several years ago, i picked up one of these guatemalan hackysacks at a cool world trade store and it ended up a perennial christmas ornament on my tree. i love the super-bright colours and tight stitches that are typical of guatemalan crochet craft. in some ways, it is like amigurumi since it is essentially spirals of single crochet, but what i found out recently is just how the colour changes are done!dr. carol ventura is essentially the johnny appleseed of tapestry crochet! she came upon the techniques while serving in the peace corp and has published several books, videos and a website rich with demos, free patterns and examples of tapestry crochet from around the globe. she also teaches where ever she travels, spreading the technique to people who can then use the craft to enhance their incomes. :)
tapestry crochet is essentially a form of crochet colourwork in which several different colours are carried at once until they are needed. unlike fair isle knitting, the thread does not float along the backside of the piece, but is actually crocheted over so it travels along hidden inside the row. both sides of the piece show off the pattern. it works up easily in the round, which is why you see it most often in hackysacks, kippots, bowls and bags.
carol also shows techniques to do flat tapestry crochet that lead to a nice smooth picture. crochet has a slanted quality due to the stitch that force designers to incorporate sharp right angle triangles. carol has some free graphs available for people to work out their designs that will give them a good idea of what they can expect within these limitations.
i would love to what else could be done sculpturally with tapestry crochet that would take it beyond the traditional caps and bags. carol ventura has moved into flat portraiture as has jo hamilton and xenobia bailey makes those awesome urban crowns.
where else could this go?
i think it might be time to pull out my sketchbook! :)
that is absolutely gorgeous stuff
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