Neuro-geeky

Being a crocheting neuroscientist, this was all but inevitable... Drum roll, please! May I present: the crocheted neuron...

The cell body and axon are based on existing patterns here and here.

The dendrites (above) and axon terminals with synapses (below) are braided and then respectively 'fluffed' and knotted.

Hold on to your action potentials, this neuron is about to be fired off as a birthday present to, drum roll, another neuroscientist family... Happy neurotransmitting! :-)

Yarnbombed bin

Ever since I've seen yarnbombed objects (look at all the pretties!), I've secretly wanted to yarnbomb something myself. Recently, I discovered this lovely wave crochet stitch but had no quick project suitable for it (I have way too many scarves already...). Add the fact that our bathroom has gone (pleasantly, in my opinion) crazy already anyway with the addition of Nautilus (introduced in this previous blog post)... And the idea was born to yarnbomb the least interesting object in the room, a small bin.

Apologies for the poor artificial lighting conditions. Here's a close-up of the waves pattern, using all shades of blue in my stash.

The 'lace', created by braiding 3 strands of yarn, was weaved 'corset-style' to create a tubular piece, so it's easy to remove those lovely waves and install them somewhere else. Nautilus has been eyeing them quite keenly...

Monster basket!

When I saw the 'hanging monster basket' pattern, I simply couldn't resist! I had been looking for a hanging basket to crochet, and when I saw the added feature of the eyes, I was sold. It also turned out that the pattern itself was very easy and clearly described, unlike some free patterns I had tried to make sense of before.

For the basket itself, I used Sirdar Indie yarn in the shade Tahoe (5 skeins) crocheted around 4mm blue polyamide rope (about 25 m) using a 10 mm hook. The eyes were made with 2 strands of white DK yarn held together & a 6 mm hook. The pupils are black DK yarn (3.5 mm hook) with white DK yarn embroidery to make them come to live. Finally, the eye sockets were improvised using Sirdar Indie yarn (6 mm hook). The eyes are only tied on so we have the option to quickly remove them when respectable people are expected to visit ;-)

Putting eyes on a basket to turn it into a cute monster that eats clutter - the addition of a light sensor triggering a burping sound comes to mind... Brings back fond memories of the Hollebolle Gijs bin at the Efteling :-)

Remembrance poppy

It's almost Remembrance Day, and in the UK this means most people will start wearing poppies. Since it's the year of the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, and being a quirky Flemish expat, I decided to replace the usually paper poppy by a crocheted exemplar. Using DK yarn, a 3.5 crochet hook and this pattern, it's quick and easy to whip up.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow...