Yarn Classes

We have posters, we have leaflets, we have a tight schedule for the coming week. We are Reefers and we have a Hyperbolic Crochet exhibition to set up.

Not sure how much crochet will actually be done around here for the next week or so…

Toxic hyperbolic crochet is about to peak very soon here as the exhibition of The Irish Reef is opening on Sunday 12th and the setting up of the reef will commence next weekend.

In an effort to have a clear view of the way ahead which is best achieved by crochet methinks, I have combined it with the re-construction of our toxic reef, I have now more or less finished the Hundreds-And-Thousands Of Toxins piece that I have worked on for the last while and I’m now in serious toxic orange hyperbolic doily mode. I am working a cluster of Sainsbury bags with a little frilly edge as an ode to my Great Granny whom I have never met but whose crochet sampler book I have the privilege to have to hand for inspiration.

My hands are starting to speak to me using words like ‘hard’, ‘rest’, ’strain’ when I work in plarn. I am mindful and only work it a little at a time and very soon my head will be clear and I will see the way forward equally clearly and I will be able to go back to working wool again… Unless the toxic muse has another idea she needs to manifest! We’ll see, for now I am looking forward to seeing our wonderful reef in all her glory out on public display!

Added later: While I continued working on these orange hyperboles I came to realize that my Great Granny would probably not ever have touched a plastic bag. Fascinating thought as she died approximately early to mid 20th century. And a scary thought how much damage we humans have actually managed to do to our planet in one single century. Alarmingly scary, as a matter of fact!

I have an silly, unfinished lot of different projects on the hook these days and then there is the whole ‘real life’ aspect to be dealt with in parallel.

I have mentioned it before and I will more than likely mention it again. As a matter of fact, it’s more or less constantly on the agenda… You see, The Irish Reef exhibition in the Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, Co Wicklow is drawing nearer and nearer and we don’t actually have a toxic reef at the moment, so I raided my family and friend’s plastic bag for re-use stashes so I could get some toxics done by way of eliminating at least some of the toxic gap in the reef exhibition. The bag raid in Belfast was particularly good from a gaudy plastic colour perspective!

Hundreds-and-thousands Toxins © Irene Lundgaard 2010

At the weekend I actually had the opportunity to give the hook a good toxic whirl and this is what tumbled off it – a cluster of hyperbolic spheres in gaudy colours. Ends needs weaving in and a few more hyperboles will roll off the hook yet, methinks…

A good while back, while I was at my hyperbolic crochet peak, I worked a long scarf in Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. I worked a row of swirly-whirlies of little tight hyperbolic planes along the edge of the scarf and I really liked it. It was fun to make

Twisty Twirl Scarf © Irene Lundgaard 2010

and utilized the colour changes in the yarn to good effect. In my mind it was a one off piece as I gave the scarf to somebody, that is very special to me, as a gift. A present of gratitude.

Then I started thinking more about the variation possibilities in the original idea and I was then greatly inspired by The Yarn Room Twist by Stephanie Kennedy and the whole Möbius craze that seems to be doing the rounds among knitters and crocheters. And I thought my once-off present idea lent itself to be developed into a Yarn Room Twist with a crochet twist, so to speak.

I adore the colours in Noro yarns and decided to give the original idea another go and this is the result. In the picture I have made it into quite a tight little cowl by twisting it around 3 times, but it could just as well be worn only twice around the neck making it hang down much more loosely. It could really be made in any yarn but I’m excited about the basic idea and the way it combines different mathematical aspects…

I was often told in school that I had no grasp of maths, I wonder when that misconception was actually rectified because I seem to be all about it now. Age and the university of life are wonderful things indeed…

I know I will get a lot of wear out of the Möbius this autumn and winter and the pattern will be available very soon, so you can too.

I have had a cardigan on the hook for some time, it was basically finished, all it needed was the front bands and some buttons and a bit of fancy footwork to finalize edges and such like. Simple really, and I had it all done but wasn’t really happy as I made the classical mistake of making the two front bands too late at night – as in – way too late.

The result of my late night adventure was two lovely puckering front bands, they were not really puckering much and perhaps not really enough for the untrained eye to spot, but I spotted it immediately the following morning. In classical fashion, I put the cardigan to one side for a few days… Don’t we all do that when we realize that ripping and reworking is needed?

This glorious sunny summer morning I took myself and my hook and my coffee out into the garden and set to work to rectify my error. I ripped and then worked the front bands on half a hook size bigger and if you look at the picture you will see the major difference this makes. The left side is worked on a size 5 mm and the right hand side is worked on a 4.5 mm hook. Another bit of ripping and re-working and there will be no more puckering, now it’s just for fixing ends and getting the buttons just right.  Amazing what a difference 0.5 mm can make!

Note: The cardigan is based on Liselotte Weller’s wonderful generic pattern called Klokkeblomst/Bellflower.

I had the most wonderful dream some nights ago. It totally blew my mind as I simply dreamt that I was crochet. I was the yarn, the hand and the hook. I felt every move of a double crochet stitch, the yarn was pure wool and made a scratchy sound as I went through the stitch on the row, I reached out and came back as a perfectly shaped yarn loop. I was wrapped around again and moved through the two loops on me, I then gently pulled to make the perfectly even knot that is a double crochet stitch. I fitted into the row just snug. Even, not too lose and not too tight. I had made myself into beautiful even crochet fabric. It was a wonderful dream in which I felt completely at home and at ease.

The question is if I have categorized this right, is it indeed embedded knowledge or is it embrained, embodied or encoded? Perhaps it is all of the above? Others might just whisper ‘obsessive compulsive’…

On Saturday The Reefers had a wee chin-wag at the Courthouse Arts Centre, we needed to plan our moves for the exhibition of our much loved hyperbolic crochet reef. while we were chatting away there was great carry on in the main room of The Courthouse as they have a collaborative arts project in residence through August which is called Alterations. We decided to gift them a hyperbolic plane and a sphere worked in plarn.

Hyperbolic Sphere In Altered Space

It is a project initiated by Maggie Gallagher’s company Curious Tails. Maggie is documenting the progress of the project on her blog, which you can find here. Today I went in to see what had come of our hyperbolic shapes. The yellow sphere was more or less dead centre in the space but the plane, I could not see. I think it is hidden within… It will be interesting to see where they end up on September 12th.

The Reef exhibition will open on the same day, Sunday September 12th as Alterations come to it’s crescendo with an exhibition documenting the work during the month of August.

Note: Go visit The Courthouse Arts Centre this month to see this project evolve, perhaps you will even partake…

We are exhibiting The Irish Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef in The Courthouse Arts Centre Tinahely from September 12th to October 24th. I’m delighted that we will have the opportunity to give our wonderful woolly wonder another whirl. However, we don’t have a Toxic Reef any more, as it was sent of with the Wertheims to be exhibited in it’s entirety at The Smithsonian as they found it to be of an outstanding high quality. This means that we actully don’t have a Toxic Reef to exhibit here any longer, so the call is out for some toxic reef to be produced.

This weekend I’m going to attempt to turn these bags into some toxic coral. Are you going to join me?

If you would like to submit pieces (woolly or toxic), please send to
Irish Reef, Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, Co Wicklow, Ireland

Note: To crochet hyperbolic spheres or planes and be true to the mathematical principals, you just need to increase to the same rate throughout to create a exponential increase. Have fun!

We had great fun last night, Big Knit hats were being spewed out like there was no tomorrow, 50.5 to be exact!

Calm At The Yarn Room Before The Big Knit Night

Many Hands Makes Light Work

The Yarn Room Big Knit Collection

The Yarn Room House Mouse In Suitable Attire

Information on The Big Knit can be had here!

I finally got around to actually making some wee hats for the Innocence Smoothie campaign in aid of Age Action Ireland. The campaign is called The Big Knit, however, in usual rouge style, I went ahead and made some juicy fruits with my hook. I even included a couple of strawberries with yoghurt in true smoothie style.

Innoncent Smoothie Big Knit © Irene Lundgaard 2010

I’m thinking I perhaps should add a bit of yoghurt to all of the fruits. Come to think of it, perhaps I should take the yoghurt off the strawberries… What do you think?

Blueberries & Kiwi

Orange & Strawberries

Apple & Lime

Click for big pics

On Thursday night we will let the creative juices flow with a Big Knit at Knit Club in The Yarn Room in Ashford, Co Wicklow from about 6.30 to 9.00 pm. Join us if you can!

Note: If you would like to contribute to this fun fund-raiser in aid of Age Action Ireland you can find the patterns here and much more details. The postal address for your submission can also be found on that site.