How Color Happens for Me
Even as a kid, I noticed and admired color. I must have been seven or eight years old, when I decided to study it. Ever since, that’s what I did.
Color inspiration happens all the time, if you just watch for it. I was weaving yarn ends in a few days ago, piling the trimmings together. I glanced at the pile, and wow! The combination of peach and dusty coral and burgundy took my breath away.
I had to crochet some flowers in those colors right away. First, I looked carefully at the scrap pile, to see the proportions of the colors. There was a lot of peach and coral, some variegated yarn, and just a tiny bit of burgundy. Proportions are important.
Large Ray Flowers (page 31) and a Filet Center-or-Not (starts on page 21 of Crochet Bouquet) were perfect for a multi-color experiment. You can change colors however you want, either following the pattern, or following your own instinct.
And when your color instinct talks, listen to it! You’ll find color inspiration in all kinds of places.
Speaking of inspiration, how about this flowery tractor? We saw it in Knox City, Texas.
Patchwork and Daffodil
“Mom, can I use some of your flowers?” has become a frequent refrain around our house. The last time I heard it was a few days ago, when Eva decided to make a handbag for herself.
She decided on the size of the bag and she did all the patchwork on her own. She decorated the finished patchwork with polymer clay buttons and a few crocheted flowers from Crochet Bouquet. I agreed to sew the pieces together for her.
It looks great, doesn’t it?! It’s a true piece of TextileFusion! The daffodil she chose was crocheted with Cascade 220, and then felted.
I am very proud of her. She showed initiative, and she persevered, even though I told her she probably couldn’t finish the purse before we left for our family/working vacation. She proved me wrong. Good for her!
We’re on our round-about way, first to Denver, for a book signing at Showers of Flowers, and then on to Estes Park, Colorado, where I’m going to teach a polymer clay button class.
Though you can’t really tell it, the photo of Eva’s handbag was taken at Soda Dam in New Mexico’s Jemez Valley. It’s a natural dam made from minerals from the hot spring there. The dam is about 300 feet long. Here’s where the river squeezes under the dam. The mineral is travertine, and it was deposited bit by bit as the spring water came out of the earth. Amazing!
Book Signing at Showers of Flowers, Denver
I can hardly wait to visit Showers of Flowers, a fabulous yarn store in Lakewood, Colorado, near Denver. I’ll be signing books there on Tuesday, June 10, from about 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
How perfect is that?! Signing a book about crocheted flowers at a shop called Showers of Flowers!
People keep telling me how great Showers of Flowers is. It’s amazingly big. It’s comfy. Sharon, the owner, says she never does anything halfway. It’s going to be fun!
I’m going to bring lots of flowers and projects from the Crochet Bouquet, and some that didn’t make it into the book. You’ll see the wonderful flower cape, modeled here by my daughter, Eva.
And I’ll be announcing our first Crochet Along.
Hope to see you there!
For more information, call the store at 1-800-825-2569.
Flower Collage
“Mom, can I use these flowers?” my 12-year-old daughter asked, showing me a plastic bag of bright Off-Center Ovals and single Plump Leaves from Crochet Bouquet.
I said, “Okay.” I didn’t hear a peep out of her for a long time. She emerged from her room with a poster. It was a collage of things she likes, a couple of badges from school, a ribbon she won—and some crocheted flowers.
It was so pretty, and such a good idea for using crocheted flowers, I had to share it with you. I think small, flat flowers would be great decorations for scrapbook pages, too.
Then my 12-year-old did something else that made me very happy. She helped her little sister make a collage, too! They used the Firewheels from the book, and I love how they glued Baby Stars onto a Fern Leaf. It looks very exotic.
The best way to glue a flower or leaf is to paint the glue onto the back with a stiff brush. Be sure to brush the glue all the way to the edges. Then press gently in place on your project. Brushing the glue on helps to avoid globs of glue squeezing out between the stitches.
DFW Fiber Fest 2008-3
My polymer clay button class at DFW Fiber Fest was the best! It was small, but everyone was very enthusiastic. In fact, they were so excited about the buttons they made, they scooped them up and went off to show their friends before I had a chance to take pictures.
Luckily, with a small class, I get to make buttons, too, so I’ll show you mine. We started with the incredibly easy Faux Lapis button (at left). Then we moved on to the easy and colorful swirl button (at right).
For the first time ever in one of my button classes, we did a joint project. We began with a core color, and then each person wrapped the core with different colors. We shared the resulting canes of clay, and made our own buttons. Here are mine.
The afternoon was devoted to polymer patchwork buttons, one of my specialties. Everyone’s patchwork buttons turned out well.
Any polymer project generates scraps, and I like to show how to make use of those scraps. Here are some buttons and beads I made from the patchwork button scraps.
This long piece is made from scraps of our class button project. Most polymer clay folks use this technique to make beads, which they call by several names. I prefer ‘Miracle Beads,’ because you can get such miraculous results. A person can also make buttons with the technique.
I was going to make buttons with this piece, but it turned out so cool, I decided to make it into a pendant. Can you see the kitty? Can you see the butterfly?
My class was most impressed. I told them it was just luck that it turned out that way–if I had chosen a different side to slice, it would have been completely different. They said, “We would have believed you if you had said you planned it that way!”
Errata for Crochet Bouquet
Here are known corrections to Crochet Bouquet: Easy Designs for Dozens of Flowers.
Filet Center-or-Not, page 22
Add “4” twice, as shown in bold below; change 24 to 48; add Rnd 4.
Rnd 3: Join next color with sc in first dc, 3 sc in next ch-3 space, (sc in next dc, 4 sc in next ch-3 space) 4 times; sc in next dc, 3 sc in next ch-3 space, (sc in next dc, 4 sc in next ch-4 space) 4 times; needle-join to first st (48 sts).
Rnd 4: Same as Rnd 3 of Large Center-or-Not on p. 21.
Large Fancy Five, page 24
Change Rnd 2 of the Large Fancy Five to read as follows (a slst-picot = ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook):
Rnd 2: *Ch 3, (slst-picot, tr, slst-picot) in same st as join, (tr, slst-picot, tr, slst-picot) in next st, (tr, slst-picot, ch 3, sl st) in next st, ch 1, sc in ch-3 space, ch 1, sl st in next tr. Repeat from * 4 more times (5 petals with 5 slst-picots each). Fasten off.
Columbine, page 49
Add words shown in bold, below.
Rnd 2: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, ch 3, sk 1 st; repeat from * 4 more times; join with sl st in first sc (5 ch-3 spaces).
Daffodil, page 52
On Daffodil Trumpet, Round 5, change “Working in front loops only,” to “Working in back loops only,”
Fire Wheel, page 84
Add a “(” (shown in bold below) before the word “insert”
Rnd 2: *Ch 7, (sl st-picot) 4 times; yarn over (2 loops on hook), skip next picot, (insert…
If you have questions or comments, please contact me at knitandcrochetwithsuzann@outlook.com. Thanks!
Suzann Thompson
Author of Crochet Bouquet
Summery Capri Jeans
Yellow is such a happy color! It really brightens up this pair of cropped jeans.
I’m thrilled with the brilliant yellow yarns we can buy these days, particularly because one of my daughters looks great in yellow. Strong yellows go in and out of fashion. When they’re out, it’s very difficult to find bright yellow yarn. Stock up on it while you can!
The flowers on these Capri jeans are crocheted with Cascade Yarns’ Pearls (the one with a little shine in it) and Pima Tencel. I used Pearls to crochet the leaves and stems, too. You can use stash yarns, too. Be sure to pick yarn that you can run through the washing machine, since that’s how you will wash the jeans.
Remember, you don’t have to use yellow. Use different colors, more colorsâ€â€Âwhatever you want.
Summery Capri Jeans
You Will Need:
- Instructions for “Baby Stars” (one of the “Millefiori” patterns) and “Veined Leaves” from Crochet Bouquet
- 3 colors of light weight (3) yarn:
- Two similar flower colors, maybe in different textures
- One leaf color
- 5 mm crochet hook (US size H/8)
- Purchased cropped jeans
- Seed beads for flower centers
- Sewing needle and thread, pins
Instructions
- Crochet forty or so Baby Stars (page 26), about half in one flower color and half in the other.
- Crochet two Plain Vein Leaves (page 123).
- Arrange flowers using the photo as a guide. Pin them in place.
- Estimate the length of the stems, and crochet one for each flower grouping.
- Arrange the stems and leaves and pin in place.
- Sew all crocheted pieces onto jeans with sewing thread, adding two seed beads at the center of each flower.
DFW Fiber Fest 2008-2
Now look what you missed, if you forgot to come to the DFW Fiber Fest! Tim Klein and his yarn car made an appearance at lunchtime on Sunday. “What happens when it rains?” asked one admirer.
“It’s all washable yarn, so the rain doesn’t hurt it,” said Mr. Klein. “I dry it by driving fast.”
Here’s Mr. Klein, holding the door for the fabulous Margaret Hubert. He whisked her off to lunch with a few other fiber fanatics.
Mrs. Hubert is the author of several books on crochet, including the one below, which I bought. I asked her to sign it for me, and she said she was always glad to sign books for people. Margaret is a lovely person.
The book gives patterns for twenty garments, mostly tops and jackets plus a poncho and a wrap. Margaret also gives tips on customizing the fit of garments. When the teachers got together at lunch one day, she was talking about teaching classes on how to fit garments correctly. Designers must use standard measurements when writing patterns. Unfortunately, she said, “not many women are standard sizes.” So we have to learn how to adjust patterns to fit us better.
I have made my own patterns and adjusted patterns for years, but I would love to take a fitting workshop from her, and get the benefit of her experience. I couldn’t, because I was teaching, too, but I know other people enjoyed her workshops, because they were singing her praises on Ravelry.
The Fiber Fest organizers make it a point to have nationally known teachers at the Fest. I think it offers knitters and crocheters the best of all worlds–great teachers with smaller classes and a relaxed atmosphere that is much more relaxing than the huge knitting conventions elsewhere in the country. So mark it on your calendars for April 2009!
I’m Back!
Okay, so I never upgraded my WordPress blogging software, since this blog started in March 2005. I know better now–and I’ve discovered a fabulous new plug-in that makes it easy to upgrade. Yay!
Last month I started a new blog for my book. It’s in a different file and everything, so I thought I could run both blogs just fine. Until…..
A few days after the new blog started, Suzann’s TextileFusion just disappeared! The error screen said it might be under maintenance, or it might have a programming error. Oh NO!
It took me ages to figure out how to back up my databases, etc. I dreaded uploading the new WordPress, because it takes forever when you have to do it by hand.
But finally, I’m back. And I’m glad. I missed my old blog.
It will take me a while to get it customized again–pink and gray with the knitted header–but I’ll get there. In the meantime–I’m so glad to see you all again!
Mothers Day 2008
My sweet daughters picked me a bouquet of Texas wildflowers for Mother’s Day. My usual reaction to our wildflowers is “Pink Evening Primroses are my favorite! …except for Gaillardia…and Wine Cups are my favorite, too…and I really like Horsemint…and I love the Indian Paintbrush!” Really, they’re all my favorites.
Gaillardia is also known as Indian Blanket and Fire Wheel, and it’s the inspiration for the “Fire Wheel” in Crochet Bouquet (page 83). The Fire Wheels in the book are acidly bright. The real flower has two-tone petals of orangey-red with yellow on the outside edges.
Here’s my Fire Wheel with fairly life-like colors among the real thing. Next time I’m going to use a more saturated yellow.