this child of mine.

I recently picked up a copy of Rita Weiss and Jean Lienhauser's latest crochet book, "Crochet Master Class", from our local library. This beautiful book features several different crochet techniques and the designers who have mastered them.

My oldest daughter was immediately fasinated and inspired by the chapter on Painted Crochet with Ferosa Harold. With Painted Crochet you are not actually painting, but rather it is a term used to describe gradual colour changes achieved by holding three strands of fine thread together. 

My daughter was anxious to try this technique out on a crochet hat pattern that I had bought for her. She started with 3 three strands of the dark blue as shown and when she was ready for the next colour she simply dropped one strand of the dark blue and picked up one strand of the lighter blue. She crocheted a row and then again dropped one strand of the dark blue and picked up one strand of the lighter blue. She continued this process until all three strands were the same lighter blue colour. She worked a total of four gradual colour changes and as you can see the result was stunning.

The hat was made using DMC^® Cotton Perle thread in size 8 and the pattern was created by Jennifer Hansen, who was also featured in the Crochet Master Class book for her work with Hairpin Lace. The pattern is called the " Baroque Toque" and may be purchased from Stitch Diva Studios. 

kim.