$0.00
Crochet Extra – July 2024
It’s Birthday Month!
We have reached a milesone here at Crochet Australia – I (Lynda) have been the proud owner of the business for 10 years. Those of you who were customers 10 years ago may remember that when I first took over the business I was in Sydney and Ray and Vicki stayed on to manage the business for several months until I was able to relocate to the Sunshine Coast. I can say it is a decision and a change that I have never regretted!
Ray and Vicki’s shoes were hard to fill – after all they had been running the business for well over 10 years by then! Their guidance as I immersed myself into the business was invaluable and many of their principles I still employ today! While I had always been a crocheter, managing a crochet/yarn business still required a lot to learn.
Over the last 10 years a lot has changed in the yarn world and it has been exciting to see crochet become popular again and feature so prominently in so many areas of our lives. I have enjoyed teaching so many this beloved art, or helping them to master new techniques, and seeing the wonderful creations that people bring in to show us here at the store. And crocheters in general I think make the best customers! You are all so supportive with my events that are aimed at keeping crochet fun and funky for us all. I loo forward to continuing to teach and encourage this craft for many more years to come.
I do hope those of you around the Sunshine Coast can join me to celebrate turning 10 on Saturday 6th July. We will have some games, prizes and discounts. And if you can’t make it, you’ll still be able to join in our festivities with discounts over the weekend.
In our classes this month we are focusing on tunisian crochet – a beautiful technique that willl open up a whole new world of stitches. Each week builds on the previous week. We will explore the basic stitches, lace stitches, solid stitches and working with colour, learning 2 to 3 new stitches each week. We will finish with a tunisian sampler that can be turned into a scarf or runner.
Each week builds on the previous week, and will explore the basic stitches, lace stitches, solid stitches and working with colour.Join us online Monday nights – you don’t even have to leave the house – or come in store Tuesday mornings or Wednesday evenings.
Until next time
Lynda
Theme—Yarn in the Arts
Crochet and Knitting as Art has not always been the norm – however it is taking off! I have started seeing many displays of crocheted artwork appearing in all sorts of places. We have all heard about yarn bombing – as an aside did you get out on International Yarn Bombing Day and decorate something with your craft? And there is always a beautiful display of this at the Warwick Jumpers & Jazz Festival due to take place later this month.
Larger scale art-installations are also occurring more frequently. Each year at Warwick there is a unique large-scale yarn art installations that wow festival visitors. These installations can comprise of any form of crochet and knitting – amigurumi, mandalas, freeform, flowers and more – you are only limited by your imagination!
Art Installations are not just in the parks or at festivals either – you can see these popping up in museums and galleries all around the world. These installations can leave you in awe, as they challenge the way people look at and think about crochet. Many such pieces also convey a story, a statement or thought provoking meaning.
Attending the Crochet Guild Conference I was fortunate to meet a budding crocheter exhibitor – Louise Elsing.
Louise has been using crochet to express emotions connected to films and has her first exhibit in Sydney later this month.
The Blase Crochet Exhibition is open from 16 – 19 July in the Woollahra Gallery Double Bay.
There are many inspirational artists in this field. Here are just a few:
Joana Vasconcelos: One of her series is composed of various animal sculptures, which have been wrapped in
crochet lacework. Each of the pieces in the series is both imprisoned and protected by a second-skin made of crochet-work, making them both beautiful and strange at the same time. Essentially crochet has been used to “mummify” the ceramic animals.
Your own artistic creations don’t have to be this elaborate – instead create covers for lamps, tea cosies windows or jars with artistic flair. Or perhaps, bicycles, sofas or old cars?
Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam creates large-scale “textile playgrounds” for children, using bright colored crochet work. Her work is commonly described as being an interactive textile environment. This unconventional use of crochet work challenges our understanding of what a playground can look like, not to mention the role crochet has in our lives.
You can create your own interactive environment on a smaller scale with amigurumi toys, hammocks or crochet board games.
Gabriele Meyer Uses the hyperbolic qualities of crochet to create stunning works of fine art that reflect mathematical attributes. She has used it not only as art, but as a teaching mechanism for understanding maths. Crochet can be used to teach many skills – counting, use of colour, development of motor skills. Mandalas in particular are one way to explore all of these, and can create beautiful decorative art.
Have you also noticed hand crocheted and knitting appearing as part of the decor/props in TV shows? This is helping turn everyday crochet into art! It’s also been used to create costumes – for the little ones for book week, halloween and parties and for more elaborate situations such as on stage in the theatre.
All sorts of yarn can be used when using crochet as art – cotton, acrylic, nylon, metallic and blends. Some helpful tools for creating are are colour wheels, yarn bobbins, and even pom pom makers. So what will your crochet art project be?
Book of the Month
Modern Crochet Garden
By Amy Gaines
This modern crochet guide includes 22 “make in a day” projects – flowers, succulents, and cacti. Lovers of flowers, succulents, cacti, and crochet will be delighted by this book that can be turned into works of art.
US terminology
160 pages
