Tessellation Nation - Making Progress

No that I have a path forward I’ve been making progress, making pentagons and joining things as I go, filling in the diamonds, boats and stars as I can.  I changed the diamonds to be essentially two star points, with an extra triple crochet, so I work one extra chain before anchoring.  It is far easier and quicker to make as compared to what the pattern calls for, which was definitely very fiddly.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn: Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Tessellation Nation - Take Four?

So I have been noodling around with this one for, oh, six months now.  Trying out different designs and color combinations and just not finding anything that really got me excited, although in the process I’ve had fun and learned lots.

I started out with some of my favorite colors - teals and purples and made a couple of pentagon circles.

That really didn’t go anywhere, although I like the color combinations.

I made more progress on my next iteration, but still just wasn’t feeling it.  Then I ordered a color card for the Scheepjes Terrazzo yarn, which helped my design process immeasurably.

Next I thought I would try a gradient of pinks for my background.  But that wasn’t sparking me either.  I had printed out an asymmetric grid (no motifs) to keep track of my progress on this last go and as I was working I just became fascinated by the shapes and how they interacted.  So I went back to basics and decided to kick it old school.  I printed out another asymmetric grid and got out my colored pencils and made the design in the first picture.  No motifs, just shapes and colors.  In the end I decided on just six shapes - pentagon 1 (I love making these, they are like potato chip crochet), stars, boats, diamonds, medallions and mandalas.  No small flowers, no 5-petal flowers, no 10-petal flowers.  Instead of small flowers, I’m using pentagons in that shape.  The next challenge was the colors for those.  I had decided I wanted a central pentagon with a green frame, and then 5 petal pentagons with a blue frame.  My first attempt at the colors wasn’t quite right.

I ordered some more colors and they came yesterday and last night I started yet again.

Finally something that got me smiling and nodding “yes!”.  I’m even going to be able to use those pink pentagons that I made.  I’m not sure what to do with all those other attempts.  I suppose I could turn them in to dodecahedrons.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  F (3.75 mm)

Tessellation Nation - Bottom Edge Pentagons Done!

I finished up the pentagons, and the boats, diamonds, and stars in the bottom edge of my Tessellation Nation.  I pulled out the 5 petal flower that I had set in because I didn’t like the color vibe that was going on.  I ordered a color card to make it easier to pick colors.  I am starting to second guess my plan for this blanket.  There are some amazing blankets in the Facebook group.   I don’t know, I’ll let it sit, and maybe play around on photopea some more.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F) and 3.5 mm (E)

Tessellation Nation - First Five Petal Flower Inset

I’ve also been making good progress on my Tessellation Nation since my redesign effort.  I’ve made my first five petal flower and set it in, and started on the bottom right hand corner, which has a new frame color - purple!  The outlines for two Mandalas are emerging.  I also ripped out the stars that I had done and redid them, as I didn’t like the center construction on them.  The pattern has you do a round of single crochets (14 plus a slip stitch join, for 15 stitches) and then a round of 30 half-double crochets, two per single crochet, which was just unwieldy.  First I tried working twenty triple crochets in 5 sets of four with a chain between each set, and that fit, but I wasn’t crazy about the look.  I pondered the problem on our daily walk and when I came back I checked to see if the first two rounds of the pentagon 1 would work, and it did.  So now that is how I work my stars.  I did change the beginning of round 2 so I start with chain three and a double crochet into the same stitch.  That way when I finish the round I am ready to work into the chain space for the first join and the first star point.  I work a single crochet into the chain space, join and then work another single crochet into the chain space before working the star point.  I always use a magic ring for my centers, which allows me to cinch up the piece to fit the space nicely.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton 

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F), 3.5 mm (E)

Tessellation Nation - Progress on Bottom Left Corner

So I did a little redesign on my Tessellation Nation last week and maxed out the Medallion and Mandala flowers.  That did require me to rip out about a half dozen pentagons, but I’ve made good progress since the change.

The colors are not strictly correct - more of a suggestion, and I’m thinking of swapping the light and dark purple, but we will see what happens as I go.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjies Terrazo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F) and 3.5 mm (E)

Tessellation Nation - Bottom Left Corner Started!

Last Tuesday I finally started working on this project in earnest.  I have a design, with basic (frame) colors picked.

And I have bought a pallet of yarn in colors that I like that more or less corresponds to the colors in my design.

So last Tuesday morning I pulled out skeins and started arranging them into colorways and came up with the color scheme for the lower left corner.

I’m not sure if the first two pentagon circles that I made will make it into the blanket now, but that is okay.  So far I’ve only been working the Pentagon 1 pattern, which has double crochets for round two.  There is also a Pentagon 2 pattern that has puffs for round two and the pattern recommends that you try to use them in roughly equal proportions.  But when I made a Pentagon 2 and started to join it to one of my Pentagon 1 circles I just didn’t like it.  I’ve been putting off working the Pentagon 2 pattern because I’m just not a big fan of puffs.  I’m thinking about just not doing any of the Pentagon 2 pattern, and leaving all of the texture for the flowers.  Now that I’ve worked all the pentagons in the bottom left corner I’ve started working my way to the right, where I need to transition to the purple frame color.  So I’ve pulled out my purples and added them to my color lineup.  I’m going to keep the interior colors the same, I think, and just change the frame color.  We’ll see how it works out.  There is a lot of “figure it out as you go” with this blanket, which means that I’m taking things slow and letting ideas marinate and inspiration come as it will.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjies Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Tessellation Nation - And so it begins…

I have finally started working on Tessellation Nation.  Most of the motifs have been released, which will give my a lot of freedom in my assembly, although she does have a recommended order of construction, and I will follow it, to a certain extent.  I know that lots of folks are varying the colors in their pentagons, because the frame color is really the important one, but I like things a bit more orderly, so have not been varying mine.  I do have a layout and a general color scheme, but there are still a lot of things that I am sorting out as I go, so I am going slow, and letting the design and color decisions come naturally.  I have lots of other crafting projects that I can work on while my subconscious mind ponders the next step.  I am using the recommended yarn - Scheepjes Terrazzo.  I had ordered some colors to get me started, so that is what I’m working with for now, and ordered some more last week to help fill out my pallet.

I do think that this is going to be a grand adventure, and I’m going to savor the journey.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton of The Mercerie

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo 

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)