SEASHORE
Hand-crocheted · textile artwork
This piece began with a large quantity of yarn becoming available, specifically a Merino and llama blend. (Yes, really.) It seemed a shame not to use it.
However, large quantities of brown, over a long period of time, tend to make me depressed. Fortunately, I had two cones of peppermint-green mohair, although I had no idea how to combine these two very different yarns into something I would actually like.
After letting the idea percolate for some time, I woke up one morning and found I was calling the peppermint green sea foam. And as soon as I recognised the words, I knew how to combine the colours.
The dark brown became the rocks and seaweed on the shore. The sea foam spoke for itself, and all we needed now was some flecked cream and caramel sands, and the deep blues and greens of the ocean, to bring the combination together.
I had fallen into the deep rabbit hole of CALs, also known as crochet-alongs.
This is where a designer offers a free pattern, sometimes sponsored by a yarn manufacturer. In this case, the patterns were all squares contributed by multiple designers, and the patterns remain available long after the original CAL has ended.
This became the basis for my work, along with some other squares from elsewhere. The critical thing was that they all had to end up the same size, with the same stitch count, so they could be joined together.
What was incredible was the opportunity to create squares in wildly varying styles and types of crochet.
Of course, most of these patterns were designed to be worked in double knitting (DK), while the yarn I had was heavier — at least worsted weight. As a result, my squares were somewhat larger than most people's, and with margins and borders still to come, I stopped at 25.
I experimented with the placement of the squares and ultimately decided to keep the plain colours to the centre and sides. However, all the squares are so complex that almost any way up works.
Piecing them is a painstaking process, but I liked the fine brown line joining them together rather than using the predictable cream.
Once I got to the border, we could speed up again. The cheery, lacy design, edged in the darker colours, really brought the whole work together.
The back of a piece of crochet should look as good as the front.
It won't have the same texture or detailing in the stitching, but you should still be able to see the individual colours and rows. There shouldn't be any stray ends of yarn, and to the untrained eye, nothing should give away how the piece was worked.
300 hours of work transforms over 8 lbs (3.8 kg) of yarn into something beautiful that lasts a lifetime.
Seashore is full of contrast.
It has a cool, sophisticated colour palette. The yarns combine unusual natural wools and colourful acrylics. The patterns are intricate and highly textured, but the finished piece is soft, drapes beautifully, is very warm and wonderfully tactile.
It may look like a study in colour and crochet, but it’s also quite simply a very large, very comforting hug in a rug!
$5,000
One-of-a-kind textile artwork
Hand-crocheted
Dimensions: 78 x 78 in (6 ft 6 in x 6 ft 6 in / 200 x 200 cm )