Freeform Knitting and Crochet

Are you one of those people that never wanted to color inside the lines? Are you happier inventing your own way of doing things than you are in following a pattern? Do you love wild shapes and textures?

Then Freeform Knitting and Crochet may be for you.

I first got into this in the 1970's when it was called organic fiber arts. At the time macramé and hippy crafts were having a revival and folk art was making a big impact. Then in the 80's I made a fantastical rock opera style robe to wear to street fairs. People stopped me constantly to ask me how to make one just like it! I told them it was a one of a kind original and I couldn't make another one just like it even if I tried.

Since then that creative process has been bubbling away and gathering momentum.

Freeform crochet is a modular form. You make random sized pieces sometimes called "Scrumbles" and then you put them together to form garments and purses and wall hangings. It's a lot of fun because everything is original and very much like painting with yarns, ribbons, beads, seashells and found objects.

Some people like to toss each ‘scrumble' in a bin and figure out what to do with it later.

Others sort their piles by color or texture.

It really helps to have a dress form. Or talk a friend into helping you pin it all together. I love to use safety pins to temporarily attach all the parts together.

To be good at freeform you need to know how to increase and decrease so you can make squares, triangles, circles and amoeba type shapes. It's a great way to use up leftover bits of yarn. Sometimes freeform artists swap pieces with each other to add more variety to the look.

More photos here: http://flickr.com/groups/scrumbles/

A very busy Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FFCrochet/

I just found out I'm going to be teaching FF crochet and knitting in November at a major retailer. So I'm going to make up a bunch of samples to give people the idea. What a great opportunity to help people break free of following patterns and blaze a new trail.

Since I have a crochet class to teach tonight, I was reviewing some things. I randomly grabbed Silvia Cosh's Crochet Sweater Book off my bookshelf and realized her butterfly sweater would be a perfect format for a freeform crochet project! I think I will make it in shades of purple and blue and maybe some metallic silver for pizazz. I was surprised to see this book from the '80's is still available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Crochet-Sweater-Book-Sylvia-Cosh/dp/0517564785/sr=1-2/qid=1163007939/ref=sr_1_2/104-7623166-2246324?ie=UTF8&s=books

The how to instructions are excellent and will be a big help in tonight's class.