Learning about crochet techniques | Painted Crochet

Combing the internet looking for new and old crochet patterns has always been a passion. I look at patterns everyday. The search for patterns leads me to find new techniques to try. Pinterest.com is fascinating since patterns can be found from all over the world. Russian, Japanese and South American pattern diagrams are pretty similar to the ones I have crocheted over the years.  Here's my link to many patterns, I hope you like them. I've assembled a growing collection https://www.pinterest.com/whosedadt34/crochet/

Painted crochet doily

Have you ever thought about painted crochet? Have you ever used vintage tatting thread to crochet? My newest project is a combination of both. I am making a doily using sewing and tatting thread for my newest project. I can barely wait to show it off! Lots of patience is required for painted crochet.

Painted crochet uses multiple threads combined to form shades of color.  Shades of red and pink were used as follows: Initially, three pieces of red thread were held together. When I was ready to begin changing over to pink, I dropped 1 red strand and added in a pink one, so there were two red and one pink. In following rounds of the crochet doily I dropped another red thread and added a pink one, for 1 red and 2 pink threads. The final transition to pink was worked using three pink threads. To make things more interesting, I used three different shades of pink for a varigated look.

It's important to make sure the thread being used is the same material and size. I have tried using different types and sizes of thread and one thing stuck out-texture. Major texture differences existed with using different thread types and sizes.

One of the biggest obstacles to this method of crochet is correcting mistakes. It gets tricky especially if thread is cut after the round and you wind up needing more. Believe me, no one wants a bunch of tiny knots tied together in your work. Knots are difficult to hide. Leaving a longer tail and then weaving in the tail when the crochet is finished is advisable to overcome this obstacle. Also, knotting occurred when undoing my work. I had to be especially careful with the unwound thread. I tried rewinding which resulted in a tedious mess to take knots out of. My best case was to leave the thread loosely in a dish and begin reworking my project, slowly bringing thread towards the work.