Letting Your Yarn Write the Pattern!

This past weekend I travelled by car up the Oregon Coast from Lincoln City to Astoria. Such a beautiful drive, and opportunity to crochet! I decided to make a panel for the Desert section of the Weaving Stories project, using a beautiful variegated yarn I bought in my local yarn store in Kuwait. It has many of the colors from the color palette I have put together for the project, so I thought it would be perfect for the panel. 

I wanted this piece to be about texture to reflect desert terrain, so I had the idea to change stitches whenever the yarn changed colors from beige to green. When I crocheted the beige portions, I worked random single, half double, double, triple, and double treble stitches, and when the yarn turned green, I crocheted a stitch pattern of 2 double crochet stitches in a stitch, then I skipped the following stitch. It was truly the perfect project for a winding road car trip. I was able to complete the entire 1 meter panel! 

I am now planning to add some surface embroidery, of Al Arfaj flowers, the national flower of Kuwait, to finish off the panel. 

If you have a skein of variegated yarn in your stash, you can do this freeform crochet exercise by simply changing stitches whenever the color of the yarn changes. You can also change direction to make a real freeform piece when not limited to a particular size or shape! You will be amazed at what you create with this technique!