Crochet
Creative Stitches & Scotch Eggs
09/02/10 02:07
Last week I was invited to go down to Brighton for the day to help out on the UK Hand Knit Association’s stand at the Creative Stitches show at the Brighton Centre. Most of it was not so much to my taste, mainly hobbyist card making and tacky lower end commercial craft, which is a good thing as I wasn’t tempted to buy anything! However it was massively busy, and I was rushed off my feet with a que of mainly elder ladies wanting me to teach them how to crochet! So after a day full of slipknots, hooks and chains, and yarning over, I went for a quiet walk along the seafront to take in the waves before heading back to London. Getting on the train I spotted a musician, who I only recognized from some gigs I had been to in the last few months, where he was featuring with his band Drum Eyes. Dj Scotch Egg joined me for the journey home. We had a lovely chat about noisy music, before I left him on his way onward to Leicester...
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Chicken
Nothing To See Here | MySpace Music Videos
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Chicken
Nothing To See Here | MySpace Music Videos
Cranberry Crochet Beret
24/12/09 12:14
A treat to myself this Christmas, to keep my head warm and pretty!
Beard For Boyce
19/10/09 22:32
After knowing Mr Boyce for over 3 years with a beard, he has decided to go clean shaven. This has been some what of a shock to me and others, so I have made him a woolly replacement in crochet to keep his face warm.
Maybe I should stick to crochet...
25/08/09 12:44
Who’d have thought one small sampled square
could cause such stress and despair.
I started with two shades of pink,
on sticks of bamboo,
I started to think
my stitches are tight,
gathered up like a ruffle,
not straight and flat,
I’m getting into a kerfuffle!
Also, I began to distress,
that my background was starting to digress
I would be left with no S to send in
just a slight sss sss sss
full of tight tangles and knots on the back
This is no good
How can one small S get the better of me?!
I am supposed to be a knitter
I want to show off my stitches in their glory
So again, I began
this time from my stash, some sock yarn,
doubled up for the back
in a shade of sky blue
my S would now stand out with its clashing hue
Cast on 60 stitches, on metal this time,
and tried to knit,
to the country I took a retreat
for distractions of the city would not let me sit
In the sun I sat,
in the peace of the surrounding green
I hadn’t a care in the world
and slipped up some stitches
some mistakes I had made had gone unseen
Back to the city, something had changed
my life suddenly felt all over in bits
I concentrated hard to finish my square
but something was not right
I had missed out a whole massive strip somewhere
So now there was no choice but to unravel
and rip back
half way
back down
but at least I haven’t reached the very bottom
Will I be able to make it back up to the top line?
Who knows, I’ll just have to knit it
one stitch at a time.
could cause such stress and despair.
I started with two shades of pink,
on sticks of bamboo,
I started to think
my stitches are tight,
gathered up like a ruffle,
not straight and flat,
I’m getting into a kerfuffle!
Also, I began to distress,
that my background was starting to digress
I would be left with no S to send in
just a slight sss sss sss
full of tight tangles and knots on the back
This is no good
How can one small S get the better of me?!
I am supposed to be a knitter
I want to show off my stitches in their glory
So again, I began
this time from my stash, some sock yarn,
doubled up for the back
in a shade of sky blue
my S would now stand out with its clashing hue
Cast on 60 stitches, on metal this time,
and tried to knit,
to the country I took a retreat
for distractions of the city would not let me sit
In the sun I sat,
in the peace of the surrounding green
I hadn’t a care in the world
and slipped up some stitches
some mistakes I had made had gone unseen
Back to the city, something had changed
my life suddenly felt all over in bits
I concentrated hard to finish my square
but something was not right
I had missed out a whole massive strip somewhere
So now there was no choice but to unravel
and rip back
half way
back down
but at least I haven’t reached the very bottom
Will I be able to make it back up to the top line?
Who knows, I’ll just have to knit it
one stitch at a time.
Sara Makes Things
19/07/09 14:50
You may notice at the bottom of my website menu, that I have recently added a shop! I have joined the community of etsy.com, and am currently working on putting items up on my page for you to buy!
www.saramakesthings.etsy.com
Wools & Crafts
13/06/09 15:54
I discovered this amazing little shop today on Blackstock Road, in Finsbury Park. Some of the ladies in my crochet group had mentioned it in passing, but I had no idea just how much stock they have! It was really hard to leave empty handed. I managed to only buy two items, some matching purple cotton to finish off my treble crochet granny square!
Finished Object?
30/05/09 14:13
Well, I have run out of time on my UFO, so I guess for now it is finished. I had intended to do something totally obscure and weird to transform an ordinary piece of knitting into some sculptural multi-coloured form. But when I received the unfinished cardigan, I couldn’t bare to make it odd, in saying that I think my colour choice has made it end up equally as an oddment! Anyway here’s the story behind it, then what I did...
Great Granny’s Oddment Cardigan. “This back of a cardigan was constructed from great granny’s sock oddments basket. From a mixture of 4ply blues and greens. Have you any oddments lying around?”…
The back instantly looked like it would make a rather lovely top. I found an odd ball of sock yarn and started crocheting around the edge, gave it a few ruffles, then it was transformed from an cast-off cardigan to a hyperbolic halter-neck!
Great Granny’s Oddment Cardigan. “This back of a cardigan was constructed from great granny’s sock oddments basket. From a mixture of 4ply blues and greens. Have you any oddments lying around?”…
The back instantly looked like it would make a rather lovely top. I found an odd ball of sock yarn and started crocheting around the edge, gave it a few ruffles, then it was transformed from an cast-off cardigan to a hyperbolic halter-neck!
UFO Project Administration Service
09/05/09 13:44
Rachael and Louise at Prick Your Finger are, for the next couple of months, becoming the administration service for a UFO project, which will result in an exhibition at the Jerwood Space. UFO being - Un Finished Object! This is aimed at all those knitting and crochet items that were once started then forgotten, another chance for these to have a lease of life. It sounded like a great project for me to get stuck into, so for the next couple of weeks I have put on hold my crochet and knits to finish off someone else’s UFO, and at the same time handing over a piece I had given up on.
This is a hat I started a while back, then used it as sample to practice my cable stitch on. It then got too tight for my head, and I got fed up of it. I wonder how it will turn out?
This is a hat I started a while back, then used it as sample to practice my cable stitch on. It then got too tight for my head, and I got fed up of it. I wonder how it will turn out?
A Little Bazaar...
24/04/09 08:51
Last night I took my hand screen printed felt cats on their first outing, down to The Albany, in Deptford for A Little Bazaar. I shared a stall with two lovely and creative ladies Parusha & Anita, and together we had a wealth of vintage, design and hand made craft on our table! We had lots of fun dancing about to a great DJ set, ate glitter cupcakes from the next stall, and tested punters on their bartering skills! My cats had a fair amount of interest, so I thought it was time to share them with you! If you would like to buy one, please email me!
Thank you Parusha & Anita and A Little Bazaar for a fun evening. x
Thank you Parusha & Anita and A Little Bazaar for a fun evening. x
The Viral Project
25/03/09 21:38
The Viral Project is a hands-on participatory project that can engage large numbers and a wide range of participants in exciting craft-making. Critical to the project is an exciting, fun, craft and inspired “viral casade” learning approach. The Viral Project will initially be a three year programme, focusing on different craft elements each year that act as a key theme and inspiration to investigate topical themes. The first year will focus on the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, encompassing crochet, geometry and ecology. If you would like to be involved with this project, please contact Katy Bevan at the Crafts Council:
participate@craftscouncil.org.uk
plastic bag turned hyperbolic
23/03/09 22:46
Sorry, not been on here for ages to post anything up, which, I guess is a good thing ‘cos it sort of means I’ve been busy doing other stuff. Here, is what I came up with after a few days working at the Stitch and Craft Show at Olympia...Yet more hyperbolic crochet forms, working with stripped up plastic bags. This one is made with a bag from Marks & Sparks, and a few Accardo bags on the edge.
Taking knit out to the street
25/01/09 10:23
I’ve been a bit naughty and have started a bout of graffitti...
ha ha! watch out for more to come!
If you like this, check out www.yarnbombing.com
ha ha! watch out for more to come!
If you like this, check out www.yarnbombing.com
Crochet Balaclava
18/01/09 17:28
I have been making a knitted balaclava - watch this space for further news why! Anyway, I got a bit inspired and went off on a colorful one to make this crocheted piece too! I was thinking that the whole idea for having a balaclava is to blend into the background, and to create a disguise - well I would love to find the place where this blends into...
Amigurumi
08/11/08 18:37
I’m completely hooked.
I could spend all day on the net looking at pictures of japanese amigurumi crochet.
Kawaii!
This is one of mine:
Ari The One Armed Ami.
If you want to make some crochet characters, check out this book by Annie, a lovely girl who also works at Tatty Devine.
I could spend all day on the net looking at pictures of japanese amigurumi crochet.
Kawaii!
This is one of mine:
Ari The One Armed Ami.
If you want to make some crochet characters, check out this book by Annie, a lovely girl who also works at Tatty Devine.
Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef
02/07/08 21:40
Hyperbolic Crochet
I have become hooked into crochet. As a Textile Artist this activity is something I already had in practice, picking up the stitches and following on from my grandma’s legacy, this has gone beyond what is commonly perceived as a feminine handicraft, a hobby of the past or of a quirky, kitche activity to do in the pub with your indie mates. Crochet, knit and other textile techniques are not just a physical activity. Here lies a cognitive exercise, in which thought process develops through the process of making. Crochet has gone into the realm of physics and mathematics, as being a perfect method to create models to express and explain the hyperbolic plane.
A hyperbolic plane?… I have become stuck for trying to describe it, yet through making I can show you an example of this one surface that is ever expanding and multiplying in its negative curvature. If mathematics is a language, then in its visual form shows structure and pattern. Using crochet, increasing the number of stitches from the starting point, demonstrates these geometric forms. I have found a connection here, a thread that runs through all my textile work, uncovering a sense of order out of apparent chaos.
The hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is an international collaboration conceived by The Institute For Figuring bringing together the work of countless people, creating their own crochet models as single elements, brought together as a whole, show a mass of microcosms and macrocosms. The “coral reef” has been exampled for this project to push forward an ecological issue, but when looking at these forms could equally be describing other biological structures.
From its international exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, people from the Uk were invited to respond and make their own crochet corals. This response has been so fantastic, that I have become involved in this branching off, to create the UK Reef. In partnership with Denise Quinn, and with support from the Crafts Council I have helped curate and install the crochet display for tour in the Knitting and Stitching Show, during which I taught more people how to crochet. The project grows and spreads as more people get hooked. The future for the growing UK Reef? As more off shoots develop, this craft is becoming viral, watch this space...
I have become hooked into crochet. As a Textile Artist this activity is something I already had in practice, picking up the stitches and following on from my grandma’s legacy, this has gone beyond what is commonly perceived as a feminine handicraft, a hobby of the past or of a quirky, kitche activity to do in the pub with your indie mates. Crochet, knit and other textile techniques are not just a physical activity. Here lies a cognitive exercise, in which thought process develops through the process of making. Crochet has gone into the realm of physics and mathematics, as being a perfect method to create models to express and explain the hyperbolic plane.
A hyperbolic plane?… I have become stuck for trying to describe it, yet through making I can show you an example of this one surface that is ever expanding and multiplying in its negative curvature. If mathematics is a language, then in its visual form shows structure and pattern. Using crochet, increasing the number of stitches from the starting point, demonstrates these geometric forms. I have found a connection here, a thread that runs through all my textile work, uncovering a sense of order out of apparent chaos.
The hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is an international collaboration conceived by The Institute For Figuring bringing together the work of countless people, creating their own crochet models as single elements, brought together as a whole, show a mass of microcosms and macrocosms. The “coral reef” has been exampled for this project to push forward an ecological issue, but when looking at these forms could equally be describing other biological structures.
From its international exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, people from the Uk were invited to respond and make their own crochet corals. This response has been so fantastic, that I have become involved in this branching off, to create the UK Reef. In partnership with Denise Quinn, and with support from the Crafts Council I have helped curate and install the crochet display for tour in the Knitting and Stitching Show, during which I taught more people how to crochet. The project grows and spreads as more people get hooked. The future for the growing UK Reef? As more off shoots develop, this craft is becoming viral, watch this space...