Fall Crochet Inspiration: Swedish forest colors, somatic calm, and projects in wool and cotton.

In October, autumn gives us the chance to gaze in awe at an explosive spectacle of garnet reds, ochres, almost fluorescent yellows, and muted greens. Colors swept and whipped up by the wind, leaves and branches flung into the air like fireworks, only to drift slowly and sinuously down, abandoning the trees in their final breath of life. Never was something dead so beautiful...

October is a month of internal farewells; it traces a slow death, teaching us to shed our skin and calmly create a new self, without clinging to what we used to be. The trees shed the foliage that once showed off its might in summer—foliage that just a couple of months ago stood tall, toned, and brimming with sap. Today, those beautiful leaves are piled up corpses forming cushions at every corner... a small delight for our pets on their walks.

Autumn in Southern Sweden: The Beauty of Letting Go

Here where I write to you, in southern Sweden, the oaks, birches, beeches, and willows slowly strip bare before our disbelieving eyes—shedding, surrendering, emptying, and drawing inwards before the arrival of an unforgiving winter and its inexorable standstill. They show us their loss as an example of resilience, adaptation, and transformation. Elegant and proud, they cast aside their majesty to reveal their bare, gaunt skeletons, darker and eerily shadowed. Perhaps this is what once inspired the Celts to celebrate Samhain, and why Halloween now speaks of creatures of the night.

Crocheting to Soothe the Nervous System: The Project

October has been the ultimate source of inspiration for the two projects I’m sharing with you today.

Without even realizing it, the projects began to settle deep within me, hushing me, soothing me, drawing me inwards—precisely where I needed to be. The velvety, comforting touch of Hilaturas LM’s XL organic cotton helped me navigate the whirlwind around me, offering that perfect refuge of somatic stimulation that only crochet can provide.

Materials, Color Palette, and Fabric Drape

I had chosen garnet and nude for the front and back panels, but green joined spontaneously at the end when I realized it served as a connecting thread between the two, gently stimulating my nervous system’s electrical circuitry.

I used an 8.00 mm hook to give the fabric drape, resulting in a loose, airy texture that balanced the weight of the cotton. Comfortable, warm, and perfect for a day on the move.

Butterflies are the focal point of the design, symbolizing change, metamorphosis, and teaching us that no matter how safe we feel inside the chrysalis, we must eventually spread our wings and fly.

• Technique: Crochet

• Yarn: Hilaturas LM Organic Cotton XL (garnet, nude, and green tones).

• Hook: 8.00 mm.

• Level: Intermediate

In my shop, you can find this same cotton in a finer 3.5 mm weight. Here is the link: https://www.fifi.nu/product-page/lm-cotton-nature-3-5-mm-4

Then, unable to stop, inspired purely by the palette of falling autumn leaves, this beanie design was born. It combines Uruguayan merino wool in the ribbing for extra softness against the forehead, paired with Swedish wool from Öland—more rustic and crisp, yet incredibly durable and warm in winter. You can find it here.

In this beanie, I wanted to play with texture, as the grassy, earthy scent of the wool inspired something more pastoral—perhaps an escape into a fairytale realm.

• Technique: Crochet

• Yarn: Ullcentrum 6/3 Swedish wool from Öland

• Hook: 5.00 mm

• Level: Intermediate

Enjoy your own personal autumn, and lose yourself in its colors. Until next time!