Monday, June 10, 2013

Unfinished Business - part 1

I guess that every craftster has some box or drawer where they keep all the unfinished projects. Stuff that you've started but, for one reason or another, were unable to finish.

My drawer of unfinished projects is called Crochet Mortuary and there's a lot of stuff there... Here's my favourite unfinished work:
At some point I decided to make a basic human pattern to use in further projects. After a few truly awful attempts, I made this guy. Well, I almost made it;) As I was starting to work on the other leg, I realised that I don't really feel like making any humanoid projects in the future and the missing limb never got to exist.
As usual, no sewing, just crocheting. It was a lot of fun to make, but it wasn't fun enough to actually finish it:) The pattern is still somewhere in my notebook...

Not much of a story here, but some of the other projects are more interesting, e.g. the Chtulhu Bunny.


Cheers,
Luke Crochet

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Crocheting tip #2 - Multiyarning

Problem: Crocheting might seem like the cheapest hobby ever. You can get a skein on polyester yarn for about one dollar. Okay, maybe two dollars... Still, seems like an extremely economic way to waste some time. However, if you want to get yarn in some unusual colour or greater thickness, prices have a weird tendency to skyrocket. Suddelny, a simple scarf can cost around 20 dollars! Oh, humanity!

Solution: Multiyarning
I know that there probably is a better name for it, but "multiyarning" just sounds really hip. And how does it work? Basicly, you take two skeins of yarn of your chosen colour and work them simultaneously. You hold and work with two threads of yarn. Here's an example with purple and blue polyester yarn:
It's really very easy. You just work with two threads instead of one. Apart from that tiny detail, you just crochet normally. For example, you start with a chain.

As a result, you get a nice random colour combination and the thickness also increases. But why stop there? Let's add another colour and work with three skeins of yarn:
This time blue, green and purple were used to start a magic circle and work in a spiral. The final result is a bit psychodelic, but you can always use less contrastive colours. And one more thing, you can also combine yarn of different thickness and type, e.g. here I combined green fluffy polyester yarn with neon green sleek cotton yarn:
Multiyarning is definitely not a new nor groundbreaking discovery but it certainly is a cheap and easy way to introduce something new to your crocheting projects. You can also multiknit two or three skeins of yarn of the same colour to get greater thickness. Just remember to choose a hook of appropriate size.

So, go crazy and combine all the disgusting colours you can find! Give your friends psychodelic knitwork gifts that they'll be ashamed to show in public places!


Read, enjoy, obey!
Luke Crochet













Friday, May 10, 2013

Colour-blind mobile phone case

Yesterday I was doing some crochet experiments and it ended up really nasty... See for yourselves and give a warm welcome to yet another member of my "colour-blind" collection of crochet accessories:
I don't know why, but there is something really enticing in choosing the worst possible colour combinations... Luckily, this little project is only a by-product and I'll soon post more interesting results of my experiments.


Read, enjoy, obey,
Luke Crochet

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Tentacular art exhibition

There's a real treat for all the tentacle lovers out there. LTD. ART GALLERY in Seattle  is an amazing place where pop culture and art can meet and spend some lovely time together. And now, in June, you really and absolutely have to give it a visit - they've got a TENTACLE ART EXHIBITION! Look at this amazing beauty by Kari-Lise Alexander:
Yup, there's even something for all the piraty-hipsterish tentacle fan boys and girls - e.g. this Davy Jones by Ward Jenkins:
The entire gallery of Tentacle Art is lots of silly fun. If you've got a few spare minutes, it's definitely worth a visit. You might find some inspiration or, maybe, you'll buy a real modern masterpiece.


Read, enjoy, obey,
Luke Crochet






Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Tripod Month is over...

With great sadness I have to announce that the Tripod Month is over. Your cat overlord has decided that she's got better things to do (sleeping). But do not despair! She'll be back... Sooner than you think!

Also, one of her most obedient and faithful servants has made this amazing "fan art" tribute for her:
Go and visit his DeviantART profile and give Kuba all the praise he deserves:)


And starting tomorrow you can expect regular posts and new content. I've decided to make this blog a bit less tentacle-centric, so there'll be more crochet tips, links to amazing stuff that other people make, maybe some crocheting music and a bit less of me bragging about my crochet/felting projects. If it all goes well, you can expect a total revamp of Tentacle Crochet!

Read, enjoy, obey!
Luke Crochet

Monday, April 22, 2013

Oh. My. God... Becky! Look at that yarn!


It is so stilon. It looks like one of those 80s yarns. Yeah... you get the joke:P

Anyways, I got this wonderful stash of yarn as a gift a few days ago. It's in those amazing 70s/80s colours that try really hard to look like natural pastel colours, but just end up looking like an LSD rainbow that's been vomited by a demented zombie unicorn. Unfortunatelly, my camera is not good at showing real colours, so you'll have to combine this photo, my description and your imagination to get the general idea how awfully wonderful those colours are.

Also, I had to do some research on this yarn. It's stilon yarn, 100% polyamide. And that means it's almost indestructible! It was produced in People's Republic of Poland in the 80s, so there's a chance that it's actually older than I am. Fun fact - on the label, in the "colour" box, it just says "unique".

Now, I just need to think what to do with this retro treasure...


Cheers,
Luke Crochet

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Hello cats and ghouls

The Mighty Tripod, your cat overlord, is back with some good news! and it's very ghoulish - there's a new free pattern in town:
Well, not literally "in town", but you can get it at my human servant's Ravelry along with some other patterns. So, give it a quick look.

The Tiny Skull pattern is very easy to follow and it's perfect for making lots and lots of skulls. It might come in handy for Halloween... or you could use a different yarn to make a skull cat toy;) It was also used in this bracelet project. Anyways, skulls are fun, aren't they?


Read, enjoy and obey,
Tripod