2026 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz 

Oak Park, IL USA 

http://prokopowicz.org 

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz 

 

My Weirdlings family mirrors my own family of 3 weirdlings. 

I made the warm-toned one first and had so much fun I decided to make a couple more. 

That first one grew out of pieces in my rather large Bag of Experiments. I liked how the head worked out and had another one in purple, which gave rise to the second weirdling. The third little one is all new work. 

Can you identify their “genetic properties”?  

         

2023-Bonnie Prokopowicz

 

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

http://prokopowicz.org

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz

 

As with many of my challenge pieces, this one was slow going for me early on and then -- poof! -- it all came together. I made each scrumble in about 3-5 spins of the “dice”. I added many small pieces and fine detail after sewing the scrumbles together, and for that portion I didn’t use the “game of chance” methodology, as I thought it would be difficult to create something cohesive if I did.

 

This piece is roughly 14 by 14 inches (36 by 36 cm).

2022 Bonnie Prokopowicz

 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

http://prokopowicz.org

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz

Josephine

Thinking of freedom and how nice it would be if the freedom of her hair extended to all aspects of her life.

This piece is roughly 18 by 13 inches (46 by 33 cm).

After I finished my piece I found an interesting article on 

'The portrayal of women's hair in Art Nouveau'.

               

2021 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

http://prokopowicz.org

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz

City

glowing at twilight.

At rest from the

bustle of business.

Awaiting the

rhythm of nightlife.

This piece is roughly 22 by 13 inches (56 by 33 cm).

         

2020 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

http://prokopowicz.org

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz

Brilliance

For this year’s piece I decided to use up some of the brilliantly colored pieces and parts I’ve made and stuffed into a bag for many years, and to unify them with a brilliantly sparkly gold chainette yarn. I crocheted a few new bits to bring things together, but probably less than 2% not counting the chainette. 

This piece is roughly 20 by 30 inches (61 by 76 cm), and yet somehow I still have a mostly full bag. 

                                      

2019 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

http://prokopowicz.org

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz

Complementary

As with last year’s challenge, I had a difficult time with this year’s theme. To simplify, I decided to use just one type of fiber: #3 pearl cotton; I had many colors and it would make the project easily portable.

I chose the main colors of the rainbow, but in “off” tones, which I find more interesting than “pure” tones. Further, I decided to limit myself to short rows in the back loop and added black thread to my components to unify them.

I still struggled and I was not being particularly complimentary to myself. And then a little wordplay saved the day: focus on complementary color combinations.

                                     

2018 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

http://prokopowicz.org

Facebook: Bonnie.Prokopowicz

Gathering Storm

I worked this piece entirely in half double crochet in the “third loop” -- called camel crochet by some. I worked each row from right to left with the front of the work facing me, i.e. without turning. 

I had a difficult time with this year’s theme, and “Gathering Storm” seemed like an apt title, both for my experience and for how it turned out in the end.

                                                      

2017 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

Spirola

I always enjoy seeing spirals in nature and yet I wasn’t inspired to create a nature-themed spiral piece. 

Instead I decided to noodle around and create a big fat spiral with spiral tails: Spirola.

www.prokopowicz.org

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2016 Bonnie Prokopowicz

Bonnie Prokopowicz

Oak Park, IL USA

www.prokopowicz.org

Illinois Prairie

Having grown up and spent all but my college years in Illinois, the prairie was a natural choice for this year’s challenge. While I don’t see prairies all that often where I live, when I do, I find them to be peaceful and

mesmerizing; they bring visual interest to our flat landscape.

This piece was crocheted from needlepoint yarn, much of which my great aunt gave to me over 35 years ago. I knew I would want to use subtle color blends for this project, and the needlepoint yarn provided a nice means to achieve that, albeit a fairly time-consuming one. I first separated the strands, paired single fine strands of different colors, and then knotted together the double strands before finally taking up my hook.