#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 # 35

here is my next freeform piece - the red leaf shape was knitted first, using garter stitch, then chains were crocheted through the knitting to create the 'veins'.

a few glass beads were stitched on (just because
i happened to run across them shortly after i had finished knitting the leaf and they matched). Then a piece of very old, hand-knotted Japanese fishing net was placed over the entire leaf.

i have added a close-up showing the net. i bought it once at a textile conference, ages ago - just because it looked interesting - but i hadn't found a use for it until now.

to hold the net in place i added lots of little areas of freeform crochet to the edges of the leaf; they were worked over the fishnet at the same time as working into the knitting, to attach it securely.

this piece measures approximately 36cm (14") in length x 18cm (7") at the widest part.

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 9

This week's scrumble definitely thinks it is a tidal rock pool. If the photo seems a little small and you can't see all the detail please take another look next week; I will change it to a better size next week when I am back to my own computer.
edited to say photo is all fixed up; click on the thumbnail to see this scrumble in all its glory ;-)