Crochet Motif

Many crocheters, frustrated by years of seeing crochet used only for the ubiquitous granny square, have been ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. Yet motifs are one of the glories of crochet. A color-playground is created while easily constructing unique shapes from the center out. I invite all crocheters to join me in seeking new ways of looking at these little wonders.
The purse in the photo represents my response to my own challenge.

Bob Dylan's Hands

"His indescribably white hands moved constantly: putting a cigarette almost to his mouth, then tugging relentlessly at a tuft of hair at his neck, inadvertently dumping the cigarette ashes in dusty cavalcades down his jacket. He would stand thinking, his mouth working, his knees flexing one at a time, right, left, right, left. He seemed to function from the center of his own thoughts and images, and like a madman he was swallowed up by them."

from AND A VOICE TO SING WITH by Joan Baez

Payin' Attention to Details

When my husband gave me a Turkish spindle for Christmas last year I began to automatically produce a beautiful center-pull ball as I spun and wound on. I learned that when I am ready to remove my cop and consider plying it, an intermediate step to pull both the inside and the outside strands from the ball and wind them into a new ball helps make the plying go more smoothly. But I kept having to ask my husband to hold the ball for me to keep it from bouncing around, especially at the end when it became lighter. A similar problem arose when I plied. One day I got out my hat with earflaps and ties, knotted the ties, hung it over my wrist, plopped a ball of unplied yarn into it, and discovered I had a new kind of distaff.
Maybe I could make something prettier and more to the point? I did, and I found myself paying a lot of attention to details, in particular at transitions, as I crocheted. When I started the sides of my yarn distaff, I worked the first round from the inside. This made it bend up from the flat bottom more easily. When I changed the color and started to work in a row of bobbles, I also worked from the inside, allowing the bobbles to pop out on the outside. I made my bobbles with only two double crochets each so they would be more subtle. I expected to make only two rows between my bobble rows for a balanced look but found I needed three and, voila, I could work the second row of bobbles on the inside also! I finished the body of my distaff with a variation of the crab stitch. A silky lining, a balanced, corded handle and a loop and button (to guide sticky strands) and I was ready to make another to post on Etsy.