Monday, September 17, 2018

Chain 20: What I Learned

Hi everyone!

July (and August) came and went, didn’t they? And what ever happened to that Chain 20 challenge?

I found out that the one-a-day format was too much for my current circumstances (toddler, puppy) and the nature of the challenge (exploratory, open-ended). I found myself squeezing in the exercise at the end of the day and feeling like there wasn’t enough time to properly photograph and write about the experience. Although I had given myself permission to take a quick photo and write a single sentence, I felt driven to write so much more, and to take photos from different angles to show how stitches behaved.






I came up with Chain 20 based on music/dance improv exercises.  The basic idea is that you just GO; no thinking or planning, just a simple framework and an open mind.  You can start with something familiar just to get your fingers moving and then try something unplanned - a double crochet where you would normally do a single.  What happens to the fabric? It gets taller, it pulls a bit...and what happens when you keep up with the dcs, or make progressively taller stitches?  It might not be pretty or functional, but you will have learned something about your yarn and stitches, even if it’s what not to do next time ;)

Needless to say, I did not complete the challenge as planned.  But I did discover a practice that excites me and I’ve already started using what I learned to create larger designs.  I will continue to Chain 20 and, with the luxury of time and space, write about what I learn.