Another Baboon

This past week, I crocheted a new baboon. This time, I used very coarse wool, produced by Bedouin women in the Negev Desert. Traditionally, the wool is used for rug weaving, but I decided to give it a try in crocheting.

It has many advantages, since it is very strong and stable, and in the sculptural crochet technique I use, it easily holds a 3D shape, even on a larger scale. This wool is thicker than the other types of yarn I usually work with, so I get the large shapes much more quickly as well, and most of all –  I like this wool's crude appearance.

There is one major disadvantage to using it in crochet work: It is thick and stiff, so it requires much more effort of the hand muscles, which causes some pain. It became much more difficult when I had to crochet the smaller parts, such as the fingers, and I had to take increasingly longer breaks between crocheting each finger.

As I was eager to get on with the work and see my baboon fighting the tigers, I was looking for an immediate solution, and it was right in front of me – I always have some discarded fabric bands on my desk, which I use in my wrapping technique, so I just wrapped the crochet hook until it was so thick that I didn't have to bend my hand while holding it. I can't say that it solved all the problems, but it was much more comfortable to crochet that way.  

The creatures

The two little creatures are now complete. As I told you in my last post, they were great fun to make. It has been so long since I last created something like this, but, as a matter of fact, such creatures were among the first items I made when I left my day job as a fashion designer. It was almost eight years ago, and my path since then has been complex. It is still difficult to me to answer people who ask what my occupation is, and the answer varies according to my mood or the situation. Today  doll-maker is OK.

 

You can find both of them Here

Heads

Socks and Feet

For a few days she was just sitting there, waiting.

 

Her feet were on my desk, and I had yet to finish the second one.

Meanwhile, I got some news about these two; they have to leave for Chicago tomorrow.

 

I am going to miss this Sock Boy in particular. He has been staying here for over two years, during which time he became a very dear friend of me, a wonderful assistant, and a model at my sock doll workshops.

Take care, dear friend. I hope you are going to have fun in Chicago.

The other sock friends threw a little party for them, before they had to leave for the post office.

 At the same time, she took a nap. It was evident that her foot wouldn't be ready in the next few hours.

Back to crochet

    I couldn't put down my crochet hook last week, and the crocheted heads have been growing on my desk.

Sculptural crochet workshop-סדנת קרושה בתלת מימד

אשמח לענו לכל שאלה כמו גם למסור פרטים נוספים לפנות אלי במייל או בטלפון

מזכירה גם את רשימת הקשר שלי בה אני מעדכנת לגבי סדנאות עתידיות, שילחו לי מייל אם אתם מעוניינים להצטרף

.

Finally, the invitation is done and I am very excited. It is really going to happen next month, right here in my home studio. I will conduct my first sculptural crochet workshop, which will include three sessions of 3.5 hours each, during which I will be sharing my crocheting technique for the first time.
I know most of you are not from my part of the world, but I am still glad to share the news with you.
There are some other good news: now, after I've had to think so much about how I can share my principles, I began to realize that maybe one day I will even be able to write down some kind of tutorial, as some of you ask me from time to time.
Of course, if you do live in this part of the world, I would be more than glad to see you! The first session will take place on Friday, December 17, at 9:00, and the two other sessions will take place on the two following Fridays.
You can phone or e-mail me for more details or if you'd like to join my mailing list.

* I have just noticed Ariel Hirschfeld's article from last Friday about knitting and other needlcrafts, it is more then beautiful and you can read it here in English.

רק עכשיו שמתי לב שהמאמר של אריאל הירשפלד מיום שישי הוא על סריגה ומלאכות יד אחרות  * 

Coming soon-Crochet workshop

Recently I have been busy getting ready for a new crochet workshop I will be conducting next month here in my new home studio. It required a lot of thinking and concentration on my part, since when I create my items; I just crochet freestyle, finding my way with the hook and stitches. I have a raw idea in my mind which comes to life loop by loop, and I don’t follow any patterns. Actually, it is not that simple. Many times it required countless unpicking until I got the form I wanted; a long trial and error process would perhaps be a better way to describe it. I have developed this process over the years, and came up with new ideas and techniques from doll to doll.

Many times I was asked to teach my own unique crocheting technique, I didn't feel confident enough to do so. But as I received more and more requests, I decided to give it a try. At first I made those trials by my own, and then asked a friend to be my guinea pig. I taught her my principles and it seemed like they were clear enough, she managed to come up with a crocheted head on her own, following my instructions. There still remain some issues like creating the workshop schedule and deciding on the number and duration of meetings, as well as some details about the process I have to plan, but  I will publish the invitation in the following few days.

Send me an e-mail if you'd like me to e-mail you when the invitation is done or if you'd like to join my mailing list, where I send updates about upcoming workshops.