hope you all have a good one!

today's scrumble is ruffled

OK, taking a quick break from what I am currently working on, so here is a photo of another one :-)

#48

Figured that I'd better get another scrumble posted to the blog pretty soon, seeing that it is almost the end of the year already.  Where does the time get to?

I suddenly realized that the last one was posted here back in March, so my resolution to post photos reasonably often throughout the year didn't quite work!  Perhaps I will manage to update on a more regular basis in 2013...you never know ;-)

Apparently I am still in red-and-orange-mode, by the look of it; this one, like the previous scrumble, is very much in those tones.

This piece was actually the trial scrumble that I recently made when I was trying to decide on which yarns to use in a new freeform vest I am currently creating.  Most of the threads that I have used here are going into the actual garment...but not the one that was used for the slightly lighter, soft and bubbly section just under the bullion stitches towards the top right.  That yarn turned out to be a bit too soft,  and it felt as though it might be likely to snag, and also the colour looked lighter and had a much more pinkish tone when viewed in daylight (although at night it definitely seemed to go well enough with all of the other oranges)...but I wasn't intending to keep the vest for evening wear only, so unfortunately that particular yarn will just have to bide its time in the stash for a little longer.

Most of the yarns used are 100% cotton, and some are handpainted, but I have also included a little bit of angora in a fabulously bright mix of oranges with hot pink undertones, plus an interesting synthetic, tape-like one that I bought in San Francisco about 10 years ago (that's the dark bit on the left) and another bright orange rayon mixture that I found in the marketplace at the CGOA conference in Reno a few months ago.

This scrumble is nearly all crochet, but I am adding a bit more knitting to most of the others that I am creating for the vest.  Doing that, along with keeping things fairly 'open' by using lots of lacy crochet stitches, will help keep the weight down a bit, and make it more suitable for our summertime in our sub-tropical climate.   It will be one I know I will wear a lot, but it is also being done to help illustrate another book, which I hope to get done in the not too distant future.

Once again my new year's resolution will be to update the blog a little bit more often.  I hope that everyone reading here has managed to fit some creative fibrearts into their lives this year, and fingers crossed that we will all have time for even more in 2013.

and as a PS, and because I guess it's OK for me to do bit of self-advertising here...since I have almost run out of reprints of 2 of my books, and because I have decided that I won't be printing hard copies of either of them again, then I'm going to add that we have just made 'Freeform: serendipitous design techniques for knitting & crochet' and 'never too many Handbags' available as e-books...both can now be purchased in PDF form through http://www.knotjustknitting.com/freeform-tutorials   ;-)

Scrumble #47

here is a scrumble for March

...so much for my original idea of weekly scrumbles!

Maybe I will get another done before April, but at least I am aiming for a minimum of one a month this year...and since this is the 5th for 2012, I have already done way better than last year ;-)

I always seem to have a problem photographing oranges and reds, so in the picture the centre of the scrumble has lost a little bit of definition. The piece started with a small knitted section behind the ruffle (just above and right of centre), and then I crocheted on the raggy-looking orange bit (Indian recycled silk). Much richer in real life than in the photo.

I then continued outwards with little areas of both knitting and crochet, working multi-coloured stripes for most of the knitting and back post stitches and slip stitches for a lot of the crochet, with the aim of avoiding too much of a stripey effect. The tw0 little crochet flowers were made separately and attached onto the surface.

Lots of stash yarns, both new and very old, were used in the making of this scrumble; they include wool, silk, cotton, rayon and a few blends, plus a bit of man-made stuff for added sparkle (which probably doesn't show up much in the little thumbnail, but should be apparent if you click for the larger photo)

Scrumble # 41

ok, so i'm really not planning on making all my future scrumbles resemble anything in particular, but since i said last time that i had one that was sort of wanting to turn into a fish, i decided to go with the flow with this one, too ;-)

it started out ages back when i made the knitted 'body' (which was worked in short rows: 2-colour stripes in garter stitch with a dull and a glittery yarn). then i added various bits and pieces of freeform crochet directly onto the edges of the knitting (and a couple of sections onto the surface too). the crochet was done using some wool boucle, a smooth cotton, some ribbon, a stretchy cotton/lycra yarn, and a hand-dyed one that looked like a cotton/acrylic mix.

the unusual openwork area where the fish's 'head' should be was created using a crochet cord of the kind that is usually worked as the foundation for Romanian point lace.

once i had created a length of cord that was about 8" long, i twisted it around onto itself and stitched it together wherever it touched. then i added rows of crochet slip stitches to the edges of the cord, to give it a 3-D edging. the tail was added last; just simple fringing, using 2 different flat ribbon yarns.

and before you ask the answer is...no, it isn't actually underwater...though i hoped that the background would help to give the photo that impression! i finished working on it yesterday, and then photographed it sitting on top of some pigface (carpobrotus - a succulent plant) that was growing wild on a sand dune near Monterey, CA; i thought it made great 'seaweed'!

Scrumble #40

Sometimes it just happens that freeform knitting and crocheting has a mind of its own. No matter what you try to do, some scrumbles seem to be intent on becoming something you were not expecting.

About half way through creating this particular mauve and purple piece I turned it around to add something to another side, and suddenly discovered that it was morphing into...

...a bear in a hat!

The crocheted lurex ruffle had become more like an eye than a flower, the knitted cable was now looking very snout-like, and the bullion clusters seemed to have positioned themselves just where ears and a nose should be.

Since that definitely hadn't been my intention, I started to think about the best way to detract from the impression I was getting...but each time I looked at the scrumble from a certain angle that blasted bear was still there, winking at me.

So don't laugh! In the end I just gave up and went along with it, adding a bobble for an eyeball, a crochet edging around the 'collar', and some purple bouclé ribbons streaming from the back of her hat.

Hope you like her ;-)


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Scrumble #39

Scrumble #39 actually started with a couple of small crochet doodlings that were made quite a while ago, but were only recently rediscovered amongst my stash - these were the little yellow area of Tunisian crochet near the centre of the scrumble, and the oval shape with spiral embellishment that is underneath it, near the bottom.

When I decided to use the yellow cotton Tunisian section in this scrumble, I knew that it would be too light a colour. Not wanting it to be too much of a contrast, I immediately wove a length of olive green ribbon yarn under the bars, so that it would blend better with all of the other autumn-tones yarns I was selecting for this piece.

I added a couple of knitted sections to both of these 'starter' pieces before sewing them together; then, once they were joined, I continued outwards in all directions, using tiny scraps of yarn to create other random motifs. Most of these small sections were finished off just because I was about to run out of that particular yarn.

The 2 green leaves and both of the flowers, plus the wool bullion circle (top left) and the round linen piece (top right, partly hidden under the bent bullion flower), were done last; these were all made separately before being attached (some with crochet slip stitches, the others sewn).

scrumble #38 - finally

I'm finally back to blogging my scrumbles again...and I definitely do intend to keep it up on a fairly regular basis for a while, at least over the next couple of months, until I reach #52 (a year's worth, even though it will have taken me more like 2 years to complete them all)

I really love creating small freeform pieces, so this one contains 2 small hearts, one knitted and the other crocheted from the same dark lilac twinkly man-made yarn. They were created separately, and both were surrounded by a row of crochet using a very soft and slinky recycled sari yarn - then they waited patiently for the rest of the scrumble to evolve.

The main, central part of the scrumble was made as one piece, with random sections added onto the initial red knitted area... then the hearts were joined on using crochet (slip stitches worked from the back to join the top one, but 4 short sections of chain stitch for the lower, pendant one)

Along with the twinkly stuff, some of the other yarns used include wool (a lovely chunky single), cotton (various mercerized), silk (a soft but still 'crunchy' handspun mulberry silk from India) and acrylic (an ancient find in my stash - must be over 20 years old)

Reds and oranges always seem to be really difficult to photograph well, but the detail should show up a bit better once you click on the thumbnail.

(...and I'm already working on #39, so it shouldn't be too long before I post here again)

scrumble #33

A Valentine's Heart!

I didn't really start off with that in mind.

The initial circles bore no resemblance to a heart shape as they were joined; but when I added some random crochet lacy stitches around the edge of the circles it suddenly wanted to become that shape, so I built it up with the novelty yarn around the outside.

this one measures 25cm wide x 20cm deep

Week #31

here is my latest blog scrumble. am visiting NYC at the moment, and heading out shortly for a class...so no time to write about it at present. if you have any questions about how this one is made feel free to ask, and i will get back to reply in a day or two.

scrumble # 30

This week's scrumble started with the crochet spiral flower in the centre.

Similar to those described in my 'never too many Handbags' book, it has a single colour base, then surface stitches are worked into the back loops of the stitches in the previous round of the spiral.

Once it was the desired size, I worked rows of slip stitches for surface embellishment.

The first round was worked into the 'free' front loops of the base stitches, then another round of slip stiches was worked into these slip stitches, and then another into those. Ruffles were formed by increasing as these embellishments were made.

I then picked up stitches and knitted various small areas outwards from behind the spiral.

Other crochet stitches were added between the knitted areas, and onto their edges.

Yarns used included wool, mohair, silk, various synthetics and a wool and linen mix.

Week 24

I finished this week's scrumble a few days ago, just in time to display (along with all of the scrumbles from the previous weeks) at my stand at the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair. The display is getting a lot of interest, and I hope to be able to continue showing the growing range of scrumbles at other shows around Australia throughout the year.

This one is a mixture of both crochet and knitting; there are some knitted slip stitch areas plus some knitted ribbed sections, together with many different round-ish crochet motifs, and some ruffles. The yarns were in various thicknesses - from a rather chunky, looped blend to some quite fine synthetics; they included mostly mohair or man-made glitzy stuff, along with some wool and a few scraps of cotton.

The purple flower motif was finished with a little embroidery to give definition to the petals, as they didn't appear to show up so well once the other crochet had been added around that particular motif; then I also finished off the centre of this flower by stitching on some commercially made floral art stamens.

week 23

My 23rd scrumble started with a couple of cables, knitted from a variegated slub cotton blend yarn. Then I added various crochet sections to the edges of each cable, using scraps of mohair and cotton. The blue floral motif was made next; I crocheted it in linen and edged it with a very fine mohair, then I hand stitched the 3 sections together.

A few stitches were then picked up into the crochet using a knitting needle, and I knitted the grey and brown striped section on the left. Next came 2 random circular crochet motifs; when completed these were joined on to the sides of the knitted square, using crochet slip stitches, before the yarn used for the outside rounds of the crochet was finished off. The round open floral motif on the upper right was also crocheted separately and then joined.

To give balance to the scrumble, a few small cups (crochet 'dome' shapes used upside down) were made and stitched to the surface, and then four 'fairy wing' variations (like those found in my 'Freeform' book) were also created separately and then added around the edge.

Week 21

This week's scrumble is made with cotton, wool, silk, hemp, a few odds and ends of a Japanese paper yarn, and some man-made fibres. The rough hemp twine gives an interesting contrast to the other yarns, whether crocheted (as in the beaded flower on the right) or knitted (the sections at the top and left-hand edges). I am currently working on a much larger project that incorporates this yarn, and even though it is a little difficult to work with (a bit rough on the hands and overtwisted) I am enjoying seeing how it reacts to different stitches.

I was running a little bit late with this scrumble, but I almost have Week 22 done, too, so that one should be up by tomorrow!

week 13 scrumble

This week's scrumble was actually finished on time, as were the next few that I will also be posting shortly...it just took me a while to get around to taking the photos, but I will soon be up to date again with the blog posts...as far as Week 16

This piece is almost totally crochet. Yarns used include mohair, wool, cotton and various synthetics, including a pretty sparkly nylon yarn that didn't photograph very well. The 3 little flower motifs around the edge are from my 'never too many Handbags' book.
Measures about 25cm (10") x 18cm (7")

a lacy floral crumble for week 12

I created this week's scrumble around the purple flower motif - it is simply long chain loops worked in a circle, and then covered from the wrong side with enough half treble stitches (US: hdc) to firm up the edges of each petal. Next the green/yellow random crochet was worked outwards from either side. The smaller flower and the slip stitch embellished star motif each started separately, and were joined to the main piece with crochet slip stitches wherever the points touched. A single small bobble was made and attached, then the scrumble was turned over to the wrong side and the crochet continued to edge just one side. A few rows of random lacy stitches were worked around the lower edge with a varieagated lurex yarn. Finally two dark purple sparkly cupped flowers were added to the surface.

Week 10

I had a short length of red French knitting (i-cord) left over from the Week 2 scrumble, so decided to work with reds again this time. Began by making the crochet spiral and randomly joining on a few more crochet motifs, added the cord, then a couple of knitted triangles, and finally more crochet, including domes, popcorns and various mesh areas. I always like the look of scrumbles with 'pointy' edges. They work well when fitting pieces together, too; the 'sticking out bits' help the pieces interlock, sort of like a jig-saw puzzle, and also make the seams show up less than when joining longer straightish edges.

Week 7

OK, I realize this week's scrumble is a very much a 'typically Prudence' effort , but I have been pretty busy, and I still seem to find kniting garter stitch leaf shapes a relaxing way to start a piece . The coarse wool yarn used for the leaf that started this one must have been in my stash at least 20 years; the yellowy-lime sections were crocheted with 2 very thin yarns together - an ultra-thin cotton thread which periodically morphed into short sections of bright, thick slubs, held along with a very finely fringed, sparkly nylon yarn. The centres of the blue circle motifs were crocheted with a French rayon tape, and the lurex yarn used to decorate the leaf is probably almost as old as the wool it embellishes...see what treasures a good clean out right to the back of the stash can unearth!
size approximately 28cm (11") x 15cm (6")

Week 5

Even though it's mostly blue I feel as though I want to call this week's scrumble a Purple People Eater (...blue people eater definitely doesn't have the same ring!) I think it is because the little inverted domes on short crochet cords, a la 'Romainian point lace', remind me of the eyes of space creature drawings from my youth.
size approximately 20cm (8") x 18cm (7")

scrumble for week 4

This week's scrumble started with the lime green crochet spiral. Before cutting off the yarn I added points around the edge. The stitches were worked in the back loops only, so that further embellishment could easily be added onto the surface. A row of slip stitches was then worked, from the wrong side, around the outside points of the spiral motif. Then a couple of knitted slip stitch triangles were added - they were begun using a combination of both casting on and picking up of the stitches, each onto 3 of the points of the spiral. Other random crochet was also added to complete the piece.
size approximately 38cm (15") x 20cm (8")