"Event Plaid" crocheting

[Elle]

I was watching "Uncommon Threads" Tuesday morning, and they had a guest on who was crocheting what he called "Event Plaid" items. The way "Event Plaids" work is you take dates or numbers that are significant to a person and you base the crochet on those numbers. Each number is used individually, so the number 23, for instance, would be broken down into 2 and 3. For example, my birthday is 4/19/57, so I would choose five different yarns, and then do four rows in one yarn, one row of another, nine rows of a third yarn, five rows of another, and seven rows of the fifth type of yarn. The basis of the crochet is a filet background, and then the yarns are cross-woven through the gridword of the filet background in the same sequence that they were crocheted in the first place. It's a really neat idea, I think, and I'm going to try it as soon as I get some of my WIPs finished up and I have some free time. Here is a link to a photo of a pillow done in "Event Plaid": http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2007/05/10/duct242_1ca_e.jpg

It's interesting, isn't it?

 

Elle

[nikki]

That is a very cool idea! Thank you so much for sharing! I'm going to have to tinker with this...

[WendyLee]

That could be pretty cool. The pillow looks nice. Will have to thinkg about this one!

[Empress Busy Bee]

Interesting idea.

I don't care for his pillow though. Something less "shag" would have showed the technique off better, in opinon.

I think it'd work up cool in stripes or ripples using that method without the grid or weaving or plaid.

[NanaM3]

Yes I can see how this would work and how meaningful it would be to the recipient if one hooked a gift this way ... similar to a prayer shawl when the knitter is actually praying for the recipient during the knitting ... or the quilter uses colors and positioning that reflect the recipient's life.

 

I am planning to make something for friends who're leaving VT for CT. We are very close and belong to the same church so I had planned on the colors of VT and CT connected by verticals that repressent our church. And in it somehow will be the gorgeous burgandy of his native country Latvia which I went to visit and fell in love with.

 

So, why not use numbers for those very special projects. I will absolutely remember this great idea!

[Adreeyen]

Oooh, I could even see it as like words! y'know A=1 B=2 and such. Oh wow! That'd be too cool, esp for a baby blanket.

 

Or how bout this...

 

Do the horizontal like the words and the vertical like the numbers?

 

or for like a wedding or anniversary, vertical would be one name and horizontal the other name?

 

Ahhhh! I neeeeed more yarn!

[MaryPat]

Sounds like he was inspired by the Madame Defarge in the French Revolution and Dickens "Tale of Two Cities."

 

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/A-Tale-of-Two-Cities.id-126,pageNum-65.html

"As influential members of the revolutionary movement, the Defarges represent different aspects of the rebellion. Both are leaders, but Defarge focuses on organizing the Jacquerie while Madame Defarge records in her knitted registry the names of people marked for death."

[Feederofthepack]

I saw that and want to do one for my mom but all her "events" have numbers that don't work well. Even her address is bad!

[Jess.in.WI]

Interesting idea.

I don't care for his pillow though. Something less "shag" would have showed the technique off better, in opinon.

I think it'd work up cool in stripes or ripples using that method without the grid or weaving or plaid.

 

I agree, but what an interesting idea!

[Hooked]

I was thinking of Madame Defarge too!

 

I didn't like the yarn they chose because it was so busy. The baby blanket showed off the technique much better. I think that weaving in chains would be a nice alternative to strands of yarn.

[LittleJadeFrog]

OOH! OOH! OOOOOH! I think I might try this for my daughter's purse, bracelet, and coin purse....she has a friend too. I wanted to make them matching things for xmas! I like this idea!!!

[Granny Square]

Here's a pattern to use as a basis for tinkering to your own number codes:

 

http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/afghans/woven-scotch-plaid-afghan-pattern.html

 

or, very similar,

http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/afghans/highlander-afghan-pattern.html

[NanaM3]

I saw that and want to do one for my mom but all her "events" have numbers that don't work well. Even her address is bad!

 

think of how many stitches might be in a shell ...

[Janice]

I love Uncommon Threads! I have 5 shows taking up space on my TiVo I wish they covered crochet every day. It seems like about a third of the shows are crochet projects.

 

I thought the event plaid was neat idea. I also just liked the idea of weaving in strips like that - maybe in a scarf of something.

[~Kel~]

what a neat idea, I have to keep this in mind for future gifts

[Elle]

I kind of liked the yarns that he chose for the example, but I was watching him crochet the grid, and the ribbon yarn looked awkward to work with. I think this would be a great idea for gifts for people, the idea behind it is so personal! I'll bet it goes quickly, too, because the grid will crochet up in nothing flat, and then the weaving part is all that remains, and that will DEFINITELY be quicker than crocheting. I don't catch that show every day, so I'm really glad that I happened to be watching on Tuesday.

 

Elle

[adagio]

I've used the same principles in needlepoint, making items with a diagonal plaid. I was stymied, though, in trying to do it in crochet. this may help. thanks for posting it!

Ruth

[SaxDragon]

I find it interesting that this kind of thing has been popular at various times throughout history, in the arts and music, either as a personal inspiration, coded messages, or attributed with some kind of magic powers (good or bad). I know a few people who would not appriciate this kind of gift based on their idea that 'numerology is evil' and others that would treaure it like a spun gold lucky charm - the problem is knowing which is which unless you know them really, really well :-)