Crocheting With Color Change

LEAF AND FLOWER MAT - DESIGN BY ELIZABETH HIDDLESON



Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber



When I do crafts, I think about 3 things actually - the composition, the graphics - and the color.



If a design I see is especially graphic - or is a particularly classic crochet design - I sometimes choose to do it in all white or all beige - either ecru or cream. All beige is usually classified as either vintage, primitive or, if you are thinking season, for the fall. All white is usually considered classic or winter.



But I usually visualize my projects -- and more times than not, I visualize projects in colors. This is just me - when I did photo landscapes, I choose to do color slides and transparencies because of the sharpness and the vivid colors.



I guess this is just me -- I think in color!



The picture at the top is of a table mat or doily that I did and sold during 2007. The pattern comes from a Magic Crochet Magazine of 1989. In the magazine, the pattern is written for all ecru. But the very first time I saw the pattern, I started thinking about what color to make the flowers and the leaves and how to do it.



I have many patterns and it was one of the patterns that I kept in mind for doing for some time.



I have been crocheting doilies/table mats for some years now - and several years ago I had found out about DMC crochet threads and Pearl Cotton. In DMC Pearl Cotton size 8, I had discovered a tremendous palette of colors with which I could crochet. DMC Pearl Cotton size 8 comes in about 230+ colors - and 30+ of those colors are shaded or variegated. (Check out the DMC USA website for color lists!!) They come in what I call "color groups" - and some of the solids match the colors in the variegated/shaded colors. I had so much fun matching up colors and picking out the ones I wanted to have to do my doilies in color!!



I finally figured out how I wanted to do the doily in the picture at the top - and it is done totally in DMC Pearl Cotton size 8.



I used Color #51 - a bright variegated color with reds and yellows in it - for the 7 flowers in the center.



For the leaves, I chose to use 2 colors:



1. Color #367, named Dark Pistachio Green in the DMC color lists I have, as to me it looks like a good color for leaves.

2, Color #92, which is not named, but I call it shaded pistachio greens, as the various greens in it match the pistachio greens on the DMC color lists.



Look at this closeup photo to see how I used the 2 different greens in crocheting the large leaves that are in a circle around the center of 7 flowers.





As you can see in these photos, there are contrast borders - the border around the center of 7 flowers - and then the border for the whole doily - I chose to do these borders in Color #712, cream.

Crocheting this doily in these vibrant, contrasting colors, was like "painting with fibers" - and was a lot of fun!!

I am selling just a few of these DMC Pearl Cotton size 8 colors in my shop on Etsy - RSS Designs In Fibers.etsy.com.

And you can check the DMC USA website to see what colors you can find in DMC Pearl Cotton (it comes in various sizes) - for your own crocheting, embroidery, needlepoint, knitting, etc. pleasure!!

Ruth