On my first attempt, I was challenged when I saw a gorgeous shawl made from connected spirals and flowers. I thought that it would be easy! It was not. I had to watch a ton of YouTube tutorials on how to make those quirky, boho-looking spirals. After making a few of these, I quite lost my interest. And so this project was shoved in the WIP basket, never to be opened again , until last year. My second attempt.

The second time I had the interest to try freeform crochet was during the Ibagiw Art Festival here in Baguio City. Hoping to have an impressive freeform piece to display in my booth other than my usual Giant Mandalas, I rushed to create a piece that represented the cultural fusion in Benguet. But I don’t need to tell you that any rushed work won’t be beautiful. I incorporated all the scrumbles I had done the last time, mixing it with new ones, and adding a bit of ethnic vibe to the overall appearance. Sadly, I wasn’t able to finish this as I got more and more disillusioned about freeform crochet. I began to wonder how fiber artists can have the patience to connect hundreds of scrumbles together. You guessed it. I shelved this project and it stayed there for months and months.

Then the Quarantine due to Corona Virus happened in the Philippines. On March 2020, President Duterte ordered the Community Quarantine and all people were ordered to stay inside their homes in order to prevent the spread of the virus. It seemed to be the perfect time to continue all WIPs.  Finally, I had time to bring out all my scrumbles, connect them all together, and finally create something cohesive. 

Based on my experience with freeform crochet, I can tell you right now that it’s not as easy as it looks. When you read about freeform crochet, it advocates ‘letting go’ and just allowing your hand and hook to just create! Freeform crochet is supposed to be liberating and stress-relieving! Well, it could be if you’re not an OC like me. I wanted to try freeform crochet mainly as a therapy for being such a control freak. I wanted to just let go and to not be stressed about the stitch count all the time. Because I do love hooking, but the counting takes away much of the fun in crocheting.  

Finally, freeform crochet can be therapeutic for people who just want to relax and crochet, not worrying about stitch counts, color changes, and design.  Do give it a try and find out for yourself if it would do wonders for you. Meanwhile, I will be connecting together scrumbles, perhaps put in a stitch or two until my freeform ‘masterpiece’ is finally done. I remain optimistic and humorous about it.