Interweave Crochet Blog
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Another Warm Welcome
With many thanks to Kat and the Interweave Web Team, I welcome you to the Interweave Crochet blog! I look forward to keeping in closer touch with you than our quarterly magazine publication allows, and to learning more about you and what you love about crochet. Assistant editor Toni Rexroat will also be dropping by the blog every so often; I'm certain you'll enjoy getting to know her.
One of the things I'm most excited about is sharing news and features with you here that we can't fit into our limited number of print pages. I'll dive right into just that.
One of my favourite parts of putting together an issue of Interweave Crochet is preparing my Yarn Spotlight. I get to unplug for a while and play with delicious yarn. I could only fit three swatches into my spotlight from the fall issue, but I actually made six in my exploration of variegated yarns. I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted yarn and a 5mm hook for each swatch (click images for larger versions).
Swatch #4: Here's a classic granny square, one of my current obsessions. Just like in the French Square swatch in the fall issue of the magazine, the positive and negative space in the square allows the bold colours to breathe and breaks up any pooling effects that might be tempted to pop up.
Swatch #5: This swatch is a simple 5-chain mesh. I had a tough time getting it to lay flat and even in my scanner, but I think this image tells its tale. Like the granny square, the positive and negative space allow the bold colours to breathe. Maybe its the wonkiness of the mesh, though, but I prefer the uniformity of the granny square. In swatch form, that is. But imagine this mesh used in a garment -- I think it would be pretty spectacular, and surprisingly subtle.
Swatch #6: This one is plain-old single crochet. Here's that dread pooling effect, and not in a cool pattern like the diamonds that developed in my granite stitch swatch in the magazine. I don't mind it so much in this small swatch, but I think I'd start to mind if it were a larger project. I do love, however, how the small stitches create an almost pointillism effect. The swatch almost looks painted.
I very much enjoyed this Yarn Spotlight, and I'm excited about working on my piece for the winter 2007 issue in the next week or two (hint: my stomach is grumbling). What do you think? Do these swatches make you see variegated yarns in a new light?
Have you ever picked up an odd ball of variegated yarn without knowing what you'd do with it? How did you approach it? Did you swatch like mad like I did, or did you dive right in? Were you surprised by the way the colours behaved? Leave a comment* and let us all know.
* We are terribly excited about the interactivity this blog will allow us to enter into with you. We will read every comment you make, but unfortunately we won't be able to answer them all. We'll do our best to chime in within the comments section so all readers can read our responses.
One of the things I'm most excited about is sharing news and features with you here that we can't fit into our limited number of print pages. I'll dive right into just that.
One of my favourite parts of putting together an issue of Interweave Crochet is preparing my Yarn Spotlight. I get to unplug for a while and play with delicious yarn. I could only fit three swatches into my spotlight from the fall issue, but I actually made six in my exploration of variegated yarns. I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted yarn and a 5mm hook for each swatch (click images for larger versions).
Swatch #4: Here's a classic granny square, one of my current obsessions. Just like in the French Square swatch in the fall issue of the magazine, the positive and negative space in the square allows the bold colours to breathe and breaks up any pooling effects that might be tempted to pop up.
Swatch #5: This swatch is a simple 5-chain mesh. I had a tough time getting it to lay flat and even in my scanner, but I think this image tells its tale. Like the granny square, the positive and negative space allow the bold colours to breathe. Maybe its the wonkiness of the mesh, though, but I prefer the uniformity of the granny square. In swatch form, that is. But imagine this mesh used in a garment -- I think it would be pretty spectacular, and surprisingly subtle.
Swatch #6: This one is plain-old single crochet. Here's that dread pooling effect, and not in a cool pattern like the diamonds that developed in my granite stitch swatch in the magazine. I don't mind it so much in this small swatch, but I think I'd start to mind if it were a larger project. I do love, however, how the small stitches create an almost pointillism effect. The swatch almost looks painted.
I very much enjoyed this Yarn Spotlight, and I'm excited about working on my piece for the winter 2007 issue in the next week or two (hint: my stomach is grumbling). What do you think? Do these swatches make you see variegated yarns in a new light?
Have you ever picked up an odd ball of variegated yarn without knowing what you'd do with it? How did you approach it? Did you swatch like mad like I did, or did you dive right in? Were you surprised by the way the colours behaved? Leave a comment* and let us all know.
* We are terribly excited about the interactivity this blog will allow us to enter into with you. We will read every comment you make, but unfortunately we won't be able to answer them all. We'll do our best to chime in within the comments section so all readers can read our responses.
Labels: Fall 2007, Yarn Spotlight
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