Crochet succulents – Tess design

Because of my dyslexia I can’t read patterns so I have to make crochet stuff  up as I go a long –  my hubbies office at work doesn’t have enough natural light to keep real plants so I decided to have a go at making some succulents. 

A friend asked how I made them so I broke down the stages in pictures and text. I do it  intuitively , so  I can’t tell you exactly how I make them because my learning disabilities make it difficult to translate into individual stitches and numbers 

Below are the instructions for the red and green one 

100 chain 

Then treble in each chain  2 in every other stitch 

To make the leaves 

Third row 

I have made little bumps of 6 chain and 3 double crotchet in between make 6 leaves 

Next set of leaves  make  the gaps 4 double crochet – and the leaves are half treble , treble , halftreble make about 4 

Then make 4 leaves a bit bigger half treble , treble , 6 chain, treble in the same stitch, half treble 

– it’s important to roll the strip up every so often to check and see how the design is working 

about a third the way along the third row – stop making leaves 

Double crotchet , Half treble , treble to the end of the row 

Cut wool and darn in the end

Return to the start of the line of trebles and start making larger leaves 

– I have added an extra stitch to a treble – not sure what it is called but it’s just another wrap of wool around the hook at the beginning – I am going to call them a Quad from here on 

Make 4 medium leaves – double crochet, half treble , treble , quad , 2 chain , quad in the same stitch , treble , half treble,  double crotchet – 4 more double crotchet make new leaf 

Make a large leaf  -double crochet, half treble , treble , quad , quad, 6 chain , quad in the same stitch , quad , treble , half treble double crotchet – 5 more double crochet make new leaf 

Continue making large leaves until the end – gradually build up to 7 double crochets in between each leaf 

If you want to make an all green plant make half treble into the last stitch – half treble in each stitch of all the large leaves – add 6 chain at each leaf tip

I changed to red at the above stage to add contrast to my design 

When you get to the medium leaves change to double crochet instead of half treble 

When you get to the tiny first leaves finish off the red wool and darn in the end

I added a red stitch with a needle to the top of each small leaf 

Roll the strip of crochet and start stitching the bottom of the roll with green wool to hold it into place – you may have to stretch or gather the leaves a bit to get them fitting in the spaces made by the double crochet 

Carry on rolling and stitching to firmly hold into place – stitch the end of the roll to the body of the plant – I tend to do it by sight so that the plant looks a good shape 

Finished design 

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Ikon exhibition – Zilvinas Kempinas

I visited the Ikon in Birmingham  gallery – Zilvinas Kempinas installations were particularly fab  – there were 3 rooms to walk through, 2 felt like they could be migraine inducing with flickering lights and fluttering tapes that disturbed my periferal vision. Inspite of this I liked the atmosphere and being led through paths created by tape and wire. 
 Room 1 

was light with white wires strung from floor to ceiling whilst tree shadows were projected at 360 degrees around the space -it reminded me of as trees moving in the wind and of driving on a tree lined road in winter with the sun low on the horizon 
Room 3 was dark , it had large lit discs that evoked moons on the walls made of resin and aluminium – video tape was suspended from the ceiling and fanned to create movement. These led to a horizontal striped image that could have been made up of more tape – the flickering in this room was created by the suspended tape and the horizontal wall 

Room two had two large black discs on the floor that held water and ball bearings – the ball bearings moved slowly and were mesmerising 

In the centre was another circle in which a circular piece of tape writhed and twisted fanned from above – again it was difficult to walk away – the tape lurched unerringly towards me a few times so that I had to step back 
The rooms had a cohesive feel with the repetition of circles , flickering and movement 

 

New Street Central station and the Ikon gallery

After the library I decided to visit the Central Station – which I noticed was very reflection  friendly when arrived in Birmingham last night . The outside of the building  is covered in metal panels that break up the reflections of buildings etc in the surrounding area. Sunlight  also reflects off the metal and it dances on building across the way. 

The ceiling of the station 

Out side the building I came across some lovely reflected light that I could not stop taking pictures of 

I looked up – unfortunately I didn’t realise that I wasn’t quite in focus until later 

I tried to do a panorama round a corner – it doesn’t quite work but you get the idea 

The Ikon gallery is a white space inside a converted Neo- Goethic building ( I had to look it up ) I was fascinated by the stairwell 

Birmingham Library in November –

Jon is at a meeting in Birghmingham this week so I have come down for the ride – we are staying at the Novotel in the city centre. The view from the room wasn’t very inspiring so I needed to fiddle with it in my IPhone apps 

Checking in on my location  near Brindley Place – I am minutes from the canal, the Ikon art gallery and the Birmingham library. 

The Library and Ikon don’t open til 11am –  I walked to the library – its highly decorated and new, I walked around it and inside as much as I am allowed until 11am 

 I walked through the symphony hall mall and on my 

 way spotted some nice sculpture,  and  a man made lake …. with ginkgo leaves that remind me of Korea. 

Typically sitting and drinking coffee the sun has come out 

My location today courtesy of the Ikon exhibition catalogue September- Nov 2016  www.ikon-gallery.org 

A sneak peak of the library internal architecture 

At 11am I travelled up the floors to the secret garden and Shakespeare’s Memorial room – which was a surprise after all the modern concrete . Below are an illustration in a stairwell, the lift from the main library up to the secret garden and some layers on the way up.

The secret garden and views from the top 

Shakespeare’s memorial room – the lift was out of order so I had to climb up 90steps to the garden and another 46 to the memorial lol- it was as worth the climb