I’ve been tending to a sick 5 year old which is never fun, but it has allowed me to sit during the day and work on my freeform purse. As you can see I’ve made some headway!
My two free form experiments (Modern Irish FreeForm Crochet and FreeForm Crochet) have changed the way I look at this craft. It actually makes me feel like an artist while I’m working, and I have never thought of myself that way. If you haven’t given freeform a try and you like the look of it, I highly recommend checking out the two Craftsy classes I took to get started in this style. I am not affiliated with Craftsy in anyway, but the freeform classes by Myra Wood are fun and fantastic. If you are interested in the craft, but don’t want to pay, there are plenty of tutorials out on the web.
Now, without further ado, here are my
Top 5 Take-aways from FreeForm Crochet
1.The Rules Are, There Ain’t No Rules
There aren’t supposed to be any rules with FreeForm, but there seems to be plenty of guidelines. The guidelines include specific stitches and appliqués, joining methods, and color changes. These were great references because, as a beginner, if I got stuck these guidelines could pull me into the next area. Still, if you go off the grid and do your own thing that is even better, and probably adds more Free to your Form.
2. You Don’t Use a Pattern
Until now ALL of my crochet was done with a pattern. Even if I made up my own design, I would write the pattern out and follow it as I worked. I can’t tell you how many times I have lost track on a page and repeated the same stitch (or section) and then had to rip it all out and do it again. I do most of my crochet at night, and almost always my mind is getting droopy from the day. I make a lot of mistakes reading patterns, and do a lot of frogging. With FreeForm you make it up as you go along, or you do your work based off a template, so the only thing that will hold you back is how creative you want to be.
3. You Don’t Have to Count
This goes along with number 2, but I feel it deserves it’s own space because it completely revolutionized my way of making circles. As you can see below, I made a lot of circles to work on my purse, the only “guideline” was that they had to remain flat. Therefore I added stitches when I thought it was necessary, and I tore some out if they started to warp. The frogging was much less than when I read a pattern, though, which made it lots more fun.
4. Choose Your Own Color Changes
The reason I did a three part series on color exploration was purely selfish. I was planning to do this free form project and wanted to have colors pop and not clash. I learned a lot, and I hope you did too. Plus, it gave me oodles of inspiration for future FreeForm projects. My one “guideline” that I used throughout this piece was that no same color laid next to each other. This rule helped me choose which color to use next, in fact, the bigger the fabric got the more I felt it was telling me what to choose. Groovy.
5. Depth Does It All
After I got some circles made, it was time to do some overlay crochet. Like you see in the mandala craze we crocheters are experiencing, the overlay adds such beauty and depth to the piece, it takes it to another level of complexity. I learned a lot, and am still learning about adding depth to a piece, because it really does it all. My opinion, the more you add, the better.
Let me know if you think you’ll try out FreeForm! Happy Crocheting!
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I love how it turned out. It definitely is a beautiful piece of art!
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Thank you Yolanda! I have to do the boarder still, fingers crossed for straight lines!
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I have no worries. 🙂
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It looks wonderful! I’ve been thinking about trying out free form crochet. Definitely on the horizon for me once I get some projects done. I saw something in an Interweave Crochet issue that talked about combining free form with patterns. It’s sort of like a surrealistic parlor game where you pick out random lines from a written pattern and incorporate them into your free form piece. I’ve thought it could be fun to turn this into a group game where people pass the piece around and add their own random round or row.
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What a great idea! I would love to give that a try, imagine what an interesting fabric you could make. You should definitely give freeform a try, once you have time, it really is addictive and so different from traditional crochet!
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I so need to try this! Hope your little one gets better too x
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Thank you! She’s back and at ’em today!
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Lots of great take home points here, Brenna. I especially like your comment about how this makes you feel like an artist.
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It does, probably because there’s no pattern and it’s all my creativity 😀
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Brenna you are AMAZING! It is going to be so fun watching this come together. You are inspiring me to give it a try…!
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You are too”Sweet” Tracy! And you should give it a try! Although, be warned, it’s hard to put down once you start!
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I know how that goes! I wish we lived nearby so I could learn hands on:)
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Wouldn’t that be fun!
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Gorgeous Brenna!! What I love best is that there are guidelines but no rules. I love opportunities to just let my hook go where it wants!! This is going to make a fantastic purse!! 😀
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Thank you Tami! I was a little nervous about not having a plan, but it’s been fun to make!
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I love this! No two ever alike.
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Thanks! That’s the challenge 😉.
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Reblogged this on Krochet and commented:
I’might only just starting on my freeform journey. But your post makes me want to get stuck right in.
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Thank you! Freeform is fun and addicting, can’t wait to see what you create!
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