Free-form Crochet

It's great fun to play with free-form crochet and I especially enjoy making shawls, sweaters and purses.
I begin by carefully choosing colors from my yarn stash deciding which weights of yarns would be best for a garment or a purse. When making a sweater or shawl, I look for yarns that will blend and drape well together: finger-weight, sport, dk, wool, silk, mohair, novelty, etc. 

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I used my own hand spun yarn to create this earthtone sweater. Even though the yarn is very thick, the combination of crocheted pieces with large spaces allows for a lovely drape.

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It is easy to crochet an odd assortment of pieces in various shapes and sizes. I find this a wonderful travel project, often carrying a small bag of yarns, a crochet hook and scissors to meetings and on long riding trips.

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I pin the pieces together in a pleasing manner for color and look for ways to use spaces to control the drape. Often I make a pattern of a sweater or cape and pin the pieces over, not into, the pattern.

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The sweater is sewn together with a combination of running stitches using a tapestry needle and crocheted zigzagged stitches with an appropriately sized crochet hook.  

A dress form is handy to see how the pieces drapes and help me decide how I want to form the neckline and sleeves...

It is also important to occasionally try on the sweater to see how it drapes, if the colors and spacing are balanced and where to form a simple sleeve.

There are always lots of yarn ends to sew in! This is a good project to do while watching a movie or program on television.

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Notice in this picture I crocheted a variety of yarns over the shoulder and down the sleeve and back to give stability and additional color and texture.