Crochet Charm Lace Along

[textilefusion]

I'm hosting a Crochet Charm Lace Along, with lots of support over at my blog, in hopes of enticing you to try this interesting technique! 

 

Crochet Charm Lace is made of separate motifs that can be made in any yarn, any fiber, any size.  Gauge is not important.  (Did you break into a smile when you read that last bit?) 

 

Basically, you crochet and finish a bunch of  motifs.  Arrange and pin them face-down on a fabric template (it will not be part of your finished project).  Sew the motifs together wherever they touch.  Remove pins and fabric, turn over the finished piece, and be amazed!

 

Because the holidays can be so busy, the end of January seems like a good finish date. 

 

Please post here if you want to join in--then we can help each other.

 

Find more detailed instructions with photos here:

 

Choosing Yarn:  http://www.textilefusion.com/bookblog/?p=740

Choosing Motifs:  http://www.textilefusion.com/bookblog/?p=748

Make a Template and Crochet Motifs:  http://www.textilefusion.com/bookblog/?p=757

Arranging Motifs:  http://www.textilefusion.com/bookblog/?p=766

Why It's Called Crochet Charm Lace:  http://www.textilefusion.com/bookblog/?p=705

[magiccrochetfan]

Suzann, those pieces are beautiful! Interesting idea!

[textilefusion]

Thanks!  I hope you'll try it.  It's kind of different.  When people first see it they say, "Is that freeform?" and then immediately they say, "Oh, I see it isn't."  If you want to think of it that way, it's a controlled freeform.  The motifs are from a pattern, but how you put them together is unique to  you.

[howieann]

That could be fun!

[textilefusion]

That could be fun!

 

Yes, it could!  You can make  small piece, just to get the hang of it.

[greyhoundgrandma]

Wow! That sounds like the perfect way to put together a motif afghan. I have made the motifs for one (there are several difference sizes), but never got around to putting it together. There are no specific instructions for putting it together, just look at the photo. I have been dreading trying to figure out exactly how to connect the motifs.

[lynnf2012]

I'm in!  Looks like fun.

[textilefusion]

Mona, you've got me curious about the afghan you're making.  It's weird that there are no instructions for putting it together.  Is there a picture of it online that we can see? 

 

You could arrange the motifs and sew them together like Crochet Charm Lace.  It wouldn't hurt to try.

[textilefusion]

lynnf--yay!  I'm glad you're in. 

 

The first step is choosing yarns and motifs--yarns can be anything.  There are so many motif books and patterns out now, that the major problem will be to whittle down your choices. 

 

Do you already have colors and motifs in mind?

[lynnf2012]

Thanks Suzann.  Need to do some research in terms of motifs.  Lots of stash yarn.  Going to study your blog and maybe buy your book.  Not quite ready to start crocheting but ready to start planning.

[loocahswit]

this is fun...i hope i can join but i only have a few yarns...

 

[loocahswit]

for me motifs are challenging to make...

[greyhoundgrandma]

Mona, you've got me curious about the afghan you're making.  It's weird that there are no instructions for putting it together.  Is there a picture of it online that we can see? 

 

You could arrange the motifs and sew them together like Crochet Charm Lace.  It wouldn't hurt to try.

It's the temair throw --- http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80232AD.html

There's a drawing of the placement in the pattern, but from the finished photos I have seen there is a lot of difference in the way people have attached the motifs and how much space is left between them.

I think using the crochet charm lace technique would be a big advantage in deciding how much to have the motifs touching and how much open space to leave.

[textilefusion]

loocahswit--a few yarns are fine!  You can use what you have leftover from other projects.  I have been thinking about making a Crochet Charm Lace project with only one yarn in only one color.  It might be very elegant looking. 

 

You said that making motifs might be challenging for you.  You can find easy flower motifs online and also in the  many flower crochet books we have on the market (and hopefully in the library, too).  If you choose a motif from one of my books, I'll be glad to do a tutorial for it on my blog, which should help. 

 

It's great that you want to challenge yourself--it's how you learn and grow as a crocheter.

[textilefusion]

Mona, amazingly I have seen that pattern before.  It is very pretty.  And yes, you could rearrange the motifs and even create the same motifs with smaller yarns to fill in some of the spaces.  Unless you have a place where you can lay everything out and leave it, you will need a good-sized template.  A bed sheet would probably work well.

[textilefusion]

The daisies for my Crochet Charm Lace project are finally finished, including sewing the crocheted centers in place and weaving in the ends. 

 

But they turned out all curly.  That always happens to me with those one-row petals. 

 

Time to block!

 

Time to blog about blocking!  You will find instructions and photos about blocking here: 

 

http://www.textilefusion.com/bookblog/?p=789

 

 

Here are the before and after pictures:

[textilefusion]

Finally finished crocheting motifs and then pinned them!

 

Anyone else making progress?

 

 

[loocahswit]

il try to finish my scarf soon so i can join u..i only got a few thread yarns left which i think i can use...

[textilefusion]

Good luck with the scarf, and thanks for joining us!

[loocahswit]

the motif for this CAL is flower only right?

[hhensler]

Love this idea, and your paisleys are totally gorgeous!!!

[textilefusion]

>> the motif for the CAL is flower only right? <<

 

loocahswit--they don't have to be flowers.  You want motifs that you can put together in a free form way, like odd shapes and different sizes.  For mine, I have only two slightly different flower patterns, but they are different sizes because I used all different kinds of yarn.

 

If you study the photos in the first post of this topic, you can get an idea of what might work.  Mostly I used flowers, but the pink scarf also has paisleys, and some of the other projects have leaves.  Do you see what I mean about fitting the motifs together in almost a free-form arrangement?.

[textilefusion]

Well, it's pretty silly when the organizer of the Crochet Along can't meet her own deadline!  But that's what happened. It was for a good reason, though!

 

Last month I got a magazine project, which was a Crochet Charm Lace scarf.  It's so pretty.  Whenever it comes out--probably in the fall--I will post on Crochetville to tell you about it.

 

Anyway, if you haven't started your Crochet Charm Lace project or haven't finished it (like me), let's give ourselves some more time. 

 

How about a new deadline of the end of March? 

 

Oh, I did start sewing my orange flowers together.  I can never wait to finish sewing before I peek at the finished bits.  Here's a photo:

 

[lynnf2012]

Haven't even started.  Bought your books and got excited but with babies coming and stuff, working on baby blankets.  Can't wait to try this.

[textilefusion]

Thanks for the compliment, bhensler!

 

lynnf, baby blankets are way more important!  Maybe decorate them with crocheted flowers?