A hyperbolic coral reef in crochet

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is a worldwide project created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim of the Institute for Figuring in Los Angeles.

The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef was on display during 21-30 August in the Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo. Fortunately I was in Sydney last week and saw it first hand. Here's some of my photos of the exhibition.








The Reef begins with the technique of hyperbolic crochet discovered by Dr. Daina Taimina. In 1997, Daina Taimina, a mathematician at Cornell University, crocheted a physical model of hyperbolic space. Visit http://theiff.org/oexhibits/oe1e.html to read more about Daina's crochet models.

You can crochet your own hyperbolic plane by increasing incrementally. All you have to remember is to increase every nth stitch each row. For example, if n=4 you increase every 4th stitch, every row. As you increase, the surface begins to ruffle naturally. An article in Interweave Crochet magazine gives you the complete instructions at http://theiff.org/press/interweave.html.

Main Street Yarns and Fibers, Watkinsville, GA, USA

If you like visitiing the best yarn stores when you travel, head to Watkinsville, Georgia USA and meet the friendly southern locals. Main Street Yarns and Fibers is one of the liveliest, helpful and inspirational yarn stores on the planet. If you knit, crochet or felt, be prepared to stay for at least an hour browsing. You may even start your project there because you won't want to leave this fiber-lovers' haven. You'll meet Ruth, Darilee, James and Tina. Ruth will tempt you with the latest, luscious yarns from around the world. Darilee, a talented young fiber artist, will inspire you to create beautiful wearables. James will fire your passion for crochet. Tina will infect you with a compulsion to knit 365 days a year. I love Main Street Yarns and Fibers.

Crocheted beanies for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Every traveler needs a unique beanie that suits their personality. "Johnny Reb" is a grey cap-style hat with bill. Johnny Reb is the name they gave to the Confederate soldier who fought in the American civil war.
"Sedona" is an oversized beanie in turquoise and dusty tans of the Arizona desert region.

Crocheted beanies for travelers - designed and crocheted by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008.

Ear-flap hats for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Ear-flap Beanies for travelers - designed and knitted by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008. Patterns available at Bandana Heads.

Peruvian inspired travel hats - Men and boys in the Andes Mountains knit and wear the traditional chullo with ear flaps. They embellish their hats with colorful customized motifs.

Hemp beanies for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Beanies designed for travelers - created by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008

Pink Ribbon Breakfast for Breast Cancer Research

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month world wide. The pink ribbon symbolises hope and awareness for those affected by breast cancer. The Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation is having another Pink Ribbon Breakfast campaign this year. Friends, family and workmates will gather together in homes, offices, pubs and parks, to celebrate the achievements of breast cancer research and raise funds for further research. The pink theme gives a sense of festival. Pink eggs, pink clothes, pink hair and pink decorations.

My friend Leigh is hosting one of these brekkies on Sunday October 23 at the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane Queensland. Her all-female jazz band BZAZZ is set to entertain from 8.00 am. Some of the band members have had breast cancer and their music is an inspiring celebration of survival.

Leigh thought that one of my pink crochet bucket hats designed especially for chemo patients would make a good raffle prize. I finished it yesterday and entrusted it to USPS and Australia Post to get it there safely and on time. The hat features a white frangipani.....it's my flower of choice. I still call Australia home and beautiful frangipanis abound in sunny Queensland.

Crochet bucket hat with Capricorn brim

Hemisphere Matters - I'm back home in Athens Georgia USA where leafless trees silhouette the winter sky. I'm missing the heat and color of a southern hemisphere summer. Traveling from summer to winter is not easy. Three months of sun, singlets and sandals living close to the Tropic of Capricorn does not prepare you for the numbing winter temperatures of North America.

While I was in Queensland I designed a new hat. It's a lot like my Melbourne bucket-style hat for travelers but it has a wider brim. I have named this brim the Capricorn brim - it offers shade on a sunny day. It's available in neutral colors like khaki and black but I have since created a wild looking one called "A Key West kind of sunset". I have adorned it with a frangipani to overstate the tropical theme.




The e-pattern for the Capricorn brim hat is now available from my travel headwear blogspot.

Melbourne, an urban getaway

Melbourne, Australia - is a fabulous city to visit. Food, fashion and fun for all ages. Melbourne and Sydney rival for the international tourist dollar; "We have stopped the Sydney stopover" is in bold print on many of the trams. Melbourne is colder than Sydney and Brisbane in the winter months (June-July-August) and people dress more formally with overcoats, hats and scarves. This year the new fashion colour was pink...all shades and tones of pink. Pink scarves, hats and jumpers (sweaters) brightened the urban landscape. Still the predominant colour was black. Afterall black goes with everything in a winter wardrobe. In order to blend in with the stylish Melbourne winter scene I designed and crocheted a black bucket hat with a small brim in lightweight cotton yarn. It is probably the best crochet hat I have made so far....and I've made a few on my travels around the world. Its shape, weight, solid colour and soft comfortable texture make it a perfect hat for the urban traveler.

Jekyll Island sunrise

Latitude Matters: Jekyll Island Georgia USA, latitude 31 degrees north, is a great getaway. Marshlands, spanish moss, beaches and brilliant, earth spinning sunrises soothe and recharge weary souls. Sunrise over the Atlantic is inspirational.

Where artists use paint to tell their story or to capture a mood, I use my crochet hook and yarns to create headbands and hats in textures and hues of the natural world. I crocheted a pretty headband in the peaches, pinks and gold of a Jekyll Island sunrise.