Surface Crochet, Part Two - Chain Stitch.

This week's post is all about chain stitch. Hopefully you've already read my last post, an introduction to Surface Crochet, so you already know that this is just the start. But perhaps you've never thought of how interesting chain stitch can be all on it's own.

Let's start with how to do it.

 

What are you going to crochet on to? Well if you can get a crochet hook in and out of it you can crochet on to it!

 

It's important that you get a nice even tension to your stitches so that you don't distort the fabric. So if you're working on to a floppy material like net or light canvas start by putting it in a frame. If you have one of those stands to hold the frame in, it will help. It does sometimes feel as if you need another dozen pairs of hands, but it will get easier as you practise!

My books now say that we have to work in an upwards direction. I don't think this is strictly true but it will help you to understand my instructions.

 

Hold the working yarn below the frame and the hook above. 
Put your hook through the net and pull up a loop.

*Put your hook in the next hole, yarn over hook and pull it through both the hole and the loop on the hook. Repeat from* and work in any direction that takes your fancy!!

I am just learning about these techniques, so you could say that I'm just one lesson ahead of my Blog posts!! So to find out what I could do with the simplest of surface crochet, I sat down with a block of squared paper and drew.

  Here are some of my experiments come to life.

Stripes...

 

 Blocks...

Zigzag...

Rings...

and Spirals.

Beads

You can add beads to your work quite simply with chain stitches. The only differences are that you have to plan ahead, loading the beads onto the working yarn, and work upside down.

 I use a 'big eye' beading needle to load the yarn with beads. The big eye makes it easy to use with even thick yarn.

Turn the frame over so that the right side is underneath. Continue to hold the hook on the top and the working yarn loaded with beads on the bottom.

Chain a stitch, hold the bead up against the stitch, chain the next stitch. 

The bead is now securely in place. Continue working bead, stitch, bead, stitch.

You can even work up layers with chain stitches laid over chain stitches.

It starts getting really interesting with the next post when I'll look at Twisted chain stitches. So I hope to see you then!

P.S. I've just realised that my next post will appear on New Years Day, so till then Seasons Greetings to all!

Surface Crochet, Part One - An Introduction.

I've been dipping into my old crochet books again and have discovered yet another crochet technique that I'd never heard of before. It seemed perfectly simple, so I sat down to write a single post called "How to Crochet on Net and Canvas". As I investigated I discovered that there was much more to it than I'd thought. This was intended to be just one blog post but as usual it has grown into an unknown quantity of posts! How many? I'll let you know!!

 

 I thought surface crochet was all about chain stitches but I've discovered a type of crochet that is worked into Net.

Crocheting on net is called Tambour work and was popular during the 19th century. It creates a kind of mock Irish Lace which was produced to imitate Bobbin Lace. The net was placed on a frame to keep it taught and then worked with a No.60 or 80 crochet thread and a fine hook. You might also see it refered to as 'crochet work on a frame', or 'linen crochet embroidery'. You can infact buy a whole load of products, frames and specialised hooks, but I'm thinking about this in terms of crochet not embroidery.

I've worked all of these stitches with a crochet hook, including beading. It can be worked into any kind of fabric with holes! Imagine working into a fabric of Double Crochet stitches (SC-USA), Tunisian crochet or filet crochet. These stitches can then be combined with weaving and embroidery.

  

This knitted pattern by Miss Nerriss has just been published in Scheepjes Yarn 6. I don't knit but I might just be able to manage this one. The scarf is embellished with embroidery.

 This is my attempt at Kirsten Ballering's Hygge wrap with a few ideas of my own added in. It uses surface crochet, embroidery and cross stitch.

If you use plastic canvas or metal mesh as your base then we can really extend the possibilites of crochet!

The difference between canvas and netting is the way the holes are placed. On net the holes are diamond shape and run diagonally. The holes in canvas are square like graph paper. There are even some techniques that have traditionally been used to make rugs.

I'll work my way through the techniques and hopefully find something to surprise or inspire you. So come back for the next post about surface chain stitches and beading.

Frost Star

I've had a little panic, realising how close we are getting to Christmas. I make all my greetings cards but I hadn't given it a thought this year. So this week I have been getting to grips with this year's design.
Trying to come up with something different each year is a real challenge. It has to be small enough to fit on a greetings cards but complicated enough to have some interest. I got stuck as I'd decided my star would have four points. I set about sketching and drawing out stitch diagrams.

But my pile of failed experiments started to grow!! Most of my stars looked like flowers, so I decided to try five points. Now I produced a pile of star fish. Eventually I came up with something passable only to discover that there was an almost identical design already on Ravelry. Doh!

I kept coming back to Barbara's Borage. 

It feels like cheating to reuse a design, but by the time I drew it out with just five points it started to design itself. 

 

Et Viola!

Nick has named it Frost Star. I've created a little downloadable PDF pattern for you. It's all been thrown together in a bit of a rush so please let me know if you find any mistakes so I can put them right.

I have used Scheepjes Twinkle which comes in such a glorious assortment of colours, that you can have any colour star you fancy. The yarn is 75% cotton and 25% Polyester, classed as a DK the recommended hook size is 4mm. I have actually used a 3mm hook wanting to keep the design small enough to fit on a standard greetings card.

(I had promised you something entirely different this week and rather unusual.  I have already spent sometime on it and I'm really excited about sharing it with you. 😉 In fact it will take more than one post. So if you need to take a break from all things seasonal, pop back in a fortnight!)

How to Write a Crochet Pattern: The Template

This is the final episode in my 'how to read and write a crochet pattern' series. I'm going to help you to make a template document that you can use every time you write a crochet pattern.

Hopefully you've already looked at the other four posts in my mini series. So you should already be fully equipped to create your pattern template. It might seem like an awful lot of work just to write one pattern. It is! But it will make every pattern you write after that so much easier. More importantly it helps to give you an 'in house style'. And it will give you a way of improving your future patterns.
If you've already had a go at 'How to Draw a Crochet Chart', then you've already started to use a desk top publishing program. In 'How to Read a Crochet Pattern', you've already thought about the best way to write crochet instructions. And in 'The Style Guide', you've already thought about your Logo and the crochet language you want to use.

So let's make the pattern template.
When I sat down to write my first pattern I found this post by Lilla Bjorn really helpful. Since then I've also found this really helpful template by Love Crochet . You might like to look at this information by the Craft Yarn Council although it's more about what not to do than what to do!

You're going to create the bones of your pattern. There is certain information that needs to be in every crochet pattern. What you need to do is organise it in a way that feels sensible to you.
This is the information that you need:

• Your name.
• Your contact details.
• Copyright information.
• The pattern's name.
• At least one image of the finished pattern.
• Brag about the pattern! Say why it's so wonderful, where your inspiration came from, why your design is so unique, etc.
• What terminology is used, UK/USA etc.
• Skill level. If you're not sure about this check out the Craft Yarn Council site.
• What yarn did you use? Even if the pattern is suitable for any yarn, it's always nice to know what the designer used; make, name and colours used. What's the break down of the yarn and what weight? i.e. 100% cotton, 100g = 150m, Sportweight.
• Finished size/measurements, or size alternatives, S M L etc.
• A schematic of the item with sizes.
• Materials required and a break down of quantities for different sizes or colours.
• Notions required, zips, buttons, stuffing. Don't forget quantity and sizes.
• Hook sizes and any other tools.
• Abbreviations.
• Special Stitches.
• Gauge/Tension. What is the gauge and what stitch/es where used?
• Any special instructions, the order the pattern is worked, adjustments, variations etc.
• The Actual Pattern!
• Fasten Off, the final instructions for finishing, sewing up, blocking and care.
• Say Goodbye!

Now it's like a jigsaw puzzle.
You arrange everything not only in an order that seems sensible to you, but also in a way which will feel helpful to the pattern user. Will they have to search through the pattern every time they want to check an abbreviation or a special stitch?
Are you trying to save the user paper and printing ink or do you expect them to use it on a tablet? Some designers supply two versions, one with and one without images, others supply video links.
How will you set your pages out? Will you use columns, tables, or text boxes.
Will you use borders, colour, perhaps some kind of patterned borders or an image, or icon?
What about Headings and Page Numbers? Will you have a table of contents?

At the end of this process I hope you will have your template. Now every time you're ready to write a pattern you merely have to insert the information into this document which already includes all the headings and basic information you will need.

Tatsiana Kupryianchyk (Lilla Bjorn), says in her post, that writing a crochet pattern feels a bit like computer coding. All those abbreviations and that punctuation you can't possibly get it right the first time.  
So my big three tips would be;

• make your pattern as simple as you possibly can, 
• after writing it put it away for a while, then when you come back to it, see if it still makes sense!
• never stop questioning yourself about your choices!

I feel as if this series has gone on forever! I desperately need to get back to some actual crochet. So my next post will include lots of fun experimentation and hopefully something that you haven't seen before! See you soon... 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

How to Write a Crochet Pattern: the Style Guide.

This is the post I wish I'd read before I wrote my first crochet pattern! It's about the little details which are often forgotten but which will make your pattern perfect. I hope it will drastically shorten your learning curve and make the whole process so much easier. There will be a final post after this in which I will talk about the information you need to include in your pattern.

The Good and the Bad
The first thing I'm going to ask you to do is to gather together as many crochet patterns as you possibly can. What you're going to do is start making a list of what you like and what you hate.
1. What makes a pattern easy to read?
Take a look at the font, is it too small or unnecessarily large? Is it fussy or easily legible, or old fashioned? Are there too many fonts or would it help if there were more?
2. What makes it easy to follow?
Are there enough photos so you know what you are making? Does it have a schematic, and does it make sense? Is it broken down into sections so you know exactly what you're making, or is it all mixed up so you don't even know where to start?
3. Is the Pattern standardised?
Are the instructions always written in the same way? Is there consistency in the way the abbreviations are written?
4. What makes it easy to navigate?

Is it easy to find the information you need? When crocheting is it easy to refer back to 'Special Stitches' and 'Special Instructions'? Is it too bland so nothing stands out or is it too colourful so you feel like putting on sunglasses?

Writing the Rule Book 
Now you're going to begin a process which you will probably never finish! It's about refining and improving your ideas. Start to write the rules for your pattern. Start with the basics. Don't worry about the actual content at this point, that's in the next post! 
1. Let's start with Fonts. Let's start with your logo. Even if it's just your name think about it as a logo. Decide how you would like it to look. Choose a font, choose a colour. For every decision you make - record it.
Think about the fonts you want to use in the actual pattern. Will it be one Font? Will your headings be in the same font, will they be in a different colour, will they be bold, will they be underlined?
2. Decide on your abbreviations. When will you use abbreviations and when won't you? Make it a rule so that when you write your pattern it will always be consistent. You might find it helpful to read my How to read a Crochet Pattern post, as it talks about the different ways to say the same thing.
3. What sort of brackets will you use and when will you use them?
4. You've already started to think about bold, underlined, CAPITALS, and italics. So start thinking about these in terms of the pattern instructions. Will you say turn, Turn, TURN, TURN, Turn, or turn? Then try it all again in a colour, turn, Turn, TURN, TURN, Turn, or turn.
5. You might want to write out a few sample lines of pattern to see how it looks. Don't worry about what you're actually writing but how it looks and how easy it is to read, follow and even how friendly it looks. Does TURN make it look like you're shouting!!? When you actually come to write your pattern you'll be so concerned about what you're writing you won't want to have to worry about how you're writing it.

Here are some of my rules.
To give you a better idea of what I mean here are some of my rules from my Style Guide.
Rnd1 -there should be no gap between 'Rnd' and 'number.'
Rnd -when capitalised refers to the current round.
rnd -in lower case refers to a previous round.
3Ch (counts as Tr) -instructions like this should be in curved brackets.
[stitch count] -should be in square brackets.
Don't use hyph-ens!
Colour B, Do not turn - use bold for emphasis.
RIGHT FOOT - use bold and capitals in colour for section labels.
RS, WS, -use bold black capitals only with small abbreviations which might be missed otherwise.
Do NOT fasten off -use capitalised words for important instructions.
Size SMALL only -use capitalised and underlined for labels with in sections.

Hats  Being a crochet designer means wearing an awful lot of different hats! You're an artist, a crafts person, a designer, a photographer, an illustrator, a graphic designer, an editor and a copy writer. I'm sure I've missed quite a few! But Do NOT panic!! Just take it one task and one challenge at a time.
My Grandpa used to say, "If you've something to do and it's hard to begin it, set right about it and don't waste a minute!"
I'll see you in the next post for the very last in my 'how to read and write a crochet pattern' series. I will tell you what information you need to include in your pattern, the building blocks.