Little Crochet: Motifs and Graphs

Like most crocheters, I have my quirks. For example, just like some hate mercerised cotton, I am not a big fan of single-coloured projects. And just like some love working ripples, I simply adore working motifs from graphs. I suspect I like the element of surprise involved in it, since most of the time, I don't bother making the motif if the graph has a picture of the finished product along with it. Unless, of course, I find it breathtakingly beautiful. I have a Pinterest board entirely dedicated to crochet motifs, and especially graphs, and a personal photo folder on my computer with the same purpose.

What I also love with motifs and graphs, is that when you hit a creativity snag, you can just pick one up and create something beautiful without much effort. If the graph had no picture to start with, this is actually a bonus for me, as there is nothing to compare my "creation" to, and that way, I almost always avoid being disappointed.

So, here's a closer look at what this is all about:

This one I had to start making immediately. I absolutely loved the way the graph looked, especially with all those different colours for each row.

Here's the real thing in progress...

...and finished.

Note the pink flower to the left, which was also the result of a graph found online:

Now, the following one was also one of those that I was itching to hook up as soon as I saw it.

I first did it in one colour, just to get the feel of it...

...and loved it so much I immediately moved on to a multi-coloured version.

This next one was actually my first attempt at mandalas before I knew how to make mandalas. So the only way I could think of was to get an old-fashioned doily pattern and to update it, using DK cotton rather than lace as well as various colours.

Pretty nifty, eh? I really love how this one turned out. I have plans for this one...

...but not that kind of plan ;)

The so-called Maybelle square is actually one of the rare ones that I made even though I had seen the finished product on this blog. I think this is such a pretty design, and the white square just brings it out perfectly.

Sometimes, you love how a graph looks, but the result is actually disappointing. That's what happened with this next one, which I intended to turn into a shawl, as per the photo. But the motif just didn't work...

...so I adapted it and made a mandala out of it.

Some other times, you start with a design, which you end up turning into a graph. This next one was meant to be a giant mandala, which is still in its early stages.