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Lately I have been thinking a lot about how I started out designing with crochet. That’s probably because…
I will be presenting and teaching at the Crochet Guild Australia Crochet Conference in Sydney next month!!! I can’t wait for our crochet community to come together – make sure you come along for a day - or the whole thing! There will be a gazillion different classes – for all levels of crocheters, a yarn market, a gala dinner with fashion show, a cruise – the list goes on and on!! CROCHET FUN GALORE!
The CGA conference runs June 1-3rd in the centre of Sydney and there will be an amazing array of world-class crochet designers and teachers there and I am VERY excited to be one of them! If you are in Sydney early June definitely add it to your to do list – there is something for everyone! SO MANY workshops and you can check them all out and book via this link.
I will be teaching a “Getting Into Garments” workshop – how to approach a garment pattern so your finished project fits you! …and I will be giving a little presentation talking about my journey as a designer – thus all the pondering about how I started out and the things that gave me inspiration. Which brings me to this little blog post!
Post treble ribbing was a bit of a revelation for me. My grandmother had only taught the basic set of ss, ch, dc, htr & tr. Way back when I was exploring new stitches beyond this set, I worked some post treble ribbing as a swatching exercise, not expecting to like it but LOVED it! It was pretty much the birth of Peppergoose because I immediately though OMG I should try designing a crochet sweater!!!
The yarns that inspired me back then were the laceweight luxury kind. Expensive tastes – yep! Just so light and delicate! And a little bit goes a LOOOONG way, even further if the project is lacy…. Treble ribbing in a laceweight yarn is like the ultimate for me – it shows her knitting sister what-for with it’s defined yet delicate structural ridges!
Maybe you have never dipped your crochet hook in the laceweight waters, and if so, hopefully this little project I am working on might be a great way to explore!? The key word is little, and the inclusion of the crochet hook gives some context for how small. Small projects are a brilliant way to build skills.
I am working a textured lace to go with the treble ribbing. Puffs galore! I love their squish factor and they pop up in my designs often – particularly in a lace stitch pattern.
The other side of the project has some solid fabric to offset the lace. There is a functional purpose to this – you’ll see why on the finished pics in my next blog post. The image below highlights the contrast – it makes me think “just like a crochet-puff sunrise!!” Lol.
The yarn I am using here is a 2ply 100% Superwash merino, with 390m per 50gram ball, meaning 7.8metres per gram. There are plenty of laceweight yarns on the market and my pattern is being tested in a few different options and I will post pics of a few tester projects next week, so you’ll be able to see how they worked up!
If you have a ball of laceweight yarn in your stash with a similar number of metres per gram, dig it out! You will only need about 200m to whip this up.
As always, you’ll be able to find help in my support group Pepper-Gaggle.
Check back next week!
Susannah (Peppergoose)
