Image from hereIf crochet has never taken your fancy, these amazing crochetdermy animals by Shauna Richardson will surely change your mind. When I was in London recently I visited the Power of Making exhibition at the V&A. It's not an enormous show but it's packed full of objects of all kinds, from leather shoes to furniture, spun sugar sculptures and an amazing life-size crocheted bear.
Image from here
It was great to see such diverse crafts treated equally and there are some fascinating videos of makers at work. I would definitely recommend checking out the show if you're in London.
Last week I made my own beginnings with crocheting too. I went to a one-off evening class where we learnt double and triple crochet, and how to make a granny square.
Ta dah! My first granny square (so proud)
I really enjoyed it and can see how granny squares in particular could be a really soothing activity. Now I've got a taste for crochet, you can expert to read more about it here. I won't be abandoning my beloved sticks in favour of the hook, but crochet certainly has its advantages - speed and simplicity being two. Although I wasn't interested in crochet for a long time, I've seen so many lovely crocheted items on blogs I follow that made me realise I had to learn.
Do you crochet? Have you got any tips you can pass on?
K x
Yay for granny squares, I can now make these, plus flowers and hearts, although I must start practising again. No tips aside that I've found cotton yarn is lovely to crochet with, so much nicer than splitty wool or squeaky acrylic!
ReplyDeleteLove the V&A, this exhibition looks great, wonder whether I'll get a chance to fit it in?
That exhibition looks astounding. Well done on that square, it's taken me years and I still can't even do a chain. x
ReplyDeleteWell done on the granny square! I've become really addicted to crochet recently - am currently working on lots of secret baby gifts! It does seem to be so much quicker and easier than knitting.(I think that's why I like it...)
ReplyDeleteHave you looked on you tube for crochet tutorials? There are some amazing ones on there, I found it much easier to learn from a video than a book.
Wow, what an amazing looking exhbition.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit addicted to crochet. I think the speed of it and how soothing it is can make it soemthing that you can easily find yourself addicted too. Great for long trip too.
Thanks ladies! I shall start looking for nice cotton yarns and keep Youtube tutorials in mind. I find it can be hard to decipher pictures too.
ReplyDeleteThere is an excellent tutorial for a granny square here using UK terminology
ReplyDeletehttp://bunnymummy-jacquie.blogspot.com/
loads of inspiration and tutorials here
http://attic24.typepad.com/
Cheers Solstitches, will check out those links :)
ReplyDeleteNot many tips, but my fave boOks are the happy hooker by Debbie stoller and knitting and crochet bible. The latter has brilliant clear pictures, the best I've seen for showing which loop your hook goes under. By the way I want a crochet animal too. They are so fantastic, my wool shop had a knotted hare head mounted that I also noticed covetously. But a full bear?! On a similar note I also liked what someone did with a fake fur rug made with a fur fabric bear head atop the "fur" rug. Is that bad of me being a veggie? !
ReplyDeleteI was floored by The Power of Making exhibit - it is astounding what human minds and hands can do. Well done on your granny square too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristen and I will check out that Knitting and Crohet Bible too, Scruffy.
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