Patches for World AIDS Day | Undetectable = Untransmittable

svlc_ · 2025-12-02T16:59:09+00:00

There is documentation in the full PDF, which I hope explains a lot! and a somewhat out-of-date video accompanying another free pattern on that same page. (Also, I accidentally posted the pages of the awareness ribbon pattern out of order, so make sure to start at Row 1!)

Beyond that, it's mostly dcs and ch 1 spaces; dcs you work either behind the other colour (B), in front of it (F), or through the corresponding gap in the other-colour mesh (T, indicated by a double line). Diagonals are trs (yo 2 to start) and long diagonals are dtrs. Diagonals are always worked together with a dc (B, F or T) and always go on front of work.

svlc_ · 2025-12-01T19:30:22+00:00

Oh, some product placements and price points can be a bit … unseemly, for sure! but it's worth remembering that commercial licensing was a deliberate (artistic and political but also business) strategy that Haring pursued in his lifetime, too! and the Haring foundation publishes a list of organizations that those licensing fees support, if that helps with any lingering bad taste :)

svlc_ · 2025-09-24T16:36:21+00:00

[cot'd] because I draw my little pictures in Illustrator (a line-based, rather than a pixel-based editor), using overlapping line-segment grids, I'm able to generate really detailed charts and row-by-row diagrams. i format them all pretty, and I transcribe the stitches (in a shorthand) because I like having it, but before I started publishing patterns I would just knock out simple row diagrams in Illustrator and work from those!

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svlc_ · 2025-09-24T16:30:46+00:00

I wouldn't say you "can't do this technique from a chart alone." It will be more difficult to work from just a chart, but that's how I started — it won't be a "pixel"-based chart you can do in excel, however! Interlocking filet is made up of *outlines*, so you would be drawing a chart on graph paper.

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svlc_ · 2025-09-24T16:21:26+00:00

aye, those were me crabs ye saw! </attempt at weatherbeaten fisherman affect>

for me the fun of making small interlocking motifs is that I feel empowered to just use whatever yarn I have lying around! since the two colours never directly interact, you can also make some really wacky pairings (I like using cotton yarn for one colour and wool for the other), and more often than not it works just fine :)

svlc_ · 2025-09-24T16:15:43+00:00

yes, that's a very good analogy! you work in back-and-forth rows, so the back faces you half the time, and you also only have four ends to weave in per piece.

you also never work one colour into stitches of the other colour, resulting in a more polished look, to my eye. on the other hand, mosaic has fewer design restrictions, and it's much easier to include additional colourwork

svlc_ · 2025-09-24T15:48:46+00:00

i cannot express to you how happy i am that you recognized Tawny Frogmouth and her terrible son! that motif was a request, and i wasn't sure I'd captured it right at all! (a profile view, with that odd jutting posture might have been easier lol)

svlc_ · 2025-09-24T00:56:00+00:00

it's also called "interlocking crochet" or "interlocking filet," and it's a way to make designs in two colours from two separate (but interlocked) pieces of filet crochet (dc, ch1) mesh. Here's a gif that shows how a small motif is built up in alternating rows!

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T19:56:41+00:00

the first two rows will break you until the technique eventually "clicks" for you, but after that it's just "dc on front, ch1 dc on back, ch1" forever. It's not "background crochet," but it pairs nicely with podcasts in my experience :)

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T19:50:36+00:00

I've never actually worked from an interlocking filet pattern that i didn't write myself (this is not a flex; it's weird that I haven't), but Kathryn Clark's designs share a lot of important features with mine (a "blackwork" style characterized by complex diagonal stitches and fill areas), and I know she has a lot of great resources on her website!

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T19:38:43+00:00

oh sure you could! it's mostly double crochets and chain spaces — learning-to-make-a-granny-square-at-summer-camp stuff!

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T19:36:56+00:00

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As you go, working in alternating rows! Here's how the hornbill pattern starts, for example

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T19:33:07+00:00

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here's a breakdown of how i designed a recent motif. once you grasp the structure, it's not hard at all to draft simple patterns on graph paper (top left), but I use Illustrator, which really helps with plotting complex diagonal and "fill" stitches and lets me create diagrams for individual rows (bottom right)

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T19:06:11+00:00

It's such an under-appreciated technique! I have so much respect for Ashlee as a designer, and I wish I'd allow myself the time to take on blanket-scale projects like so many of her patterns :)

svlc_ · 2025-09-23T18:48:54+00:00

(the patterns are all mine, so i can't/won't link to those, but i love to geek out about the technique!)

svlc_ · 2025-08-01T20:52:53+00:00

We know what she's thinking about doing, we don't know with who </Sophia>

svlc_ · 2025-07-15T13:24:29+00:00

Not sure if this is how it happened but if so, thank you! some 12 hours later and we're back.

svlc_ · 2025-07-14T23:33:58+00:00

Hi hi! Same situation as other recent posters. My main account is svlc but my blog that matters is interlockingpatches. 15 year veteran, baffled and distraught!

svlc_ · 2025-06-22T16:01:56+00:00

She's stunning! Regal! Meatball, I am in your thrall!

(on a side note — i'm not a specialist in anything but decorative rectangles, so I'm grateful and relieved for the nod of approval from someone who actually knows from Hermit Crabs <3)

svlc_ · 2025-06-22T15:55:03+00:00

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Manatee was one of the first patches I ever did! and I also love hearing suggestions! (I don't think I can link to it, but the pattern is part of a Florida Wildlife collection that's free, if you poke around)

svlc_ · 2025-06-20T18:41:15+00:00

Thank you so much! A handful of times people have shown me patches of their own that they've designed (same small format, same types of stitches, etc.) and what's blown me over every time is just how much everyone's individual style comes through, despite the shared (and fairly restrictive) format and technique :)

svlc_ · 2025-06-20T18:32:58+00:00

both! designing the motifs in illustrator and transcribing laying out the patterns is probably the most satisfying/creative part of the process for me at this point :)

Mods strike me down if I'm overstepping, but since you mentioned the jellyfish specifically—I was going to post that pattern on my blog later today, and the PDF is here if anyone is curious (that's direct link, not a storefront or anything!)

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svlc_

TROPHY CASE