I haven't written any patterns since my Checkered Hat, but I still have some ideas that I want to develop. It just seems like I hardly have time anymore, so when I do crochet I tend to follow patterns for small, instant-gratification items. However, wanting to design more has made me pay more attention to texture and construction of crocheted items. It's amazing how much there is to learn out there.
When I stumbled upon the basic method of tapestry crochet years ago, I fell in love with the idea of the technique. A way to work in several colors without having to weave in a bazillion ends? It's heaven. Suddenly, I had a technique that I could adapt to make colorful hats without the tedious chore of weaving in lots of ends. The addition of color to a simple pattern can really make an item pop. For instance, my checkered hat is just a simple head hugging beanie, but the checkered pattern makes it eye-catching and unique. The same pattern worked a single color becomes a lot less interesting.
Ever since I discovered tapestry crochet, I've been paying attention to beading patterns, cross-stitch patterns, and anything else that looked like it would translate well into tapestry crochet. I've been doodling on graph paper, trying to draw little pixel pictures that would look okay in crochet. It never occured to me that I was still thinking inside the box (literally) until I saw this.
It's a tapestry crocheted bag I bought at a local fiber festival, featuring a llama motif and made out of llama fiber. However, I didn't buy it merely because it's pretty. (But isn't it gorgeous?)
The crocheted image is worked in a circle, which completely blew my mind. It never occurred to me that I wasn't limited to constructing my images in squares. Even when I work in tubes (aka hats), the images I was envisioning were still basically squares, because all a tube is is a square (or rectangle) that has been gently folded back on itself.. The price for the bag was extremely reasonable ($20) so I snatched it up and geeked out over the construction technique. My dad, who knows nothing about crochet, was less impressed.
Now, I don't know if I'm smart enough to actually design anything like this, but my mind is suddenly opened to the possibilities. It's items like this that remind me that I don't know as much as I think I do. But y'know, that's a good thing. ^_^
