Have you tried freeform crochet?

today we are looking at freeform crochet it basically means crocheting a surface without any rules you just change colors and stitches and forms and shapes whatever way comes to your mind it's also a great way to learn more crochet after you know the basics because it helps you see all those things that how many stitches i need for here or how does this work if i put that there or so i have been doing this actually since my teens most of the time i mix knitting and crochet but today i have only been doing crochet free foam crochet is a lot of fun i have really enjoyed making this today the first thing to do is to decide your color scheme and decide what yarns you are going to use all these here are approximately the same weight and that makes it easier to work with especially if you have never done this before because if some of the yarns would be say three times as thick as one then you have to think more to get the result even one thing you have to take into account is that the washing instructions for the different yarns are not too different because you need to wash the item using the instructions of the most delicate yarn so if you have one that cannot be washed in the machine then obviously you can't wash the whole thing in the machine at all i also prefer to work so that i use the same crochet hook for all of it and here i have selected my favorite one in size four millimeter there's a link to these hooks in the description this type of work of course is ideal for using up scrap yarn so some of these are very small but it's a great way to use them up you can of course also use different types of yarns here and there like this here furry novelty yarn but right now i don't think i'm going to use it i just showed that for any as an example so i'm going to start i will probably add more yarn later on but this is what i'm going to start with and i have no plan at the moment i will make one piece and then decide what to do next and next and next let's start and it's important to say that this video is not a step-by-step tutorial i'm giving you pointers as to how to work with this i started with a small piece in pink i changed about 20 and then did two rows of double crochets and i'm actually cutting that there now and then i'll take another yarn and when you're at this stage then you just have to look at it and decide what you're going to do next and where you start so you can either start crocheting something directly to this piece or make something separately and then crochet them together i'm starting with this here now and i think i'm going to do loops round half of it so i start about the middle and normally i always put take the two ends and pull them through both through first so that it becomes sturdier and now i'll make loops chain loops would four be no five maybe six i'll six chain six and skip one and single crochet there then again six skip one so i'm going to show some of what i'm doing of course not in detail and now i'm coming close to the corner so i'm going to do a stitch in the corner it's going like this and two loops at the end here six attaching it there so the great thing about this is that everything is right although if you prefer it to stay flat then you of course do have to think about the number of stitches so that it does stay stay flat so i'll continue until here with these loops and then we'll see what we'll be doing like that and now i decided that i'll do trebles here so i chain four treble using the american term so it has two yarn overs into every second stitch chain one and into every second stitch here skip one and another one so this is something you need to be thinking of that if you skip something is it supposed to stay flat or decrease so here it stays flat because i chain as many as i skip now that's just into the corner there and now i'll go that way i'm chaining three and then starting to do double crochets without chains in between and every time when it's possible leave all these ends inside stitches so you have less work at the end in weaving anything in one more in the corner okay there's something there and then i'll change the color and start going this way upwards here i took the yellow and i attach it in here i'll do just some single crochets there and leave both of these ends in there so i'll do single crochets until there and continue here with some single crochets back and forth so i chained one and turned and then a few rows of single crochets just back and forth here there and then i think i'm attaching i'm continuing using the yellow for a while and attaching them here chaining one this is quite far there so i need a treble and attach it to that loop and chain how much space is there there is just one so another one like that there and then one in there no yeah another one in that same loop to get the sort of a corner so here we are now next i'm taking this slightly variegated bluish yarn and i think i'll go back and forth here for a while using my favorite stitch which is the v-stitch so by the way i'm linking here if i'm talking about a specific stitch i i'm also linking it so you can see how to do the actual stitch chaining four and then starting the v stitch skipping just one so i'm ending up on top of that like that so i'll do a few rows of the piece of the v-stitch but i think i'll change color in between so that helps up so that i will have some of the pink in there as well so here now five rows of v stitches and then i continue this way again soon i need to do something round here it's getting too square but before that i'll first do two rows of double crochets but i'll continue it from here so when i get here i'll show how i'm going to increase at the end of the row directly without chains and then after that i'll do bubble stitches in different colors here so now i crochet this here on the side of it and now i'll continue just without chains so a double crochet starting in here but instead of an ordinary double crochet i'll make a chain first so when you add this stage yarn over through just one so it makes a chain and then finish off the double crochet and another one put it into that stitch we just made again here and like this so that way you can crochet into the air to speak so i'll continue this a bit longer and then go back and then make bubbles on the next row so here and i'm chaining one and turning and then i'll be making pink bubble stitches in here and if you remember bubble stitches are done on the wrong side row so they turn when i make them on this side they end up on that side and the way i'm going to do this that the the base will be green and the bubbles will be red pink so i'm holding on to the pink thread here so that i'll put it inside the stitches and bubbles are done on a single crochet row so i'll make a few single crochets first say four and then i pull the yarn forward so it stays on this side and make a bubble in the next stitch that means that you start five double crochets but don't finish them off until you have all five three four five and then again already here change the yarn and take the green one and pull yarn over through all of them there so that's it there then i again leave the pink yarn inside the stitches and make a few single crochets in between does three look best of four i think four and then i'll do that until the end here if you are enjoying this tutorial please subscribe and hit the like button here i love to have different colors of bubbles compared to the background and then i'll do two more rows of double crochet on in here and have to remember then to put one stitch also behind the bubble there and then i think after that i'll make a small round or something and put it that put that somewhere i made this very basic circle starting with ten double crochets here and then i'm doing some surface crochet on it so i have the yarn at the back and just slip stitches through the each thing here and then i'm attaching it to the actual thing just using slip stitches again i need to get rid of some of the yarn ends in between here too much so just a slip stitch and then a few slip stitches or single crochets to get to an other spot where it's good to attach it and with these here you always need to set it next to where you are attaching something to make sure that you aren't pulling or it isn't puckering the way you attach something so let's see here yes it's the right distance and then i'll do one more space to attach it let's see now here there and no one more attached it there as well so that's one thing done and then to the next next i'll take a color that i haven't used yet and i'll make an area where i'll have loops back and forth for a while a loop area in here there these are all loops of three chains and with four when i turn and next i'm going to start in this here corner going sort of across the corner with stitches i attached it there and to get the corner i chain one and go into that corner and chain one and attach it on the other side and then keep going like that so then i go up a bit with slip stitches and then double crochets across there [Music] always chaining one with these corners you sort of really have to look that you don't make it so that it sort of bulges out to have too many stitches [Music] i think this is enough when i just didn't attach it there [Music] and this actually i'll finish it here now that i came to that there corner it looks like that there and because i like all sorts of three-dimensional stitches i'm going to continue with this same low yarn back and forth not all the way there but a bit here doing front and back post stitches so first one row of double crochet and then i'll show what i'll do after that so i did that there a bit and then in the next row after i turned i lamp alternate front and back post double crochet so first i do a front post one under that and then the next one will be back post so you put it behind that so this makes a sort of a very three-dimensional type of a stitch alternating back and front post and then when i turn i do it the other way around so where i see a front post i do a back post and the other way around so now i'm on the next row and when it gets like this here that is sort of on top then i'll do a back post and then again when there's this hair ridge then i'll do a front post and so on alternating so i'll do a bit more of this and then i need something round so then after this that will be the next thing to do i have continued to work on it a bit after that back and front post after the previous bit i made this here half circles rounded they are trebles with a chain in between and in here you see the way you can work in freeform is that when you need to fill something in you make longer and longer stitches so here i have a double crochets then trebles and then double trebles to fill in this here is like ribbing single crochets where you always only take the back loop and then i did lots of loops with chaining three all around here filling in that their area and another circle so again i made the circle first and then attached it here using double crochets next i'm filling in this hair gap using another technique just chains from here to there to there zigzagging a chain in there i attached it there and in places like this you need to see how many chains you need so that it doesn't stretch and seeing how it will be best more and then seeing how it will need at least one chain more there and like this so you go from one side to the other like that there and now here's a corner where i can again do something different this here is all what i'm going to now work for this here video i trust that you've got ideas of how to combine all sorts of colors and shapes and stitches and the general idea of how you can work because as i said in the beginning there are no rules so just do whatever comes to mind i'm going to make this into a cushion cover and when it's finished i will post it on my instagram so if you're not following me on instagram yet make sure you do i have the link in the description as well as links to many of the techniques i have used here any that i have a separate tutorial for so enjoy using your creativity in freeform crochet and check out also this here crochet tutorial