plain knitting with freeform crochet

Sometimes a piece that’s all freeform crochet is too much for everyday wear. Sometimes, I like to balance it with plain knitting

This piece is so much fun to wear!

monochromatic freeform

Capelet cowl in Malabrigo Rios and other coordinating purple yarns

This spiral fantasy is a jumble of swirls and textures. The freeform panel is limited to purple and spirals and circles, but it’s full of variety with texture stitches and openwork.

freeform crochet plus plain knitting

Another example of a bandana cowl combining freeform and knitting. These are so fun to make, and they work up faster than an accessory that’s worked completely in freeform. A win-win.

freeform bandana cowl

I taught a class on this project last month at the Carolina Fiber Fest in Raleigh, NC. The freeform section uses Romanian point lace, Tunisian crochet, and regular crochet. The plain section is simple knitted garter stitch, but it could be crocheted instead. A nice crocheted linen stitch would work well . What are some of your favorite crochet stich patterns that have good drape?

catching up

The previous post on this blog was all the way back in 2013, so it’s been a long time! I continue to knit and crochet from patterns, write my own patterns every now and then, but I particularly enjoy making and teaching freeform crochet. The photo above shows a pile of freeform projects.

Although I still enjoy posting on Instagram and Facebook, I’m looking forward to reviving this blog, it will be nice to have a home base. Anyone interested in receiving my free newsletter (starting up in January 2023) about freeform crochet is invited to subscribe at ldoherty.substack.com

coral reef project

Last Spring, I met with Dr. Jullia Rosdahl and Betty Haskin from the Duke Eye Center.  Dr. Rosdahl wanted to conduct a study about yarn art therapy for low vision patients, and she was looking for an artist/teacher to teach some classes and make a project.  She started her search at Cozy, which is how we met each other.  We talked with Ms. Haskin, curator of the Touchable Art Gallery at the Eye Center, about a project that would be worked on and contributed to in the classes for the low vision patients.

Over the Summer I thought about ideas for teaching low vision patients and came up with the coral reef project.  In the classes, I would teach low vision patients who had been knitters and crocheters earlier in their lives how to make some of the pieces for the coral reef.  After the classes, I used the students’ contributions along my own work to create the coral reef.  It will hang in the Touchable Art Gallery this summer.

Over the course of the year, I learned a lot about what goes into a study at a major university.  It’s a very slow precess!  There is a lot paperwork and training–I had to complete an on line course about the protocols involved in being part of a medical study that involved people.

During the classes, I was able to see that Dr. Rosdahl was right to think that low vision patients could enrich their lives with yarn art therapy.  The number of participants was small (We were dealing with illnesses since it was during flu season, and these patients have to rely on others for transportation. These conditions and others made it hard to recruit as many patients as we had hoped for) but the sessions were a success. Classes were warm, comfortable, and as enjoyable as any social knitting event I’ve ever been to.  The patients were enthusiastic about learning freeform techniques.  We all enjoyed the knitting and crocheting, but we also enjoyed talking with each other and learning about each others lives.

I didn’t know what to expect when this project was suggested to me, except that it would be interesting and challenging.  It truly was, and it was also a wonderful, rewarding, and enjoyable experience.  

coral reef for the duke eye center

Touchable Art Coral Reef

pattern to be published!

My sweater pattern (above), The Emma Sweater, will be published in a new Cascade book (below) this fall.  Yippee!

Tunisian crochet

Yet another Craftsy.com class–Tunisian Crochet with Jennifer Hansen.  What a great class!  Nice projects, good patterns, and a stitch dictionary for future use in your own projects.  This a fun technique that has so much variation.  The first project is a spa cloth.  It teaches the basic stitches.

Then the fun part, a “Multi Garment” that is two large panels of crochet.  The pattern calls for making the 2 panels and attaching them with ties to wear in 8 different ways.  Or, you can make just one panel and wear it 4 different ways.  Or, you can decide after one repeat of the stitch pattern that you’d really like to stop there and end up with a scarf. I love the pattern and I loved doing this project, but I know I will wear this more as a scarf, so I finished it and added knitted fringe.

The pattern calls for 4 solid colors of a dk silk.  After much comtemplation, I turned to my stash and chose 4 slightly variegated colors of super soft wools.

change of plan socks

John likes socks.  He wears his handknit socks year-round, so it is a pleasure to knit them for him.  I started these in Ann Budd’s Diagonal Rib sock pattern from 25 Favorite Socks.  It’s a man’s sock pattern, and I chose a nice semi-solid brown called Black Olive from Ellyn Cooper’s Yarn Sonnets.  Halfway into the foot on this cuff down sock, I realized it didn’t look like they would fit him.  They didn’t.

Rather than rip and restart, he suggested that I just finish them and wear them myself.  They fit me, so that’s what I did.  The next pair will certainly be for him, but for now, I’m enjoying these.  I wore them yesterday for our first cool fall day.