Simply Crafted Knitting

Freeform Knitting and Crochet Classes

I've always been one to try and improve on patterns, recipes, or really anything with instructions. For me, a project always seems much more interesting when I can customize it at least a little bit. So I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually be drawn to freeform knitting – an entire art form dedicated to creating garments and other items without any patterns at all!

Back in 2003, when Debbie New published Unexpected Knitting, her incredible collection of knitting experiments, I started thinking about ways to apply her techniques. Inspired by her chapters on freeform, scribble lace, and swirl knitting, I knit two freeform ponchos – Cobweb Cape and Wedding Cape. I still love these initial attempts, particularly the way the scribble lace highlights the multi-directional knitting.

I still pore through books looking for new techniques (see tomorrow's post), but most of my recent inspiration has come from a series of freeform classes: Freeform Handbags with Prudence Mapstone at Lacis in Oakland, Beyond Creative Knitting with Valentina Devine at the TKGA conference in Oakland, and more recently, a freeform knitting class at Artfibers.

I'm so happy that I attended these workshops! As a mostly self- and book-taught knitter, I've generally avoided knitting classes. Partly because they seem rather expensive and partly because my anti-authoritarian streak can make it difficult for me to obediently follow along as some gives step by step instructions. I'd much rather jump right in and see what I come up with! But freeform classes have been a wonderful surprise. First, the instructors were so warm and encouraging – how could anyone not enjoy the classes? Then, of course, freeform lends itself to classes with very few rules and no admonishments. Perfect! Finally, the participants in each workshop were part of what made the classes truly wonderful. I met so many interesting (and entertaining!) people with a wide range of experience from adventurous beginners to women who have been freeforming for decades. After these wonderful experiences, I definitely intend to keep looking for workshops. Well, maybe not all workshops, but certainly those for freeform!

Freeform Handbags with Prudence Mapstone
Prudence Mapstone(www.knotjustknitting.com) is an incredibly gifted fiber artist who combines freeform knitting and crochet to make any number of items, including garments and handbags. You can see examples of her work in her online gallery (link) and in the online exhibit "2005: Irish Crochet to Freeform" at Lacis.

I was a bit concerned about taking her class because my experience with crochet has been limited to an occasional edge on a knit sweater. Luckily, I knew enough to embellish freeform knit pieces with reverse crochet, and both Prudence and the other participants in the class were happy to demonstrate bullions and other more complex stitches.

Although I have been experimenting with knit stitches for a while, for some reason it really took this class for me to realize how equally creative one can be with just a couple simple crochet stitches. Actually, the combination of knitting and crochet seems even more impressive -- one of those situations where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

I finished the project I started Prudence's handbag class by by trying out as many of the stitches as I could from her books: Freeform: Serendipitous Design Techniques for Knitting and Crochet, Never Too Many Handbags, and Bullions & Beyond. I also threw in a couple embroidered embellishments (those years of embroidery classes as a kid finally put to some use!). I had initially planned to make a bag, but the three-ring binder that I use to store my circular needles and crochet hooks was just begging for a cover…so the bag will have to be the next project.

My freeform knit and crochet book cover:
 

Beyond Creative Knitting with Valentina Devine
Valentina Devine is another superb fiber artist who combines knitting and crochet. I first read about her in Melanie Falick's 1996 book Knitting in America (also recently republished as America Knits), and remember being quite moved by her knit piece entitled Scream, which she designed as statement about the horrors of WWII. I've had more trouble finding images of Valentina's work online. Some of her patterns are available at LaLanaWools, and there is a brief summary of her work here.

Like Prudence, Valentina is an incredibly warm, enthusiastic teacher. She taught two classes at the TKGA conference – one on freeform straight-sided shapes and one on circular and irregular shapes. I took the second one, and loved it. The two images show two of the techniques she taught: (1) knitting irregular shapes (embellished here with crocheted ruffles and connected with crochet chains) and (2) swirling shapes that grow from a center square.

I've made some progress on the pieces I started in her class. The following WIP will probably be a shawl or cape when finished. At the moment, it's still mostly knit with some small crocheted and embroidered embellishments. Once I have the base pieces complete, I'll embellish away with more of the crochet stitches I learned while completing the book cover.

My freeform WIP:

Freeform Knitting at Artfibers
I also took a freeform class at Artfibers a couple of weeks ago. While the techniques were ones that I had already learned in the previous two classes, the class was still a great deal of fun. By far the best parts of the workshop were the opportunity to knit madly with a large number of Artfibers yarns and the group of amazing knitters who participated. It was definitely a very lively group! And of course I had to follow up with some yarn purchases, including the standard visit to their back room full of scraps and bargains. Ideal for getting small amounts of yarn for freeform projects!

I turned the scrumble that I made in this class into a wildly-colored freeform hat that combined the techniques that I had learned in all three classes. The instructor at Artfibers had encouraged us to start with vivid, contrasting colors that we wouldn't normally choose. After the class, I decided to stick with the color scheme, added more swaths of similar colors using the swirl knitting technique we learned in Valentina Devine's class. Then I finished with some reverse crochet to tie everything together, much as we learned to do in Prudence Mapstone's class.

My freeform (mostly knit) hat:

Online Inspiration
As this entry is getting much too long, I will write another entry later about resources and some of the amazing class participants. In the meantime, you can find more freeform inspiration at the following sites:

Group Exhibitions
In addition to her own gallery, Prudence Mapstone maintains several online exhibitions for freeform enthusiasts, both knitters and crocheters:
If the Hat Fits: http://ifthehatfits.knotjustknitting.com/
A Girl Can Never Have Too Many Handbags: http://handbags.knotjustknitting.com/
ScarfCrazy: http://scarfcrazy.knotjustknitting.com/

International Freeform Crochet
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ffcrochet/
Many of the core members of this group were at Prudence's Handbag class, as well as at the CGOA conference that was held in the same location as the TKGA conference. Their yahoo group, ffcrochet, is a very active one! I tend to lurk on the list…enjoying the conversation, but not saying much. Most of the members focus on crochet, and since I still view myself as a knitting gal who uses crochet for accents, I find the list a bit intimidating. Still, it is a wonderful group of people, and there are several lists of useful resources and many inspiring pictures in the members' photo albums.

Scrumblers Gallery
http://crochet.nu/scrumblersgallery/gallery/index.html)
This is another location with many beautiful examples of freeform crochet.

Artwear Exhibit at the Legion of Honor

The Sunday before last, I went out to the Legion of Honor to walk around and to see the Artwear Exhibit they have there. The day was absolutely gorgeous, with stunning views of downtown and Marin. I really should make it out there more often. The exhibit was good, but rather small  -- I went through once with a docent who was giving an hourly tour, and then again by myself. Her stories and commentary was interesting, but somehow a bit off. For one thing, she skipped over virtually all of the knit and crochet pieces, which were my main reason for wanting to see the exhibit. Oh well. At least I got to examine them at my own pace I went back around.

Last night, I finally got around to reading the show catalog (Artwear: Fashion and Anti-Fashion by Melissa Leventon). The book is a good summary of the exhibit, as well as an overview of the artwear movement in the US, but I would have liked more detail on some of the artists and their techniques. My favorite artwear/fiber arts books are still The Fiberarts Book of Wearable Art by Katherine Duncan Aimone and Memory on Cloth: Shibori Now by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, both of which focus more on the artists.

My favorite pieces in the Artwear catalog are:

• Oaks (1988) by Tim Harding - A large kimono with an amazing landscape created by slashing and fraying multiple layers of fabric. It never occurred to me that reverse applique could be this complex.
  
• (1975) by Dina Knapp - A beautiful quilted red, black, and yellow kimono with interlinking, sinuous strips of crochet winding around the front and back.
  
• Helen's Hat (1985) by Arline Fisch - A wonderful hat made from machine-knit copper wire.
  
• Mermaid Dress (1999) by Genevieve Dion - A stunning dark silk dress created using shibori techniques.
  
• Rain Coat: San Francisco Bay (1999) by Jean Williams Cacicedo - The "rain" refers to pierced holes all over this great purple felted coat. The edges of the coat show dark silhouettes of San Francisco landmarks.
  
• Sit on It (1980) and Headdress II (1975) by Norma Minkowitz - These amazing hats are crocheted using a very thin yarn (I would never have the patience to do anything like them!). My favorite of the two is covered with organic trumpet-like shapes, and has crocheted curls coming down on both sides.
  
• Aflame (2002) by Thomas Horst - Wow. Felting taken to a whole new level! This ball gown is entirely felted, with three-dimensional flame-like tongues covering the entire skirt and popping up from the top of the bodice.
  
• Inspiration of Falling Woods (2000) and Deep, Dark Leaves (1999) by Jeung-Hwa Park - I was delighted to see samples of her felted knit scarves in person. I'd been seeking out pictures of her work ever since I read about her in Interweave Knits a couple years ago. The combination of felting with subtle dyeing is really gorgeous.
  

Now that I've had a chance to read the book, as well as do some quick Google searches on some of the artists, I will definitely need to go back for another look.

Unexpected Knitting

Well, going through The Art of Knitting got me to pull out Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting again. When I started rereading it, I realized that like Teva Durham and Barbara Walker, Debbie New discusses her patterns and knitting techniques in a way that inspires me to adopt her adventurous approach to knitting.

Unexpected Knitting covers a range of techniques, some of which I think she introduced previously in knitting magazines. The book is divided into ten "galleries," each of which introduces a new technique -- swatchless knitting, free form knitting, scribble lace knitting, swirl knitting, sculptural knitting, virtual knitting, cellular automation knitting, ouroborus knitting, labyrinth knitting, and miscellaneous. Each gallery begins with an introduction that includes both examples of Debbie New's own work and her detailed explanation of the technique; she follows with several patterns that demonstrate the technique.

Although the patterns are amazing (if not all necessarily my taste), it is really the pictures of Debbie New's creations and the sections describing each new technique that make the book one of my favorites. I've definitely been inspired by several techniques in the book, most notably scribble lace knitting (which is essentially knitting with stripes of thick and thin yarns on large needles) and swirl knitting (creating sinuous curves and swirls by decreasing or increasing across a row). These two techniques inspired two freeform capes:Cobweb and Wedding.

Barbara Walker's Books

A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, as well as Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns and Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns are my favorite sources for stitch patterns. Aside from the vast array of patterns, the best part of the books is the the commentary on each of the patterns. It's like having access to someone's personal notes on how each stitch knits up, how it could be used, and how it could be varied.

There is also a fourth pattern book, A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns that I don't have (yet). I also love another of her books, Knitting from the Top.

Loop-d-Loop

I am so happy that Teva Durham has her own book, Loop-d-Loop -- with over 40 patterns! I love how her modern stylish (but not too trendy) patterns tend to introduce a new way of looking at some aspect of knitting. Some of the patterns aren't new; I already own some of the ones that were on her website, www.loop-d-loop.com. But the beautiful photos and her commentary on how she approached each design still make the book well worth it.