Tutorial - How to Crochet a Butterfly

Great news! I've finally made a tutorial on how to create your own crochet butterfly. It's a 3 part video tutorial on You Tube.


Comments welcome. I'm always planning the next tutorial, requests and suggestions welcome. Happy crafting!!

Red Dawn over Sydney

Sydney, NSW (Australia) - Awoke to a crazy red dawn sky, due to severe weather blowing in huge dust storms from drought stricken western NSW. Farmers who are already struggling would have lost a lot of top soil. Here is a picture I took about 5:45am this morning.

An eerie sight,
with a strange
"glow".











A user on youtube uploaded this video, from a place in far Western NSW, called Broken Hill. The sky literally turns black.

The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Exhibition

Well the Exhibition was a huge success. It has been an incredible experience to be part of something that stretches across the globe and involves so many wonderful people. I videoed the exhibition and uploaded it to YouTube so others could get to enjoy it too (In 3 parts). It's in HD, and would recommend viewing it this way to see the most detail. Comments welcome.

Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef - Sneak Peek!!!

Apologies for not posting for a while, but there's great news on the Hyperbolic Reef coming up in a few short weeks! Today I attended the special workshop being held at the Powerhouse Museum - Discovery Centre at Castle Hill in Sydney's North West. It was the last meeting/workshop and it was great to catch-up with everyone again. There were even more amazing forms donated to the Reef. I decided to video some of them and will be posting the video to You-Tube shortly! The excitement was clear today, as the date of the exhibition approaches. It's not too late to contribute to the exhibition, so make sure you check out The Sydney Reef's Blog ^HERE^.

*UPDATE - 11.08.09* - Video posted, enjoy!

Crocheted Corkscrew Tutorial

Have you ever been interested in how to crochet a corkscrew, spiral shape? Well, I've had some interest over the pictures I have just posted on Flickr so I've made a tutorial video for you to enjoy!:

The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

Ladies Silurian Atoll by the Institute For Figuring
Photo © IFF 2009, by Francine McDougall.

I have been invited to join the "The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project" - and I'm very excited. I've been following with great interest the reefs set up around the world as part of the Institute for Figurings voice on the plight of coral reefs around the world, and just how important they are in our ecology.

The combining of Science, maths and Art is amazing, and I would encourage anyone to get involved, the Institute for Figuring's website is THEIFF

One of my Hyperbolic Crochets:

Kaleido Tile fun!

I've always loved geometry and the appeal of geometric patterns and shapes have kept me fascinated. I found a fantastic piece of free software called Kaleido Tile. You can use your own pictures quite easily for stunning results. The video demonstrates when the pattern is animated.

Here are some other patterns I created using my own images:

Saturday Cupcake Fun!

Well after all the rain keeps you inside, what should you do? The cleaning? Organising the piles of "To-Do's"? NO! Bake cupcakes!
I asked my son what colour cupcakes would he like today? Green with pink icing...why not? So...green vanilla cupcakes with strawberry icing! They taste yummy too.

NEW How to Crochet a Layered Flower Tutorial Video

After much repeated interest and requests, I have finished Part 1 of the Crocheted Layered Flower tutorial Video, and loaded it onto YouTube. I am currently working on Part 2 (2 in total). It's very exciting and I would love to see people's Flowers when they finish them!! Enjoy.

10,000 Views!

Thank-you everyone for your support of my videos. I was very excited yesterday when my Animated Hyperbolic Video reached 10,000! I'm inspired to continue creating. Watch this space...Coming soon, how to crochet a 2 colour spiral.

Please check out my other crochet videos, including a video of a Hyperbolic Pseudosphere being made from start to finish. 152 minutes down to 5minutes! (Also - The new express 1 minute version)

Cat in the Hyperbolic Hat! (or Milly's TOO CUTE!!)

Well, I just couldn't help myself! Our cat Milly was having a cuddle, looking cute and happy with eyes shut, when I popped one of my Hyperbolic Crochet Creations on her head and snapped a photo. Then just to overdo the cuteness, I created this image....Cats - is there anything they can't make look cute??

The Complete Hyperbolic Crochet Video - Pseudosphere

Hyperbolic Crochet has really taken hold of my imagination. I grew up with a love of geometry and maths, though I'm not blessed with higher maths skills, the patterns, designs and geometry that you can create in a mathematical manner are fascinating.
I made a video a little while ago, that consists of still images 'animated'. It has proven quite popular, so I decided to take the demonstration to the next level by videoing the creation of a Hyperbolic Pseudosphere from beginning to end. In total 152 minutes and 32 seconds, filmed over a couple of days, then reduced down to about 5min 20sec.
I hope you enjoy this video, (it was filmed and uploaded in higher quality, I'm hoping the "watch in high quality" option becomes available with this video) I would love any comments or feedback, cheers!!

High Tea at T2!

Well what could be nicer than High Tea with a close friend! With the kids at school, we decided to bypass the fast food this time. We “high-tailed“ it to T2 café. They sell every variety of tea and tisane that you have and haven’t heard of! I chose the delectable strawberries and cream tisane – though I would say I prefer mine chilled, it was surprisingly refreshing, yum. And yes the cupcake was as good as it looks!

Happy New Year! 2009...Bondi Beach.

Wishing you a Happy New Year, may your 2009 be filled with peace, kindness and fulfillment.

We popped down to Bondi Beach, (Sydney, Australia) on New Year's Day. Braving the sun as well as the crowds! This is probably one of the most famous beaches in Australia if not the world, attracting many tourists. I took these photos with my phone, so excuse the quality. A panorama of Bondi Beach, 01-01-09. [ CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW ]