Summer time Scrumbles....

[Kathie Cureington]

Thoughts of green leaves gently swaying in the breeze, shadowing on white porch walls, lemonade in tall blue glasses, a butter landing on a purple flower....I'm thinking colors of summer, feels of summer....yarn capturing a moment in time...
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.......Kathie

[Nancilyn]

Great start, Kathie! I'll add some wicker furniture with colorful, floral patterned cushions to your wrap-around verandah (along with outdoor ceiling fans and invisible screening). I'll add some aroma from the herb garden mixed with the scent of honeysuckle wafting in from that breeze, and all around the porch will be colorful containers for fresh cut flowers, some just for show, others for fragrance. I'll have some herbal or flavored iced tea, please, and pass the fly swatter. Comfy rocker this, perfect for languishing awhile in Kathie's fantasy. After my nap I'll gather yarn for a summer scrumble.

[Pauline Fitzpatrick]

The lanes around where I live are full of cow parsley at the moment, it's beautiful, like driving or walking through a foaming sea of white, except for one short stretch. There, the king cups are adding brilliant yellow and the campion adds touches of pink, but how to catch it in a scrumble.........Pauline

[Jocelyn]

Meanwhile, my thoughts are turning from the oranges and golds of autumn, to the greys of winter rain, the browns of bare trees, contrasting with the greens of our native evergreen trees. Add in some glowing reds for the fires and electric heaters that keep us toasty warm. And a dash of clear yellows and blues for the lovely clear but cold skies on a beautiful winter's day.

I am loving this thread. Do you know, I had never thought of looking at the seasons in terms of scrumbling, but now I am quite excited by it. I think I can feel a scrumbled wall-hanging coming on.

(That's along with my TIF challenge, a cq Christmas Stocking RR I am in, a whitework sampler I have just begun, and an on-going textured needlepoint piece. Roll on retirement so I have time for it all!)

[Nancilyn]

I think we should run with Kathie's idea of scrumbling a season. Her summer scene is so refreshing, and it sounds like she's developing an appropriate color palette. It will be fun to see how she translates her description to scrumbles. How might Jocelyn reflect her fall-winter transistion? With seasonal colors in mind, let's grab some yarns and play for awhile.

Strangely I don't have a lot of greens in my fiber stash. In fact, the yarns I'm using in the following examples were purchased for a Spring theme, hence the tender greens of new leaves and grasses.

I came up with these examples of how one might start for benefit of any Newbies here. Look at the top one. What do you see? With the contours might it represent landscape, cultivated fields, pastureland, meadow, lawn with hedgerow or field of lavendar or lupine or clover or... This is just a jumping off place. What could be added? What's be below those wild grasses? More fields? Pond? Stream? Cliff? And above? An orchard? More fields -- maybe some brown ridges to suggest a freshly furrowed section? Sky? Clouds?

In the second sample I'm trying to do a couple of things at once. I wove a square on one my handheld looms (I got a bunch of new ones and am eager to play) with the intention of using it as a backdrop for surface embroidery, sort of like Aida. Thinking of the square as a well manicured lawn, I knitted a mitered L to represent the wrap verandah. Of course if the piece were pressed the seam would be neater and that 90 degree corner would show up, but that doesn't matter because I'll cover the seam anyway. Think again in terms of what I could add, A border garden over that seam line! Hanging baskets or flower boxes along the porch top. I could add steps and a path (bordered by primrose), a croquet set-up, fountain, gazebo...

To me that goes too far toward "reality". I'm happier scrumbling in the abstract. Like many of you I usually pick some yarns or threads and just start making little motifs, joining a few as I go, or not, and eventually putting them together in a pleasing arrangement of color and texture. The thumbnail by our group name is a piece called "Winter Greys"

[Kathie Cureington]

I have enjoyed these post so much.....Sometimes I feel my thoughts are just out there....
so it's great when I find a few folks who seem in perfect accord!!!! Now that Nancilyn
added some scrumbles here it has inspired me to sort through my yarns and I now have a
summer colorway before me.....As soon as I get some free formed I will post a photo..This
is so much fun.......Kathie

[Kathie Cureington]

I have started a scrumble and will show a bit of my thought process...I took a picture I feel summer vibes from..I filtered it into just colors..I picked a colorway from that printout and started to crochet. Anyone is welcome to take and use the colorway..feel free.........Kathie

[Nancilyn]

That picture is the essence of summer, and the palette you created is stunning. Please share how you did it. Your scrumble start and the yarns you've chosen are equally vibrant!

[Kathie Cureington]

I used Paint Shop Pro to turn the picture into a colorchart.. Graphic art is my first
passion....I used Filters Unlimited/distortion filters/ink blots. with the default setting,then I just saved it and I printed it so I could carry it to my yarn stash to match up colors.
The colors are more vibrant in the pc but I liked having the paper *map*. If anyone
doesn't do pc graphics but has a picture they would like turned into a color pattern I would be more than happy to do it for you..just ask away.....sometimes choosing colors is the hardest part for folks new to free form. That's my favorite part!
Thanks for the nice comments!!! Kathie

[SockPixie]

This is fascinating. I love your starting idea, and your colors are amazing.

[Nancilyn]

I uploaded some new pix, and here is one I thought would go along with this thread. These motifs have been residing with other like them in a big plastic bag for several years. Yes, I shamelessly admit to scrumbling when I feel like it and tossing them in bags with like colors until such time as I might get around to making something with them. The ones you see here I made in summery colors from a tropical beach or poolside. My intention was to make a handbag with them; it still is. I have no excuse other than time. I took those scrumbles with me to classes I took with Prudence Mapstone and Margaret Huber, and both sessions were about constructing bags from freeform pieces. Need I even tell you they were excellent!!

[Sarah E.]

Although I've been crocheting for a while, I'm relatively new at scrumbling and have had a great time investigating on the web, particularly at the International Free-form site. I have an old watercolor poster of a French seaside (or could be Irish, similar architecture!), which I wanted to use as a color-base...interestingly, all the colors in it are exactly the ones y'all are discussing here -- bits of greens, turquoise, blue, lavendar, golden sand, bright white for boats. I guess I should take this as a sign that I'm on the right track??!!

[Kathie Cureington]

This sounds so great....Hopefully as you progress you will share photo's with us..
I have been on somewhat of a working/vacation so amoung the missing and I know
Nancilyn is off on vacation too...but we will all keep cool and crochet....and keep in touch as we can...Kathie