Pointillism Posie Blanket, home decor with large flower made in crochet motifs, crochet pattern by Susan Carlson of Felted Button | Colorful Crochet Patterns

::Designing with Color::

I had someone ask me how I choose the placement of color in my designs. It's not always the same. Sometimes I choose colors that simply please my eye. And let's face it, sometimes I choose the yarn and then create something from it. But let me show you how it happened for a finished pattern (see below) and one I just began yesterday.

Pointillism Ppsie Crochet Pattern by Susan Carlson of Felted Button

First, the one I just started. Often it is a picture like this...

Rob Travis--Photographer Fallen Leaves

And the colors and pattern immediately create an image in my mind. I just see it. I feel compelled to create it.

Which then naturally leads to selecting the colors of yarn--I head to my stash, and the store, and online. And then follows a diagram or computer representation of the image in my head like the grid you see here.

In this case, I then need to create a motif...or two...or three...or many more to get it just right. Crochet. Frog. Crochet. Frog. Once perfect--the right size, shape, texture and "join-ability", the pattern gets written, and re-written, and re-written until it is reproducible and universal. (Thanks to my Brigham Young University Technical Writing professor here!)

Then it's hooks flying as this idea in my head slowly--sometimes too slowly--comes out in a real tangible form as I work to produce the prototype design.

This one I'm calling Flying Colors right now. With 256 motifs and only 25 completed, the prototype will take a while. Even longer if I get distracted with a bunch of WIPs and new design ideas along the way--which I inevitably do.

One of my previous designs that followed a similar process is...

...my Pointillism Posie pattern. It started with a simple picture of a pink flower with a yellow center against a blue background--which then became the diagram above...

...and then the motif you see here...

...and finally, the blanket you see here.

Creating is amazing, huh? An amazing gift that all mankind has. I'm grateful for it. Very grateful.

You can find my Pointillism Posie pattern in my Felted Button Shop right here, or here on Etsy, or here on Lovecrafts. It requires a whopping 29 different colors of yarn, but don't let that intimidate you. It makes a great stash buster for those little snippets you have lying around--many of the colors are used for only one or two motifs and should require you to only purchase a few of the main colors.

Be well, my friends.

On the Board -- {“When the creative impulse sweeps over you, grab it. You grab it and honor it and use it, because momentum is a rare gift.”}

― Justina Chen, North of Beautiful