Finding Crochet Inspiration on the Trail

Hello, Subscriber First Name,

How are things in your neck of the woods? It’s nothing but wildflowers over here! I’ve spent the whole week crocheting flowers and loving every minute of it. It’s been really satisfying to get back into this project that I’ve been dabbling with for so long.

I’ve also been thinking about how this newsletter might fit into my wildflower plans. You see, for the rest of this year, I'll be giving most of my creative attention to the Crochet Wildflower Field Guide eBook and the blanket that will accompany it. My goal is to complete it by the end of this year so that the blanket pattern can go into testing in early 2027. Rather than disappearing while I work behind the scenes, I'd love to bring you along and share my progress, including all the twists and turns this journey is bound to take me on.

I’m really excited about this new turn for the newsletter. With 30 wildflowers to design, I have so much going on, and it only makes sense to welcome you into my little studio and share my progress with you each week.

I think the best place to start is with some of the flowers that have inspired this project. I got to do some hands-on research over the summer, and I’m excited to share what I found.

Hiking in the mountains near my home early in the season, discovering new wildflowers around every bend, was an absolute thrill. Along the trails, I got to know all the different colors and shapes of the various flowers that call the mountain their home, and it left me feeling incredibly inspired.

I was very lucky to be able to hike the same trail almost every week from May through July. It was so much fun to see the different wildflowers pop up along the trail, and every week I looked forward to discovering which new variety was making its seasonal debut.

The coolest thing for me about the Crochet Wildflower Field Guide project is how much it has taught me about all these wildflowers that I love so much. I’m even starting to finally remember their names! When I came across a larkspur this spring, the name came to me right away.

Seeing the flowers each week, I feel like I’ve developed a bit of a relationship with them, and I’ve gotten to know them in the full season of their lives. Visiting them in person and viewing them from all angles inspired me to think about how I might translate their colors and shapes into crochet. My hikes really did become a bit like field research!

For instance, I knew from the start that I would be designing a paintbrush flower, but I was never quite sure how to go about it. Almost all of my pictures, as well as the photos I see online, show the flower from the side, highlighting the tall red leaves that look like a brush dipped in paint. But studying the flower along the trail this summer, I uncovered a side to the plant that is equally beautiful and just perfect for translating into a crochet motif.

But my trail hikes became more than just field research. They gave me some of the most magical experiences. Like the time that I hiked through an aspen grove surrounded by hundreds of butterflies. One of them was generous enough to stay still while I took its photograph.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get back up to the mountain. In the last month, the wildfires in the northwest have made the air far too smoky for hiking.

But that’s okay, I’ve been having fun identifying all of the flowers in my photos using the Plantnet app. I discovered this app last year to help my mom identify some mysterious plants that had sprouted in her backyard. It’s become an invaluable tool for learning about all of the flowers I encountered on my hikes. And it will no doubt help inform my work as I set to depicting their beauty in crochet over the next few months.

And that’s where this week’s newsletter leaves us. I’ve got my field photos, my sketches, my yarn. It’s time to design some crochet wildflowers! I’ll be back next week with another peek at what’s happening in my wildflower studio.

Until then, happy crocheting!

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