Irish Crochet and Freeform: Cousins!

Irish Crochet has been around for a very long, long time! And if one really thinks about it, technically it is Freeform crochet.

In Irish Crochet, the motifs are first crocheted. This can be anything from a flower, a leaf, a bunch of grapes ... once all the motifs are ready, they're laid out and pinned onto a cut pattern. Then comes the process of filling in the spaces between the motifs that ultimately will create a solid fabric.

Freeform is similar. Little motifs (flowers & such), or motifs without traditional thoughts (scrumbles) are laid together and assembled. The spaces that exist between pieces are then filled in creating a solid fabric. (The term "scrumble" is credited to James Walters and the late Sylvia Cosh.  They described the little crocheted bits as "scrumbles" because they are not considered a motif.)

Since much of freeform is borrowed from Irish Crochet, I think it's safe to call them first cousins.

Let's look at my freeform handbag pictured here. Through all the motifs of random colors and stitches, you'll see three flowers and leaves. I used the traditional Irish Clones Knot, normally used to fill in the spaces between motifs, to create my flowers. The leaves are also a traditional Irish motif; I just made them "fluffy" by adding mohair to my gold yarn I was using at the time.

My point in showing my freeform crochet bag here is to demonstrate that Irish Crochet and Freeform are so close in technique that I encourage all crocheters to try both techniques -- at least once!

You never know; you just might fall in love with one of the two techniques, if not both! J