Creative Crochet Lace: A Freeform Look at Classic Crochet
By Myra Wood
Woodworks Editions 2008
This is a real breakthrough book by Myra Wood that develops her special perspective on freeform crochet. For those seeking to go beyond scrumbling, Myra offers five alternative freeform techniques she calls Funky Filet, Doodle Lace, Tossed Salad, Wild Irish Crochet and Organic Lace Scrumbling.
Funky Filet offers a stitch count formula which allows you to line up blocks of filet and fill them in any number of ways you like. Doodle Lace is a clever and simple method of creating freeform lace in one large piece, and Myra’s Peacock Path, a Doodle Lace cape, is stunning. With the Tossed Salad technique, Myra introduces “lace logic,” a method for changing stitch patterns at will whike keeping the edges of your work even. Wild Irish is a modern approach to traditional Irish Crochet, making it adaptable to the yarns of today and far less painstaking to execute. Finally, Organic Lace Scrumbling shows how scrumbling with openwork stitches is quite different from “traditional freeform” (if one can use such a term). This last technique appears to be the most spontaneous, and Myra has several awesome examples,including Beauty in Bloom, a long duster, September Blush, a tunic, and Sweet Romance, a blouse.
There is some lovely inspirational writing in the book as well, as in this passage:
Everyone has the abiity to unleash his or her own creative side. While you are
crocheting, take it one stitch at a time and reserve any judgment about what you are
doing. The first steps are only the beginning, and each piece grown into a splendidly
woven fabric the more you work on it.
Wish I could follow this advice more myself!
I was fascinated to read that Myra’s freeform methods are underpinned by structured and sturdy mechanisms: the dress form and templates. It’s the backbone of freeform, vital to achieving the intended effect, especially in the hands of an artist like Myra. Myra self-published this beautiful book, and shows herself as adept at book-making as she is at crochet.
By Myra Wood
Woodworks Editions 2008
This is a real breakthrough book by Myra Wood that develops her special perspective on freeform crochet. For those seeking to go beyond scrumbling, Myra offers five alternative freeform techniques she calls Funky Filet, Doodle Lace, Tossed Salad, Wild Irish Crochet and Organic Lace Scrumbling.
Funky Filet offers a stitch count formula which allows you to line up blocks of filet and fill them in any number of ways you like. Doodle Lace is a clever and simple method of creating freeform lace in one large piece, and Myra’s Peacock Path, a Doodle Lace cape, is stunning. With the Tossed Salad technique, Myra introduces “lace logic,” a method for changing stitch patterns at will whike keeping the edges of your work even. Wild Irish is a modern approach to traditional Irish Crochet, making it adaptable to the yarns of today and far less painstaking to execute. Finally, Organic Lace Scrumbling shows how scrumbling with openwork stitches is quite different from “traditional freeform” (if one can use such a term). This last technique appears to be the most spontaneous, and Myra has several awesome examples,including Beauty in Bloom, a long duster, September Blush, a tunic, and Sweet Romance, a blouse.
There is some lovely inspirational writing in the book as well, as in this passage:
Everyone has the abiity to unleash his or her own creative side. While you are
crocheting, take it one stitch at a time and reserve any judgment about what you are
doing. The first steps are only the beginning, and each piece grown into a splendidly
woven fabric the more you work on it.
Wish I could follow this advice more myself!
I was fascinated to read that Myra’s freeform methods are underpinned by structured and sturdy mechanisms: the dress form and templates. It’s the backbone of freeform, vital to achieving the intended effect, especially in the hands of an artist like Myra. Myra self-published this beautiful book, and shows herself as adept at book-making as she is at crochet.
CLEAR SOME SHELF SPACE FOR THESE
NEW BOOKS
Dora Ohrenstein
NEW BOOKS
Dora Ohrenstein
Crochet on the Edge and Single Crochet from A to Z
by Belinda “Bendy” Carter
Annie’s Attic
Crochet on thge Edge is an amazing resource of ideas with potential far beyond edgings. Bendy is among the most prolific, knowledgeable and gifted crochet designers working today. There are over 140 edgings shown, organized around these headings: Lace, Floral, Ribs, Beads, Sculpture, Fringe, Points and Ruffles. These are not the edgings one has seen in many a collection, but rather a terrific array of Bendy’s original notions.
The floral section includes flowers of applique, tacked down loops, post stitches, and embroidery. The ribbing section is rich in dimensional effects, including a variety of cables. 3-D crochet is taken even further in the sculpture section, with such items as Chevron Weave, Woven Spike Stitch, Hollow Coils, and a granny square look achieved entirely with surface crochet. Each of these takes a traditional technique and develops it into something unique and decorative. The fertility of this woman’s imagination is impressive. There are also several full-scale projects in the book.
Bendy has also given us a volume called Single Crochet from A to Z, a book of blocks, each featuring a different technique. I have to admit that I am not a lover of single crochet stitches, but this book is changing my mind. With blocks of Intarsia, Jacquard, loop stitches, slip stitch crochet, spike stitches, and more, it’s another virtuosic display of creativity and technique.
These books teach much more than how to do the specific technique shown. They show a mindset that approaches crochet as a tool for making fiber do whatever you want it to.
by Belinda “Bendy” Carter
Annie’s Attic
Crochet on thge Edge is an amazing resource of ideas with potential far beyond edgings. Bendy is among the most prolific, knowledgeable and gifted crochet designers working today. There are over 140 edgings shown, organized around these headings: Lace, Floral, Ribs, Beads, Sculpture, Fringe, Points and Ruffles. These are not the edgings one has seen in many a collection, but rather a terrific array of Bendy’s original notions.
The floral section includes flowers of applique, tacked down loops, post stitches, and embroidery. The ribbing section is rich in dimensional effects, including a variety of cables. 3-D crochet is taken even further in the sculpture section, with such items as Chevron Weave, Woven Spike Stitch, Hollow Coils, and a granny square look achieved entirely with surface crochet. Each of these takes a traditional technique and develops it into something unique and decorative. The fertility of this woman’s imagination is impressive. There are also several full-scale projects in the book.
Bendy has also given us a volume called Single Crochet from A to Z, a book of blocks, each featuring a different technique. I have to admit that I am not a lover of single crochet stitches, but this book is changing my mind. With blocks of Intarsia, Jacquard, loop stitches, slip stitch crochet, spike stitches, and more, it’s another virtuosic display of creativity and technique.
These books teach much more than how to do the specific technique shown. They show a mindset that approaches crochet as a tool for making fiber do whatever you want it to.
Surface Works
by Jenny Dowde
Millner Craft Series
Another volume just bursting with creativity and innovation is Jenny Dowde’s Surface Works, aimed at both knitters and crocheters. It’s 200 pages can keep you going for a long time to come. Jenny introduces a myriad of techniques with which to embellish knit or crochet fabric, most of her own invention. Many offer a way of using small amounts of fancy yarn to add pizazz to a piece. For example, her “fluffle stitch” is more interesting than surface crochet chains, in two ways: you add the surface yarn as you crochet your main piece, and the stitch makes the yarn not quite ruffle, but “fluffle.” There are sections on textured stitches, braids and cords, collage, and arty bits, the latter two showing many inventive ways to incorporate fabric, buttons, wire, beads, embroidery, and even paper clips into designs. All this is in the first half of the book. The second half is devoted to projects: 7 bags, 6 hats and scarves, 4 cushions, 2 shawls, 9 jewelry pieces and 7 tops. Whew! Jenny’s sensibility is different from what I see in American designs, more playful and casual. She uses basic underlying forms overlayed with ornaments that are sometimes very artistic, sometimes whacky, and often both at once. It’s a refreshing and inspirational approach from this marvelous Australian designer.
by Jenny Dowde
Millner Craft Series
Another volume just bursting with creativity and innovation is Jenny Dowde’s Surface Works, aimed at both knitters and crocheters. It’s 200 pages can keep you going for a long time to come. Jenny introduces a myriad of techniques with which to embellish knit or crochet fabric, most of her own invention. Many offer a way of using small amounts of fancy yarn to add pizazz to a piece. For example, her “fluffle stitch” is more interesting than surface crochet chains, in two ways: you add the surface yarn as you crochet your main piece, and the stitch makes the yarn not quite ruffle, but “fluffle.” There are sections on textured stitches, braids and cords, collage, and arty bits, the latter two showing many inventive ways to incorporate fabric, buttons, wire, beads, embroidery, and even paper clips into designs. All this is in the first half of the book. The second half is devoted to projects: 7 bags, 6 hats and scarves, 4 cushions, 2 shawls, 9 jewelry pieces and 7 tops. Whew! Jenny’s sensibility is different from what I see in American designs, more playful and casual. She uses basic underlying forms overlayed with ornaments that are sometimes very artistic, sometimes whacky, and often both at once. It’s a refreshing and inspirational approach from this marvelous Australian designer.
Textured Crochet
by Helen Jordan
Quarto Publishing
The upsurge in demand for crochet books has made it possible for many talented fiber artists to present their imaginative revision of crochet traditions. In Textured Crochet, Helen Jordan explores dimension, organizing her work around several “families” of stitches, including Irish-style, post stitches, long trebles, Aran-style, and several more. Within these are subsections, where she has “taken an idea and ‘played’ with it, coaxing out all its' variations in order to introduce you to different techniques and their possibilities. She has indeed coaxed to excellent effect. One subsection called “Wedges” uses stitches of graduated heights as post stitches to create lovely looks I’ve not seen before. Another called “Curlicues” has all kinds of fabulous creatures emerging from a background. Many common stitches like bobbles and puffs appear in several sections, so that ideas double back and expand even further. Other favorites of mine are “Faux Bullions,” and “Stylized Ripples.” There are no projects in the book, which is fine by me as it encourages one to meet the challenge of creating a project of one’s own. Recently I’ve been playing with cables myself, and was pleased to see Helen fooling with similar ideas and getting very different results than mine. Crochet is endless, isn’t it?
by Helen Jordan
Quarto Publishing
The upsurge in demand for crochet books has made it possible for many talented fiber artists to present their imaginative revision of crochet traditions. In Textured Crochet, Helen Jordan explores dimension, organizing her work around several “families” of stitches, including Irish-style, post stitches, long trebles, Aran-style, and several more. Within these are subsections, where she has “taken an idea and ‘played’ with it, coaxing out all its' variations in order to introduce you to different techniques and their possibilities. She has indeed coaxed to excellent effect. One subsection called “Wedges” uses stitches of graduated heights as post stitches to create lovely looks I’ve not seen before. Another called “Curlicues” has all kinds of fabulous creatures emerging from a background. Many common stitches like bobbles and puffs appear in several sections, so that ideas double back and expand even further. Other favorites of mine are “Faux Bullions,” and “Stylized Ripples.” There are no projects in the book, which is fine by me as it encourages one to meet the challenge of creating a project of one’s own. Recently I’ve been playing with cables myself, and was pleased to see Helen fooling with similar ideas and getting very different results than mine. Crochet is endless, isn’t it?
