Thursday, April 28, 2011

I'm Hooked!!


There seems to be a renewed interest in crochet at the moment.  I had drifted away from it over the years, as it went into serious decline for various reasons.  I suppose there is a whole new generation of 'hookers' now, all striving to perfect their stitches.  The one technique I had not tried in depth is Irish crochet.  The little motif above was taken from an ANNA magazine, August 1990.  This is supposed to be used as a brooch, but I can see it's potential as a dimensional addition to a tablemat.

The little grapes are fiddly to do, and are supposed to be 'filled' with wooden beads, but I've just pushed some fibrefill into them, as having used white thread, most wooden beads would be a little unsightly in my opinion.  All of the work has been done using #20 cotton.

Another motif I wanted to try entailed making mountains of loops which formed a frilly effect.  The instructions for this flower are in a Dover publication I bought years ago.  I didn't follow the instructions completely because they leave a lot to be desired.  After a general perusal of them, I went off and did a Frank Sinatra!!

I hope this photograph gives you an idea of the thickness of the work.  I'd like to try this 'flower' in a much finer thread, and perhaps use it with picot joining meshwork.  I think it reminds me of an aster.



Another type of lacework which I've become interested in uses a form of crochet tape.  The lengths of tape are made and fashioned into designs for leaves, flowers etc.  It is commonly known as Romanian Point Lace, or as ANNA calls it Macramé crochet lace.  It took me quite a while to work out exactly how to do the tape, ie where to put the hook through the correct two loops.  I can now say I'm totally hooked on making this tape, and can see it's use in other forms of textile work.  One really has no need to buy braid, just find an appropriate thread/yarn in your stash, and away you go.  It curves beautifully, and after forming petals and leaves, you fill the voided areas with lacework stitching.  I've again used #20 crochet thread, and apologize if it's a little small to see well.   I will play a little more with this and post some work in due course, but I now have to get myself back into my hardanger.  It won't get done doing this!!

17 comments:

Jenny said...

Lovely! Have you checked out the book by Angela Thompson & Kathleen Waller on Romanian Point lace? There are lots of other decorative braids as well.

Vicki W said...

Oh what fun! I did lots of crochet in high school but that was a LONG time ago!

Julie T said...

Love that braid... I have made a couple of pieces of Romanian Point Lace and found it quite easy.... so made lots of braid to do a large piece.. needless to say something else took my eye and I never did finish it.
Love your new picture Linda.

Iceni UK said...

Linda, your crochet grapes and little flower look fabulous, when I saw them, I thought wow.
It looks complicated, yet from the comments it appears it is fairly easy to do.
Thank you for sharing and I love the new picture too.
Hugs for you

Sharne Gregory said...

I have only crocheted one item, a pram cover for a very close friend over 30 years ago. I now look at the instructions and they look double dutch. I can see lots of use for the flower and grapes motifs.

shirley said...

Gee Linda I have a box of crochet cottons someone gave me and they would be perfect for this. If ever you are over hee i would just love a lesson.

Juliettecherry said...

Your Irish crochet motif is really lovely. I have done some of it and have a waistcoat made some years ago. I crochet a lot, but mainly granny squares which don't require much concentration. Useful when watching TV. Thanks for your e-mail. Did start a reply and then..........pressed the wrong key and lost it.! Will reply soon.

Anne

Karyn said...

Linda, I love the new header.
I am in awe of your crochet; you know I can't do it!! I am waiting now to see what you do with them....

DIAN said...

Linda, this is so beautiful. I can see those motifs on a box top.
love the header too.

Radka said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Radka said...

I don't know what went wrong there! Lets try again..
Firstly, I love your new header, Linda! It gives a feeling of open, huge space. Beautiful..
Well done on your crochet!!! So pretty :)
It is interesting, how we are constantly looking for something else to do. I am currently looking at lace knitting. I made a lace shawl before, for my daughter. I think I am now ready to make another one, my memory having blanked out the bad bits by now, LOL!

Anonymous said...

You never cease to amaze me. Your Irish crochet is stunning and I love the flower and cant wait to see what you do with the cord. I do know it will be gorgeous.

WandarArt.Stitch said...

W O W !!!Linda! To the beautiful leaves and the rest of the work, this is beautiful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

I am looking for the pattern of the grape-leave and grapes ! I know it comes out of "Anna" august 1990 - I also made it at that time, but I don't have the magazine anymore :-(
Could it be possible to send me a copy of the pattern? I already contacted "Anna" but they don't have it anymore in their archives.
I would love to make this again , so if you could help me I would be so gratefull

TY very much
Lea Vermeylen
Antwerp - Belgium

julzyanna said...

Hello!

I love your work! I have been looking to make something for my Nanna and I know she would absoulutely love the grape and leaf desing from the ANNA magazine.

I am wondering if you could let me know if I can find a copy of this pattern somewhere?

Kind regards
Julieanne

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