spirals

I’ve been thinking about spirals. As an ancient symbol, spirals often represent the sun, eternity, and our connection to the universe. We see them in whirlpools of water, tornadoes and waterspouts, hurricanes, snails and seashells, fiddlehead ferns, DNA, and the shape of galaxies. From tiny to enormous, spirals are all around us, maybe that’s what makes them so compelling. I’m drawn to them in jewelry, embroidery, prints on fabric and paper, art, seashells, and they are probably my very favorite motif to crochet. They’re often the first motif I make for a freeform project, and sometimes they are the primary motif.

It’s fairly easy to learn how to make a spiral motif, and once you have the technique, you can use spirals to practice or try out almost anything.

For instance, if you’re a new-ish crocheter who would like to be more comfortable and easy with the craft, crochet a lot of spirals. Don’t worry if you make mistakes, just keep crocheting and keep them in a pile. They’re small, and they’re fun. After the pile starts to grow, you’ll start to see your own growth as a crocheter. Have you just learned a new stitch, say, half double crochet? Make a half double crochet spiral (substitute half doubles for double crochets in the spiral pattern). Spirals can be made from any stitch. Are you obsessed with puff stitches? Make a spiral with puff stitches sprinkled in, or make it with nothing but puff stitches. Keep extra yarn and hooks in your craft bag so you’ll have them on hand to experiment with spirals whenever you have a few minutes. You’ll end up thinking of lots of ways to play with them.

In fact, once you understand how to make a spiral, you automatically understand a whole lot about manipulating a freeform fabric. If you’re freeforming by working stitches directly onto your fabric (I call this adding borders, and most of the freeform piece in the photo above was made this way), it’s crucial to be able to work freely while keeping the fabric laying flat. My Spiral Baubles pattern explains how to do this. Getting some practice on crocheting this way is a big confidence and skill builder for freeform crocheters.

The Spiral Baubles pattern is published in my Freeform Yarny Things newsletter. It’s actually a pattern that uses two spirals to make an ornament or a luggage tag, but you can use the instructions for the first spiral alone to learn how to make the motif. The newsletter is free, and you can subscribe at Substack to get all future newsletters in your email inbox. Past issues are easy to read on the website, and you’ll find the spiral pattern at the end of the first issue, called “Happy New Year.”