Sunday, November 26, 2017

Experimenting with Pattern Creation

As I said in the last post, I've been having trouble concentrating on patterns, ending up frogging repeatedly until I give up. I have tried favorite patterns and that helped a little, but not a lot.

So I decided to try inventing a pattern of my own. I figure if something goes wrong, since I'm the creator, I can just say it's not a mistake...it's something creative and avant-garde and I planned it that way! This in turn makes me a little less stressed as I'm not constantly on the lookout for mistakes.

I chose to make a hat. I don't have many as I don't wear them much, but it seemed it would be fairly simple. Although I knit more than I crochet, I chose to crochet as I thought it would be easier to do in the round than knitting. I chained a reasonable amount of stitches, then started on a crochet ribbing that would go sideways around the rim of the hat. Measuring frequently, and ripping back or adding more, I eventually got what seemed the right amount of stitches.

For the cap part, I started out with a shell pattern, but it was too complex for me to figure out how to decrease properly, so I went back and pulled out all the rows of shells except the first one. Then I just did DC but regularly decreased to the top, where I was down to a few stitches. I threaded the yarn on a tapestry needle, pulled it through the last few stitches and fastened off. Tried it on:


Didn't like the look of that. It needed something else. I tried to make a pompom and failed miserably. So I decided on a flower with a decorative button in the center. Here's what I came up with:










I think it looks better, though I'll never be a hat person.

Anyway, then I decided to make a matching scarf. As I was working, it occurred to me I have 3 other buttons that match the one on the hat, so I plan to make buttonholes at one end and sew the 3 buttons on the other end. That way it can be a cowl or a scarf. What do you think so far?





I'm not a genius, but I am enjoying creating my own patterns. If you haven't tried it yourself, check it out! You'll have fun too.

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