Super fast and super small post - Color Inspirations

After months of heat and humidity, finally India's South-west Monsoon has arrived (a week late but well within the time frame) and I couldn't be more happier..!! The scorched earth breaths and what we experience is the pure earthy smell of first rain. Rain in India has become synonymous to Chai (Tea) and Pakode (Onion fritters), Ah, I am already salivating..😛. When its raining cats and dogs, I just want to sit in my little balcony sipping hot chai and reminiscing my childhood and how we used to enjoy rain, leaving paper boats in small streams of water that used to flow along the streets in rainy season and get wet and then mum's scoldings..!! Gone are those days, sigh..!! 

If you are monsoon lover and has a passion for reading, I would recommend you to read a travelogue named " Chasing the Monsoon" by Alexander Frater. The author aims to follow the monsoon, staying sometimes behind it, sometimes in front of it, and everywhere watching the impact of this extraordinary phenomenon and what he delivers is beautifully paced half memoir, half travel diary.

Monsoon also serves as an inspiration for any artist (rain has always been romanticized by people, I feel). The rain seep into color palettes making crochet all the more beautiful. So today I thought, lets say something about color palettes and color inspirations...

  

When we see any crocheted project, the first thing we notice is how colors are placed. Colors make the design flourish. If the colors are placed properly, it catches viewer’s attention pretty easily. Of course pattern is very important; I just feel that with proper color placement, the design is elevated to whole new level. 

But it is really difficult to choose the right colors in right order, isn’t it? Sometimes you just flow with the pattern and choose your colors randomly while sometimes you choose a theme and then choose colors based around the theme. Which is your preferred method? Do let me know in the comments.

I, most of the times go with the former method and choose my colors randomly, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.. If you would like to follow a theme based color palette then do check out this website which has number of collections of color palettes. I am not going to discuss on how to choose colors because that is off post topic, you may head over HERE to know more about color selection. This is rather general post telling you from where you get the color inspiration and from where can you get your color inspirations.

My color inspirations when based around theme, normally find its roots in the stories or books I have read and have a special place in my heart (or rather in my bookshelf..hehe)..!! Sometimes when you are reading a plot and you are so engrossed in it, you try to imagine how those character might be looking or what surrounding would be there and you just paint it in your mind, I love to bring that imaginary painting into life by crocheting with those colors.

Mostly outdoor and natural color themes are on my go. Monochromatic color schemes (made up of shades/tints of a primary color, preferably blue in my case) also give a pretty look to your finished piece. Following are the crochet designs that I made with blue and its shades/tints and white. I like how they turned out.

Choosing that happy color relationship for your next project or every project instead of choosing some colors randomly and then hoping they would look good together, is very important. So when you have a theme in mind, you can choose one primary or dominant color and then choose the other colors to support it. 

Color wheel can also serve as your color inspiration tool. Understanding the color wheel theory opens up numerous color combinations that you might want to give a try.

Following are few color boards, of course you can make your own, in fact I insist you should make your own color chart because that's what makes your project uniquely "Yours".

 

Nature provides you with some amazing color palettes so go out, keep your eyes open (wide open 👀 ) and get inspired... Get your hooks on and crochet.

Today's Words of Wisdom (WoW)

 

Love,

Jk

 

Life is worth living, it's about being happy anyways...!!!

Happy Crocheting.

Crochet History & Basics - Part III (Crochet supplies & advaced crochet stitches)

Hi y’all. Very hot and humid in my part of world, so my postings are also getting delayed. Just to revise, so far we have learnt a little history of crochet and various types of crochet. Also we learnt some standard crochet stitches, post stitches and increase/decrease stitches.

In this post, we are going to find out what material is used to crochet and some special stitches which are commonly used.

Crochet Supplies:

Hook

What can we do without hooks.. 😃 Hook is a tool used in crochet to make loops and stitches. Crochet hooks are available in various sizes from as small as 0.35mm to as large as 25mm. You have to select your hook size, depending on which type of yarn you are using in your project. 

Hooks less than 2mm are mainly made up of steel and are commonly termed as Steel hooks/thread hooks, these hooks are used to work with thread. All other hooks are termed as regular hooks and are predominantly made of aluminum. Nowadays, custom made wooden hooks are also in trend. 

Hooks are classified as per their size, which is measured in letters (US), numbers (UK/Canada) or millimeters or metric ( rest parts of the world). Metric measurements are commonly used to denote hook size.

Yarns

Yarn is a long and continuous length of interlocked or twisted (such as 2 ply, 4 ply, 8ply and so on) fibers (such as cotton, acrylic, wool and other natural and synthetic fibers), or rather, to put simply, yarn is composed of twisted strands of fibers (known as plies when grouped together). Most common fibers used in yarn production are cotton and acrylic for their durability. 

Selecting proper yarn is very important to your project and the end result of the project depends on it. You cannot make blanket using thread, of course you can but it would take much more time to crochet queen size blanket with thread, end result would be mind-boggling I bet..!!  

So coming back to choosing yarn, cotton and acrylics are favorites. Cotton comes in a mercerized and UN-mercerized variety. Mercerized cotton is more durable and shiny than its other counterpart.  So you can use mercerized for home décor items whereas un-mercerized can be used to make wash clothes etc. Acrylic is an artificial fiber and a cheap alternative to natural fiber. It is color-fast, durable and is not prone to running.

Yardage and weight (thickness) also play important role in choosing the right yarn.

Other required supplies include tapestry needles to weave in the ends, scissor, stitch markers and row counter (if you are little forgetful like me..!!)

Special Stitches

These advanced or special crochet stitches provide you with the large collection of textures and different techniques that will give your work chic look..!!

Classic DC V Stitch (V-St):

It is fast, it is versatile, it is easy.. !! And it creates interesting texture. To create a V-Stitch, work 1 double crochet in the indicated stitch, chain 1, work one more double crochet in the same stitch. Dc, ch1/ch2, dc.

You will also find some variations in V-St like no-space variation where you work 2dc’s in the same stitch only (similar to dc increase), treble V-st where you work one treble, ch1, one more treble in the same stitch.

Classic Shell Stitch (Shell St): 

Who doesn’t love shells..!!

To create a shell stitch, work 2dc’s in the indicated stitch/space, ch2, work 2 dc’s on the indicated stitch/space. This variation is also known as open shell stitch.

You can work 3dc’s also instead of 2dc’s.

Puff Stitch:

Puff stitch falls under the fluffy-puffy stitches family such as popcorn stitch, bobble stitch, cluster stitch. To make puff stitch, you are basically yarning over and collecting loops and then releasing them all at once and ch1 to close the stitch. These multiple yarn over give puff stitch as beautiful puffy texture. 
 

To create puff stitch, (yarn over and insert the hook in the indicated stitch/space and pull up a loop)* repeat as many number of times as desired in the pattern, yarn over and pull through all the loops and chain 1 to close the stitch. 

There is another way to close the puff stitch; you can say an informal way, after completing the yarn overs as pattern requires, yarn over and pull through all the loops but one, yarn over and pull through both the loops, in this style you are not required to chain 1 to close the stitch.

Traditionally puffs are created by yarning over 4 times but yarn over 3 times will give you nice mini puffs which goes well if your work is super texture rich.

Popcorn Stitch

Popcorn stitch is another puffy little stitch, oval and plump. It adds a nice dimension and depth to your project. Basically it is a group of double crochet stitches where the last dc is tied back to the first dc by slip stitch. This tying back brings the surface forward giving popcorn stitch its unique plump shape. 

To create a popcorn stitch, work 5 dc’s in the indicated stitch/space, pull the only loop on the hook little upward and drop the loop from your hook. Insert your hook (front to back) under the two loops of the first dc of the 5 dc group, grab the dropped loop of the last dc with your hook and pull it through those 2 loops (of the first dc) and then chain 1 to close your stitch.

Bobble Stitch

Traditionally bobble stitches are worked from the wrong side, so they pop out away from you. They are worked similar to cluster stitches just the more number of dc’s are worked together to get that chubby look (typically 5 or more). 

To work a bobble stitch, turn your work so the wrong side of your work is facing you and work dc5tog, i.e. work 5 dc’s in the indicated stitch/space, leaving the last loop un-worked for all the dc’s and when you have 6 loops on the hook, yarn over and pull through all the loops. One sc in the next stitch and this will make the bobble pop to the right side of your work.

Bead Stitch

Bead stitch is similar to puff stitch but it is worked sideways around the post instead of working directly into the stitches (as worked in the puff stitch). Since it is worked around the stitches, the bead stitch has a width of 2 stitches.

To work a bead stitch, work one dc in the indicated stitch/space, *yarn over and now working around the post the just made dc, pull up a loop*, repeat from *to* for 3 times or as per your work demands. Yarn over and pull through all but one loops on the hook, this will leave 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through both the loops on the hook. And that’s it we have just created a sideways puff or bead stitch.

As I have told you earlier the bead stitch has a width of 2 stitches so you will skip next stitch before working another bead stitch.

Bullion Stitch

If you go to see the definition of the Bullion stitch then it is very simple, yarn over multiple times (typically 7 - 8 times) and then insert the hook in the indicated stitch/space, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through all the loops on the hook at once.

Though the stitch is quite simple, the tension plays very crucial role, if your tension is quite firm then you will not be ale to pull the hook out easily. When you are wrapping your hook with those yarn overs, try to keep the tension loose and you will be able to remove your hook else you will have to pull through 1-2 loops at a time. Nonetheless, bullion stitch offers quite 3D look to your fabric.


And now finally, today's WoW (Words of wisdom)

So that's all for today..!!

Love,

Jk

 

Life is worth living, it's about being happy anyways...!!!

Happy Crocheting.