Jimbo and his giant hook "Dippy"
We often don’t think about the tools we use to crochet, because with time and practice if we get a hook shaped object we can use it to make almost anything. Either that, or we do the same kinds of projects with such frequency that we just crochet on auto-pilot. There is nothing wrong with that at all, auto-pilot can be a great sanity saving place to be. However, my crochet world opened to a universe of potential when I discovered two things, fiber properties and hook shape (anatomy).
I hadn’t really thought much about either of these subjects for the first 25 years of my crocheting life. After all, yarn was yarn and hooks were hooks. The moment I gained a new awareness about fiber and hooks, my projects changed, my creativity exploded and I began to look at my creations in a whole new light. I know I’m not the only one, because on the CLF message board, and in personal meet ups with fellow hooksters, this is a common kind of shop talk. The great thing is, you can’t know it all! You can try, but there is always something new to learn, some iota of information that you hadn’t considered, some teensy tid bit of knowledge that is the key to unlocking that certain something you didn’t know you were looking for but it will change your world forever.
At the retreat our break out sessions are designed to give you, the crocheter that experience of AH HA and to share your own personal observations with fellow retreat goers! Jim “Jimbo” Price, hook carver extra ordinaire and Julia Meek Chambers (Bikermom on Ravelry) will be leading break out sesssions dedicated to hook anatomy and how it affects the stitches you make. Who knew that even though you don’t need a specially designed hook to make bullion stitches, having one can make your life easier? Who knew that the throat design of the hook had so much to do with your stitch definition? Who knew that some times metal is the only way to go with certain fibers, and like wise with others wood may be the most appropriate? All of this and more will be available to ALL retreat goers! It’s the ultimate crochet geek fest!
Day 7: Instructions
Ok, for those who need a little more guidence this day is for you. For you free form veterans, you know you can do your own thing so talk amongst yourselves and create beautiful crochet.
Obviously these tiny blurbs of instructions are going to make creating a long vest slow going. So, here’s some advice from yours truly. If you are making the vest, take the schematics and either print out the picture or free hand draw it, then create sections of your own inside the lines. These will be in the form of shapes. I used a lot of rectangles and trapezoids to make my vest, you can do it with any shape you want if you have the confidence. Once you have a fair idea of how you want your shapes to be, then embellish from my instructions each day. Say you want a 7in wide by 6 inch long piece to put on one of your panels, well take a piece we’re working on, and crochet around it to match. Clear as mud? Feel free to ask questions here, on Facebook and on our Ravelry group.
Now for the instructions for the day:
With a new yarn and hook, do a 4×6 inch piece of double crochet basketweave. I do this using a front post, back post rhythm in repetitions of 4 (4 fpdc, 4bp dc for 4 rows and then change it up)…need a tutorial check this one out on Youtube created by Thersa of Art of Crochet
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