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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

freeform

A piece of freeform crochet I did almost ten years ago... yikes!

As I was attempting to tidy up my portable hard drive I came by this photo of a freeform crochet piece I did about ten years. It was done with various pearl cottons. I have absolutely no idea whatever became of it. I think I like it more now than I did when I made it.... and I do love working with pearl cottons. I haven't delved into any freeform for a while, but perhaps I should! If you've never tried it before, it can be quite a challenge and a good way to break out of old habits and think creatively.

If you'd like to give it a try and you're looking for more inspiration, two of my favorite freeform crocheters are Margaret Hubert and Prudence Mapstone.Check out their work and drool ... it's awesome!


Sunday, January 1, 2012

my Christmas vacation

My woven potholder tote!
I used an old button and a looper for a closing.

During my brief break from my day job this holiday season, I actually did a bit of crafting and made this potholder tote bag! No, it's not a bag for toting around potholders, but a bag made up of squares that I created on a potholder loom using loopers.

I used a standard metal potholder loom (eighteen pegs) and 100% cotton loopers from Harrisville Designs. They're quite thick and sturdy and the color selection is great. the body is made up of eight squares (four on a side). The handle, sides and bottom are made of half squares. I made the half squares by just looping at half the number of loopers as usual (nine) and weaving through loopers in both directions. It creates one edge that's a bit different from the others... but that didn't bother me.

Instead of sewing them together with thread, I decided, because of the weight of the final piece, that I'd use loopers to sew them together. I cut the loopers, used a fairly big needle and joined the seams with using loopers... it just seemed sturdier that way.
one side sewn together

I went for a multicolor look for this project since those were the loopers I had on hand. What I like of the Harrisville loopers is that you can purchase bags of loopers of all one color, so if you prefer to work with a certain color combination you can do that.

Although I ddon't care much for sewing together pieces/motifs//squares etc ... in projects, this one was not too bad and I would probably do this one again.
close up of bag