It was quite a ride, immersing myself in spirals for 100 days. At the beginning of The 100 Day Project, I had two goals. In general, I wanted to solidify my daily practice of doing some combination of tasks relating to freeform crochet or traditional knit/crochet design. And, specifically, I wanted to make a small spiral each day. The plan was to make the spirals during the 100 days, then figure out something to do with all of them, probably combine them in a shawl since there would be so many. I chose my yarn palette with lots of yardage to allow freedom of choice for the eventual project and made a little spiral each morning.
But before one month had passed, the spirals were no longer just little motifs with some variety thrown in here and there. Before the 100 Day Project started, the Game of Chance Challenge, sponsored by the International Freeform Fiberarts Group, had started. In that challenge, participants made freeform scrumbles using a list of prompts and a random number generator which helped people get out of their usual way of doing things. The Game of Chance Challenge appealed to me, and it really was fun to take such a playful approach to freeform. Three weeks into the 100DP, the Game of Chance inspired me to see the 100 spirals as individual canvases for experimentation, a daily opportunity to see how free and disorderly these spirals could be.
From wacky stitch pattern insertions to segmented, criss-crossed suface embellishments, the spirals began to look like hastily sketched drawings on the backs of envelopes. I combed through stitch collections and my wardrobe of knitted and crocheted pieces to find new ideas to incorporate. I made plans to add in knitting, weaving, Romanian point lace, Tunisian crochet, and embroidery. I expanded my yarn palette to allow for more freedom. It was truly a pleasure to play with ideas without concern for what would become of all these spirals.
Now that it’s all over, various ideas have come up. Some of the spirals may indeed be combined for a project, some of them could become inspiration for a new class to teach, others will likely hang around my studio to inspire……..something. This project was so much more than I expected it to be. My freeform work had settled into a happy, comfortable style that allowed me to create very wearable pieces that were satisfying to make and teach. I still love them, and will still make and teach them. But the more free and irregular crochet I’ve been doing won’t stop now that the 100DP is over.
My goal of establishing a daily practice at my yarn table came together in this project, too. I really enjoy starting each day reviewing notes from the previous day about ideas, writing an occasional blog post, firing up a fiber video on the laptop, and starting a spiral (as the spirals got bigger and bigger, they were started in the morning, but finished later in the day). Going forward, the daily practice will adjust to include making swatches or working on an ongoing project or any type of fiber task that needs doing, really. The ideas just keep coming, all sorts of things.
What will my next 100DP be? Does it have to wait until next year? The community aspect has been important, but I won’t hesitate to do my own thing any time of year. Depending on what my project will be, it might not be exactly 100 days, either. It might be a 30 Day Project completed inside of a single month, or a Yearlong Project of something done each week, or a Week Of Retreat immersion in a single project, or something else, who knows. Readers, consider your own Project. If you’ve been at all curious about doing one yourself as you’ve read about mine, think about what you’d like to do and just start doing it. You’ll be glad you did.
Freeform Yarny Things 