Irish Green Gathering

Its just been decided, I'm going to put my Ravelympic efforts on show. As I said, I'm going to the Green Gathering, but as well as enjoying myself for the weekend, I'm doing to be doing some demo's on different types of crochet.

Also, on the Sunday, Stephanie from The Yarn Room will be selling her wares. We hope to get a little woolly thing going in the afternoon, if anyone is interested.


Heres what I'm going to be doing:

I'm making a Toilet Roll Dolly, cor a competition run by the Natural dye Studio. It's a perfect way for me to show two interesting crochet techniques at once. Th body for Miss Toilet dolly 2008 will be ade using Amigurumi, and her outfit, dress, hat, etc, will be made using Hyperbolic Crochet.

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of Crocheting or Knitting small stuffed animals, or figures. It has become a bit of a craze, with patterns and books now widely available. It is a fantastic technique, quite simple, yet very expressive and highly addictive. Once you're made the first few cutsie animals, you then move on to the slightly more bizarre, ninjas, lobsters, etc. There are loads of patterns available on Etsy and DaWanda (I have a lobster on standby, I just haven't had the chance to make it yet).

Hyperbolic crochet is the geometric opposite of the sphere. On a sphere, the surface curves in on itself and is closed. A hyperbolic plane is a surface in which the space curves away from itself at every point. Like a Euclidean plane it is open and infinite, but it has a more complex and counter intuitive geometry......................................

"While fragile models of hyperbolic planes had been made by gluing together repeating paper shapes, Daina Taimina realised she could make more durable versions using crochet, by increasing the number of stitches in each row as she crocheted around a point. The crenelated balls that emerged worked perfectly, and even led to some new results, since Taimina could test out her equations by crocheting them" (New Scientist, 22 December 2001, p 38).

Blah, blah. I don't know how to explain it in layman's terms, because I don't know exactly what it is, but I can crochet it! That's all that matters. It wibbly wobbly crochet, loops and curves, and looks great.

Ravelympics 2008

The 8/8/8 is not only the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, its also the opening ceremony of the Ravelympics 2008. Woolly athletes from all over the world are currently training in their various fields. I am representing Team Ireland (of course), and my chosen fields are

Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss
Felted Freestyle
Free-For-All Freestyle

Kick off for this event is 8pm Beijing, 12pm Ireland. I will be at the Irish Green Gathering, so if anyone sees a woman crocheting for all shes worth, please verbally support her in her endeavor to win Gold for Ireland.

Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss: I plan to make Miss Toilet Dolly Cover 2008. This is what I was planning to make for the Toilet Dolly Competition

The Natural Dye Studio in Suffolk has launched a 'Toilet Dolly Competition' to help raise money for The Mirasol Project. There are two categories; Tasteless and Tasteful. There are prizes for the best and all the dollies will be included in a charity auction on November 1st 2008.

Felted Freestyle: more coral for my Electric Picnic stand.

Free-For-All Freestyle: Guess what, more coral. (Though I hope these will be the last two pieces I have to make of coral. I'm dying to get going on something else!!)

TechnoThreads

I did my dash to Dublin to see the TechnoThreads exhibition, and although it was completely exhausting, it was well worth the trip. The Science Gallery is a lovely space with 2 Floors and various rooms for lectures and performances. Not to mention the latte...

Divided into 3 sections, the 1st part of the exhibition was Conceptual Couture. A collection of clothing made by designers and artists.

This is the Bubble ensemble made by Walter Van Beirendonck for Bono on the PopMart Tour

Manish Arora's Autumn/Winter Collection 2007

The second part of the exhibition was the Aesthetics of Science: the impact of scientific research and discovery has on garment structure, fabric and surface decoration. The only downside of this part of the exhibition, was the fact a lot of the textiles were made with some sort of light, from LED's to electroluminescent cables, and the Gallery is so bright, it was hard to get the full impact of the pieces. IT was interesting to see new types of fabric, and new methods of creating garments.



The third part of the Exhibition was Fabric Laboratory. From laser-cut and embroidered fabrics from the catwalk, to the use of thermal insulation made for and by the Space Industry. They also had fabric made from Guinness, and another from fermented wine. The living garment, silk coloured with fungi, creating different shades of orange, was bizarre. The experiment of victim-less leather, using biotechnology to create Leather-tissue from mice and human cells was more freaky.



TechnoThreads End of Exhibition Party

A members only- evening of wine, and performance, that started out slowly but ended up with a bang.

This is Katherine O'Malley from the Rex Levitates Dance Company. The raincoat (designed by Shirley Coyle) is embedded with sensors that monitor air and rainfall quality. As I watched the performance, I kept expecting to see something happen to the coat, for it to light up or something. Everything in this exhibition seems to light up, but it didn't, and the wine was calling so I left this performance. (Not really my thing). When I looked a few mins later, however, and she was just finishing, the Jacket was lit up, and I missed it.

After this performance, was another performance by the same company, but was three women wearing sound activated graphic equaliser t-shirts. These have to be seen to be believed, and the performance looked great. The picture below is Stomp, street dancers Rob Dias, Amy Allen, and Lorna also wear the graphic equaliser t-shirts. they did a great job of getting the crowd going, by dividing the room into three, and making each group make a different sound. which they performed to.

Justine Doswell, performs with a new gesture device which controls sound, through the movement of the hand. Its part of the Celeritas Project, a research project between two universities, Cork and Limerick. It wasn't as impressive as I expected it to be, her performance was good, but I think the glove let her down. What I wanted to get was a photo of the garment in the glass case. This is part of the biotechnology section, and its silk with fungi growing on it. All the orange you see is a living organism, and the dark spot is an actual fungus, brown mushroom shape growing from the neckline of the dress.


Finishing off the night is Mundo Capeoira Ireland, and impressive display of dance and martial arts. their shirts are supposed to be made of smart materials, developed by wearable technology designer Tara Carrigy. I think their movement was supposed to change the backdrop, but it only changed maybe twice. The performance was to good to be noticing the backdrop anyway.

Colour Blending

As I said, since the arrival of my wool winder, I've gone a bit mad colour blending. These are sample cards of the blends I made for the Mad Hat competition. although they look very similar, I used different threads in each, so when crocheted there was a difference in the overall look.

This is the first batch I made:

When crocheted it looked like this:

This is what the front side looked like, but I found that when crocheted, the back actually blends more. The difference is very subtle, but to me the back looks better. Its the same if you crochet with fluffy wool, the fluff tends to come out more on one side than the other. I like the back of crochet, and tend to use it more when making coral.

This is my second batch:

This is the batch I used for my Mad Hat.
Again, I think the back blended in more, and gave it a bit more texture

Nearly there

Its been a long month, trying to get all my stuff together for the Electric Picnic. The marquee I got was bigger then I thought, so I've had fun trying to reassess what I need for my stand. Everyone keeps telling me there's loads of time, but I know Time better than that. It has a habit of sneaking off on you and you don't know where it went so I'm trying to keep a short rein on it. My plan is to have my Crocheted Coral Reef finished by the end of July. With only one week to go, its looking tight, but I think it'll be made, maybe not finished. Tying in ends, and stuffing, oh the joys!!

Mad Hats and Cat in the Coral

Catch A Sailors Fancy

Here's a sneak preview of my Mad Hat

I used several strands of fine wool, and blended them together

The Result

I finally got my Mad Hat finished and posted to the Catch A Sailors Fancy Mad Hat competition, run by the Sailors Society and the Knitting and Stitching Show.

It was fun making it, but if I was to do it again, I'd probably do something a bit different. Same idea, but different hat. I forgot to stick in a photo of what it should look like on, because if it isn't on properly it looks deranged rather than mad. I must email them a pic.

Cat in the Coral

Look who I found hiding our in my Crocheted Coral Reef. That sneaky cat..She actually camouflaged quite well in it

The Big Smoke

I've decided to take a day and night off and travel up to Dublin to see the Technothreads exhibition that's on in the Science Gallery, Trinity. These exhibitions are so rare, I thought I have to travel up and give it my full support. The fact there is an end of exhibition party that I have two tickets for is a good enough excuse. I am going on my own, so I decided to offer up my spare ticket on Ravelry. I'm hoping to do the Pimp My T-Shirt workshop as well. Last year I bought 3 sets of electronic sewing kits, but haven't figures out how to use them. I think this workshop is using the idea. Also, while I'm there I hope to see the Rembrandt Etchings exhibition that's on in the Chester Beatty Library. My FAVOURITE museum! I'll be okay as long as I can keep out of the gift shop. I love that shop.....

Alpaca Fleece for Sale

Unwashed Alpaca Fleece for sale in Co. Waterford
If anyone is interested email me and I will forward on the details

€25 per kilo for fleece (not including the saddle)
€40 per kilo for the Saddle fleece (premium fleece)


They are also interested in getting a quantity of Alpaca spun, if anyone can or knows where to get fleece spun, please let me know

Felted Hyperbolic Crochet

This is my first attempt at felting one of my hyperbolic planes.

Side A:

I used 100% Aran wool for every 4 rows, then in every 5th row, I used a synthetic fluffy wool. I kept all the sticky-out bits on the A Side, and the B Side is quite smooth. (I must learn the proper terminology for describing my work). I followed all the advice I could find, put it in a pillowcase, wash with clothes to help the agitation, etc. It worked great, but what I didn't expect was for something to run in the wash and my peach creation to come out the other side of blue/grey. But, that's experimentation for you. I think the thing to do, is to just crochet lots of little samples and chuck them in the machine, and see what happens.

B side:

Wool Winder Madness

Georges Pierre Seurat introduced a more systematic and scientific technique into the world of painting, known as pointillism or divisionism, in which small dots of color are grouped to create a sense of vibrancy, tending to interact and fuse in the spectator's eye.

This "scientific technique" is the same technique that has been used for centuries in Tapestry weaving. In fact, if you look at most artists careers up until very recently, nearly all of them at some stage worked in the rag trade. Artists were employed to design tapestries, or copy the designs to scale for the weavers. The renaissance was funded by the Wool Merchants, but don't get me started on that subject, I'll rant for ever.


I love colour-blending. I think it adds depth to the wool. So, since the arrival of my wool winder, I have gone mad with colour-blending. The process is very simple. You just wind 2,3,4 or more strands of wool together. It can be as simple as that, or complicated, so you can try get a slow variation for one colour to the next.

This is the wool I'm using to make my Mad Hat, for the Sailors Society Mad Hat Competition, and Woolly Hat Campaign. I used 8 strands of wool in each ball but varied the amount of dark and light in each so it would go from white to a browny-red.




This is what it looks like when crocheted:




I love even the look of a ball of wound wool. The criss-cross pattern is obvious when you use variegated wool, like this mohair. The pink fluffy is worth being in a Coral Reef Exhibition as it stands.

The Wool-Winder from Heaven

I have a pet hate of balls of wool. I know that sounds silly for someone immersed in wooliness but I really hate having to tug the wool, while I'm working. Then the ball rolls under the couch and picks up bits of Toddler and Cat. Not to mention Toddler running off with it and pulling out stitches, or Cat playing with it, and yes, pulling out stitches. I find it interrupts the rhythm of what ever I am making at the time. Even working off a cone, drives me nuts..

I used to have a wool winder, but it got lost between my various moves, and I've missed it so much. So, instead of moaning all the time, a new(ish) wool winder arrived, courtesy of EBay yesterday. And I am in wool winder heaven. How can such a small mechanical device give such pleasure? (Don't answer that, it could sound ruder than its supposed to be). Not only did it arrive, but it was lovingly wrapped in soft white fleece to protect it from its journey. Thank you credit card, thank you EBay, I am finally getting to use all those super thin cones of wool I rescued from the charity shop. Beautiful wool, but so thin, it would be impossible to make anything from them. I tried winding by hand, but that was just masochistic.

And no more Toddler and Cat bits to pick out. The winded ball, with two flat sides sits by my side and doesn't roll, tangle or knot, it just pulls smoothly from the centre, to create a smooth relaxing flow of wool. And my sanity is saved.

Coming Soon.....Hyperbolic Crochet Patterns

I've just finished making sample pieces of hyperbolic crochet, and am working on the written instructions which I will be posting here for free. I'm trying to make them as simple as possible, so everyone will be able to understand them.

If anyone would be interested in testing out my instructions before I post them, please contact me. I'd prefer to get feedback before I let them out in the world. It will be my first time writting patterns so expect lots of mistakes...

Exhibition of Textile Art

Cuttings

This exhibition of Textiles, organised by the Cork Textiles Network, is on the move. It is coming to an end at the Bantry Music Festival, and will be travelling to to the Kinsale Arts Festival next week.

VENUE : Kinsale Methodist Church, opp tourist office in the town centre

EXHIB DATES : Saturday 12 - Sunday 20 July

If you haven't already checked it out, then here's another chance to do so. Also, you can get your hands on some small works of art donated by the participating artists to raise funds for the CTN.