basic which I’d never really ventured into till now was variegated yarn.  This is what I had in my stash

I set out to make some blanket squares, this yarn being especially soft.  What a pleasant surprise it was to see the colours all weaving themselves together!

And I was even more delighted by the way I kept getting different squares.  I can’t tell you how much fun this was!

So I am definitely a new convert to variegated yarn.   Here are some gloves from Etsy – I had bought them because I liked the colours, without having given much thought to the fact that they were simply made with a nice variegated colour combination.

OK in the meantime I made 2 new crochet hat patterns in Indigenous colours – so beautifully bold.  A chunky dc rib crochet beanie.  

It was interesting improvising the mix and match colour edging.   

The pattern (single colour only) can be found on Ravelry here (US terms).  

I also made a summer slouchy beanie with plenty of ‘holes’ which is great for the warmer weather, the pattern here.

So I’ve had adventures with cotton colours, variegated yarn and a couple of new patterns.  Here is a little indulgence from a brill ethical shop, Darn Good Yarn:  recycled silk, handwoven hemp, and newspaper yarn.  The possibilities await.... 

Proud Colours and Improvisations

My latest pieces are for organisations calling for things to be made in colours of Indigenous Australia.   I really enjoyed making these and feeling the strength coming from them. Symbolic colours have an amazing, wonderful power.

There were a few new exercises I set for myself with this project:  getting a straight treble-row square right (I’ve never quite managed to keep edges straight), trying a mitre square pattern, and making my first hat.

The hat was a nice easy pattern I found on Ravelry for a simple beret.  It was quite ok doing increases and decreases, the only thing I could say was that I found it a bit boring going round and round – I think I prefer centre starting squares because then at least you have the variety of corners!

Now one of the things I naughtily like to do in crochet is cheat.  Improvisation is part of my working style and it’s great when you invent a solution out of thin air, and crochet is great for that!  I reckon most probably unpick mistakes, which I do sometimes.  But most of the time I’m too reckless for that.  It means I have to then go back and try to salvage the work, like I did with my thrifty square.

So when I looked at my finished beret I thought it might look nice with an extra row of black.  I mucked in and made up a stitch weaving in and out of the already existing work.  This probably has a proper name and all, but in my inexperienced world, this is what I made up.

 

My first mitre turned out a bit wonky.  I didn’t really go back and check I’d followed the pattern right at the beginning corner, I just kept going.  Well the price I paid was an uneven square.

I managed to fix it by adding on and taking off a little here and there.   Against the rules but it worked!

And here is my square in straight treble rows.  Only I didn’t cast on (can that term be used for crochet??) enough so it turned out to be a rectangle.  Somehow I still didn’t master the edges that well.   

So I meddled with it some more, adding edges until it grew to the size specification.  

I actually like this one the best.  I find these pieces far more individual and quirky than others, more akin to a darn than a square sitting in a stack.  I hope it brings something lively to a blanket of standard squares.

One day if I take on amigurumi, I will get caught out badly.   But that’s ok because I’m never going to make anything that twee - yet.