bavarian crochet

Space and three dimensional objects are a massive concern (and directly or indirectly always have been) in all my work.

I love colour combining and clashing just as much as anyone but I have often found myself drawn to using texture and structure in a monotone material. I have been known to eliminate colour altogether and concentrate on manipulating fabric and yarn in such a way which creates organic tactile objects.

The fact that crochet is so tactile is to me one of the most important and desirable qualities of the technique. It is also very sculptural and void of any limitations in regards to form.

The above qualities are all present in working with Bavarian Crochet stitch. That is what keeps me interested in the technique and inspired to develop it further…

It looks just as well when it is worked in just one colour as it does when contrasting colours are introduced. In fact, it demonstrates two very different qualities of the same stitch, and each one of these has its particular appeal. The more I push the Bavarian Crochet stitch (aka the wool eater) and try test its limits, the more ideas of how to develop it further come to mind. However, i always try and convert any stitch into a circle, which i go into more details HERE, in case you wanted to have a bit more information….

Bavarian Crochet in a circle was not, however, an easy task and this is slightly how it developed… First I started using it in a square, because this way i have learned enough about the stitch, and i got the hang of the repetition and automated the way bavarian crochet stitch works. After the standard square, i have managed to experiment with some triangles and rectangles, which were easy enough….

A circle, i thought, will surely only mean that i need to add more basic fan shapes in the middle and then the building up of a circle will follow naturally… Pentagonal crochet shape was first, which worked, but did not quite give itself to a natural circular look. Hexagon then, surely would sort the problem, and hexagonal crochet is closer to a round shape as it is more regular…. Here is how those turned out:

The circle seemed further away then before the start of the task, nonetheless, because when created in hexagonal shape, the wool eater stitch seemed to have become overwhelming and although you cannot quite see it exactly in the photo above, it started gathering in places and it proved very difficult to keep it flat. Also, the 6 pointed shape does not lend itself to circle enough, so another experiment was needed. with even more points, so the circle could be maybe achieved if started with 8 fan shapes in the centre….

I have made the above center and then decided to abandon the search, having pushed the stitch to its own limits and concluding, the circle is not achievable… If, in any way, you manage to make a circular blanket in bavarian crochet stitch and come across my ramblings, please DO NOT HESITATE to EMAIL me and let me know, but here are the reasons why i established this to be impossible for the moment and abandoned chasing my own tail with it…

Even in the hexagon, it is more difficult to build the sections in between the corners, as i have mentioned above, they are gathering, because the stitch seems to be growing faster in the flat sections that the corners allow, basicaly it is too chunky a cluster and needs more space to spread.

Secondly, the starting circle just amounted to too many chains to be able to have a neat middle and ended up with a big hole at the centre of the work, because you can only squeeze so many Double Treble Clusters into a 5 chain circle before it starts feeling cramped…

Although, the whole process have meant that a side product was created…

Can you tell what it is YET?

You can purchase the pattern for the above flowers in my RAVELRY pattern shop.

For other ways i have taken the Bavarian crochet stitch, or maybe for other avenues the wool eater walk ME down, follow one of the buttons below:

Bavarian Crochet stitch is very rewarding once you know how to use it and once you have learned the basics…

BUT, the basics can sometimes be a little trying….

If you have come as far as the bottom of this page and still wondering about the BAVARIAN CROCHET CIRCLE development story and would like to read more about it, click on the image below to the resolution…

If you LOVE Bavarian Crochet stitch as much as i do, FOLLOW the blog posts in the category of Bavarian crochet HERE, to see the items i have made using Bavarian crochet square stitch, Bavarian crochet triangles, and more recently, Bavarian crochet circle.

See the finished circular blanket HERE.

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