Liebster Award!

The Liebster Blog Award has been around the blog world for some time and it works like a kind of chain mail. The Award is awarded from one blog owner to up to 11 of his/her favorite blogs (hence the Liebster which means favorite in Germany). He/she asks the awarded blog owner 11 questions which have to be answered.

I have been nominated by Michelle and Anne of Crochet Between Two Worlds. Thrilled that I've been nominated as somebody's favourite blog - woohoo! (Well, you know, one of, lol).

So, now I am to answer 11 questions, and I'm sure you are all sitting on the edge of your seats. :P

Here we go:

1. What is the name of your blog? And what does the name mean?

Ha ha. You're probably going to be sorry you asked this. My blog is called "Get Knotted Yarn Craft" and the name was suggested by my husband. I'm originally from Scotland. Over there, "Get knotted!!!" Means - get lost, or go away. LOL. I run a large facebook group and I was venting about an uproar on the group wall. My husband looked at me and said "It's crochet, what is there to be cranky about? You should start a page and call it "Get Knotted" and thus #GK was born. ;)

2. How many blogs do you follow?

A handful, and sporadically at that. At the moment I just don't have enough time. I'm too busy researching lovely stuff to share with everyone, or trying to design my own, or fulfilling requests, or a million other things. ;)

3. Do you have a creative soul? 

Yes. I always have and always will. Creating and teaching and sharing - it's at the very core of my being. Take that away from me and I am a husk. Everything I look at has the potential to be worked into a design for something else. I look at the world through the lenses of inspiration sources. Everything is a source. I have more interests and hobbies than you can poke a stick at - it's how I relate to the world.

4. At what age did you learn to crochet or knit?

I was 4 when I learned to knit. My Mum used to knit a lot. I remember her making school jumpers for our friends' sons. I don't know whether it was a birthday or Christmas, but I remember asking and asking to learn, and one day I had a set of tiny yellow needles and some tiny balls of coloured yarn. I made the longest ugliest scarf you have ever seen. It expanded and contracted irrationally and it had holes as well. But I was knitting just like Mummy and I was thrilled to bits.

I learned to crochet when I was 12. My Mum's best friend was teaching her, and I asked to be included. I made a square of trebles, then I did a row of granny's in every stitch on the final row. It of course buckled wildly. I played with it a bit, then I sewed up one side and turned it into a tube dress for my barbie. She could wear it either way, ruffles at the bottom for a Spanish feel, or ruffles at the top for a prom queen look. LOL.
I didn't get back into it until I was in my early twenties. Even then, it was a shawl and a layette set for my nephew - that I finished when he was 13 LOL. It's only in the last two years that my yarn art has taken off.
Well, there you go. Now you know me a bit better. ;) As for my nominations, I'll have to think about that for a bit. It can't be just ANY blog - it has to be my favourite. WATCH THIS SPACE.
<3

5. What are your future projects?

Well, we're doing the flower cushion by Attic 24 and the groovyghan by Tracy St John as CAL's next year, so yes, they will be there. Other than that, I'm trying to hold off on committing to stuff as I want to focus more on designing. 

6. Why do you blog?

To reach a different kind of audience. In Facebook it is much more intense and instant and the page moves on and stuff happens go go go. In a blog - it's there forever. People can find what you have shared years down the track - years after you are gone maybe? Here I can store my free patterns, and share my thoughts and joys with you all, and hopefully, together we can create something beautiful. <3

7. What will your Christmas look like this year?

Hot probably drought-like and very very busy. My parents are talking about coming down to stay for Christmas which would be awesome. We're a clergy family, so Christmas is always a little insane here. ;)

8. What are your plans for 2015?

No set plans as such. Lose weight always appears in the New Year's list lol. I'd like to focus more on designing and building my blog and Facebook pages up. 

9. If you could travel anywhere, which 3 places would you visit and why? 

1. Neuschwanstein Castle - I just love it. I have ALWAYS wanted to go there ever since I heard about it as a teen. 

2. UK - to see my family

3. Italy - we had a brief holiday there. I would love to explore it more

10.What made you smile today?

The sound of my boys playing together and giggling like loons. Nothing makes me smile more than the sound of someone I love, laughing. ;)

11. What do you do on a rainy Sunday?

We go to church. (See question 7). Rain, hail or shine, Sunday sees us in church.

Well, there you go. Now you know me a bit better. ;) As for my nominations, I'll have to think about that for a bit. It can't be just ANY blog - it has to be my favourite. WATCH THIS SPACE.

<3

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a ... sea urchin?

For me, designing stuff is a process, a journey, an unparalleled opportunity to expand my capacity for swearing... LOL! I'm sure that there are fabulous designers out there, who have way more experience than I do (which is why I keep trying, maybe one day I'll be one of them) who just think of a design, start working and with only a few small "frogs" get the thing out there to the testers. As yet, I'm not "one of them". :P

I do get there in the end. Or, it goes into a deep dark drawer for six months while I look at something else. So, I thought I'd share a bit of the journey for this pattern, which is going to be two patterns, because one of my "failures" was so beloved in the group, I can't not let it get out I guess. ;)

My Sea-Urchin.

It all started with a hat. Yes, a hat. (I'm laughing so hard at the memory right now, that I've had to walk away from the keyboard and get a cup of tea).

Ok, yes, it all started with a fabulous hat. I'm going to call it the "Hot Cross Hat". I've not seen anything like it before or since. There was a chap on a documentary who wore it. I think he said his Nan made it for him. He wore it most of the time on the show. It was crochet, a kind of newsboy hat, but the cup part of the hat was a ripple and basically ended up being a cross. I'm going to have another go at making one.

It looked so easy. (They always do). At times, I can be over-confident. "I'll have a go at that." is more often than not where my design process starts, although it's usually preceded by either a dream, or a thought or idea that just won't leave me alone.

So, one evening, I start to make this hat. My best friend is online, and as I work up a round, I give it to her, and she makes it as well. We laugh and chat as we are working, clarifying what's being done and suggesting this or that. It's a pleasant evening that ends when I yawn so hard I think I've popped my jaw - it's nearly 2am. Oops. Ok. I end up frogging most of it and starting again, but it was a good start and there were some solid concepts there. For added understanding, I convince my eldest son to model it for me - he's very reluctant (I wonder why?).

Can you see all the strings hanging down to the right? I hadn't cut a single strand from the ball at this point, which allowed me to frog it without guilt (although with much vexation; giggle). I complete one more round and it's hopeless. It curls too much to sit on his head anymore, it's just useless.

I vent to my girl friend and she suggests making it into a ball if it curls that much. OOh! Ok. not the outcome I wanted, but hey, at least it isn't a waste of time, right? The yarn is super soft with lovely drape, so I set to work with pins to see how it looks (keeping in mind, I still haven't cut the yarn!).

It squishes fantastically in your hands - a great toy for a baby! Yay! Except it's a little squat, and I know that as I worked around, two of the petals had completely different stitch counts. So I know I've "done something" there. So, to be safe, I get out some cheap acrylic. Copy the conversation from facebook into a word document, and start sifting out the LOL's and the, "no wait, try it this way instead" things and I'm left with a rough idea of what to do. I begin hooking. Shortly after that, I begin muttering. Then swearing and hair pulling. After several lots of frogging, I have it. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. I eagerly sew it up and stuff it... only... well, plain acrylic is a lot less forgiving than soft acrylic - the ball is squat and square, and the four main petals kind of "dip" in the middle. The whole thing is crenelated. 

 So I had a wee vent on my group wall with a picture and I was VERY surprised by the response. Several people said it was a great looking sea-urchin, and many asked me for the pattern. I couldn't believe it! My failed hat, that turned into a failed ball, that has turned into a sea urchin!

Now, I'm as stubborn as all get-go, so don't think I've given up on the other ideas. I'm in the middle of writing up the urchin for the testers, but I've already begun working with another version to have a go at making the ball. Attempt number one has halted. I've done a bit more mathematics and physics studies, and have the concept for a better working one. So I've got something that would look like a tulip bud if sewn up lol, or a wacky starfish. Take your pick of humorous names.  ;) We might as well go with a sea theme though right? Maybe I can work it up into a star fish. :P

Twists and turns

Everyone has their own method and style when it comes to designing. Some just "wing it" let go and start hooking. Some have a very good concept of stitch count from experience and start with a basic idea and build from that. Some chart it out first. Some, like me, draw a concept picture and then try and match it in stitches.

I thought today I'd share with you a design process that I'm going through at the moment. I'm currently working on two patterns with two variations. The first basic one is done and I'm ready to write it up and get it tested and then I'll publish it here. The variation is proving a bit of a struggle but I had a breakthrough last night so hopefully now it will start to flow a bit more smoothly.

The second one is the one I'm going to blog about today. It all started with catalogues. I look at the world differently to some. I see patterns in everything, I'm not talking crochet patterns, just repetitions of shapes and designs.

I love going through department stores that sell soft furnishings and linen. I LOVE bedspreads lol. I get colour inspiration and design and shape ideas. Even clothing with print designs now inspires me. I see potential in flowers and trees and in potholes and seed pods. Everywhere there are shapes that make my heart sing. Think about it. How many of you have a collection of beautifully photo-shopped pictures of nature? Close-ups of flowers or hummingbirds or peacock feathers or whatever makes your heart sing? The difference between us is not only does it make me think "OOh, I could crochet something like that", I actually go and try and do it. ;)

So, today's pattern that I'm talking about came from a brief glimpse of a skirt in a clothing catalogue (thanks Rockman's Clothing!). There was a mandala like shape on a skirt. It just really appealed to me the way the petals then radiated out. So I got out my sketch pad and started doodling. Now this picture makes more sense to me than it does to you. I know which lines I'm going to try and keep and which ones were a first idea and superseded. When you look at the beginnings of the crochet, you can probably tell too. ;)

So in this current picture, the outer row needs frogging. I wanted more increases because I want to work more design in the spaces either side of the peaks, unfortunately in my enthusiasm, I've added too many, so a frogging I will go, and try again, and again, and again. I know what I want to achieve with this blanket, it's now just a matter of trial and error until I get there.

This design will have two variations. There will be a motif version which will be about the size that it is now. They'll be worked up as large hexagons and I'll design a matching square to go in the middle for a large pieced throw. Then there will be the version where I work this into a much larger blanket/throw which is what I'm doing to start with.

With each of these designs there has been much frogging and swearing and ranting and despairing. For me, that's a part of the process as my personality is so tied up with whatever it is that I am working on. So if my design is a failure, then so am I. I know, it's not rational, but it is what it is.

So, the next time you look at a pattern for sale (these designs will be for sale for minimum prices I need to earn a living so I can stay at home and keep doing this, but I'm not out to rob you blind ;) ), and wonder why doesn't the designer just share it for free like so many other designers - well, there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into these things, and we need to make a living too, so that we are free to focus on our art. ;)