Skip to main content

"YOU CAN'T CROCHET WITH THAT!"

Have you ever been told by a yarn shop owner, "You can't crochet with that," as you are petting a yarn from the shelves wide-eyed and excited about what you want to create. It might be a little bumpy or loopy; is that why there is a perception that it can't be crocheted? Have you even been annoyed when you saw, "Knitting Yarn" on a skein label?

Thanks to the Craft Yarn Council of America a few years ago, much hard work went into changing that on the Big Box yarns. There may still be work to be done for the upscale yarns found in the LYS. My plan here is to post photos of unusual materials I have crocheted with. The idea was born out of my recent experience with "crocheting porcelain!" I made a business card holder with it and it is still cooling from the heat of the kiln.

I would love to hear what unusual materials YOU have crocheted with.

September 2008
Crocheting grapevine while it is still hanging to a tree:


Crocheted basket drying in sun


Gwen with crocheted basket:


Finished basket:

Comments

Vashti Braha said…
I can't wait to see your crocheted porcelain and unusual things other people have crocheted with. Cool blog topic!
CrochetQueen said…
Thanks, Vashti! How about you? What odd things have you crocheted with? Yesterday I saw 3 lengths of garden hose crocheted into a basket. I can't post the photo because it is likely to be in my Art Crochet book!
Anonymous said…
Hi Gwen -- After extensive study of the subject I have concluded that you can crochet with just about anything that can be cut into strips or strings. Here is the most fun thing I have seen out there. In the Museum of American Folk Art in NYC, they have prominently displayed an old circular crocheted rug by an anonymous person. It is marvelous to see, but even more marvelous when you read the plaque explaining that it is crocheted entirely out of Wonder Bread wrappers. I have my own Wonder Bread project in mind, but the hardest part will be eating sufficient Wonder Bread (and forcing my family to eat it too) to get enough material for my needs! -- Leslie Blackmon
Anonymous said…
OMG...I've actually heard people ask if they crochet with a yarn that said knitting worsted on the label!!!

My response is if you can wrap it around a hook, you can crochet with it!!!

Popular posts from this blog

Craft vs. Fine Art: How is Crochet Blurring the Lines

I was awakening to the world of crochet in 1972,a time of immense artistic expression through fiber arts; and crochet was not the “ugly stepchild” at the time. In fact, Ferne Cone Gellar who I admire as a successful fiber artist said in “Knitting: The Stepchild of the Fiber Arts?” ( Fibercraft Newsletter 1978), “Has knitting been slighted among the areas of the fiber arts? The very word ‘knitting’ evokes images of the little old lady in tennis shoes. Over the years, I’ve learned to ignore all those jokes.” Cone Gellar went on to publish Crazy Crocheting in 1981 and encouraged her readers to create more than bedspreads, providing ideas such as “things to play with or to display on a shelf or hang on a wall.” A photo of single crochet from bread wrappers served as inspiration.  In 1972 in her book, Creating Art from Fibers & Fabrics , Dona Meilach wrote: “Why are fibers and fabrics becoming increasingly appealing to artists? Most artists agree

Wartime Crochet With Attitude, Part I

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Karen Ballard and I have a mutual love of free form crochet. We met for the first time in a class taught by Prudence Mapstone of Australia at the Chain Link Crochet Conference 2011. I admire Karen's vast knowledge of needle work history and am grateful for her willingness to share with us as my guest blogger this week. Karen wearing a World War II-era knitting hat with stubby needles on top Karen's Heritage Heart,  with flowers symbolic of her heritage, is currently on tour with Prudence Mapstone's traveling "Hearts & Flowers Exhibition" in Australia and New Zealand   World War 1 Attitudes About Crochet by Karen Ballard In 2008, I coined that term, "Workbasket Campaigns" to describe the organized efforts during World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) coordinated through the American Red Cross {ARC} and the Navy League to create needle crafted items.  These items were mostly knitted but also sewn, qu

What is Free Form Crochet?

Monday, January 6, 2014 This topic came about from the title of my article recently in Fiber Art Now magazine.  "Crochet As Art: A Conversation with 5 Free-Form Crochet Artists." Yes, the 5 artists I wrote about, all of which are in  my book  The Fine Art of Crochet , are free-thinking when it comes to their creativity. They are free-wheeling with the hook and use unique fibers in many cases. Once you read the article, tell me what  you think? Are these artists doing free-form crochet? In order to define free-form crochet, we must look way, way back to it's origins: Irish crochet. A brief history of crochet, including the Irish method, written by Ruthie Marks is available through The Crochet Guild of America . Unfortunately, there are no images on the site. On her blog, Nancy Nehring has a beautiful montage of Irish Crochet in reference to a class she taught in 2013 at Lacis . I wrote an article in Old Time Crochet Magazine (Spring 1998), "History of Irish Croc