MY CREATIVE PROCESS
Inspiration
I have grown up as somebody who is always interested in a new type of craft. While I've developed many new skills over the years, the two that have stuck with me were painting and crocheting. When I have gone through hard times, I've been taught to take advantage of these skills as they are able to take my mind off of stressful situations. Doing this has led to a strengthening of these skills, as well as an increased sense of enjoyment while doing them.
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For my capstone project, the first thing that came to my mind was helping people who need it through one of these art skills. I believe that using crocheting as a means to uniquely create products makes my project so much more genuine, as I have been able to create products that have helped me go through similar situations. Being able to use a skill I am so familiar with has also increased my range of flexibility when it comes to finding products to make.
Why Crochet?
What I love most about crocheting is that once you are able to do the basic stitches, there are infinite possibilities in regards to what you can make. This flexibility allows for so much creativity when brainstorming and figuring out things like which products, colors, or types of yarn work best.
TECHNIQUES
CROCHET STITCHES
In order to be able to correctly follow the online patterns I use to create each stuffed animal, I must understand how to do each stitch required, as well as how to read the pattern itself. The most common stitch I use is a "single crochet." Other common stitches are the "double crochet," "half-double crochet," and "slip stitch." A sample pattern is posted below.
VISUAL APPEAL
Visual appeal is important when it comes to any type of crochet item, but I put an emphasis on this technique because of the purpose of my project, as well as my specific audience. As mentioned throughout this site, I do this mainly through the colors and types of stuffed animals I create.
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Ideally, my products will have at least provided a distraction from the likely scary and unfamiliar hospital environment that these children are in. Whether they actually induce emotional comfort or not, I know that any sort of "comfort object" such as these products will thrive off of being an item that visually "stands out" in a dull hospital room.
SEWING
While sewing together my stuffed animals is one of the most time-consuming processes, it is typically the most overlooked. The emphasis of my project is the "crochet" items I make, and without the technique of "sewing," these items would just be a bunch of senseless and colorful limbs.
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Not only does sewing parts together take so much time and effort because it prevents possible safety hazards in young children, but it also must maintain the "visual appeal" of the product, so it must be done neatly.
COMMUNICATION
Without communication, my project would not be possible. Whether it's communication with the head nurse of the pediatric unit to coordinate a drop-off, or the communication I've had with my peers in art scholars to gain perspective, communication has become my "key to success." I have found that between every step of this process lies communication-Â even if it is as simple as checking with myself to see if I can improve my work in any way.
A Sample Pattern
The pattern you see was taken from a multi-page crochet pattern that I used to make a couple of the stuffed animals I made. It seems like a different language at first (I actually have had people ask what language I was reading), but once you are able to understand just a few basic stitches and their written abbreviations, these patterns become easy to follow.
As I stated earlier, this image was taken from a full pattern, created by someone who had posted it online. If you are interested in learning how to read patterns like these, check out the bottom of this page.
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Click the button below if you are interested in viewing this full pattern!
ABBREVIATIONS
This chart consists of the main abbreviations that are seen in a typical crochet pattern. It appears to be a lot to remember, but a lot of them relate to one another and contain the same stitches.
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Crochet 101 : Basic Stitches for Absolute Beginners
This video describes the basic stitches used in many crochet patterns, and will set you up for success as you try your first project.
Piecing it Together
This video will guide you through "piecing-together" your first crochet patch using a "single crochet" stitch. This is the stitch that I used for most of my products. Everyone learns differently, but I found that watching video tutorials really helped me improve my skills or learn new ones, as I got to watch someone slowly demonstrate it as I tried it myself.
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This channel also lists tutorials on how to do several other types of stitches and patterns.