One of the things I’m doing to get “back to normal” is to continue learning to crochet. To make sure I have accountability and continued motivation, I’m participating in a “make along”. This is where a group of people work on a project together, with specific goals over a space of time.
In my case, I decide to do a Weebee Doll month-long project. At the end of the project, I will have a sitting, Weebee Doll with a complete winter outfit. This pattern came from Ravelry , and was designed by Laura Tegg .
2020… 2021… 2022… 2023…
The Covid Pandemic affected every single person in the world, each, in their own way. For many, it was a matter of being sick, and then waiting… sometimes impatiently… for life to return to normal.
For others, life has changed, substantially.
That was the case for me. I had, truly, no idea how much it would change, and how long it would take to get back to something resembling “normal”. And for me, it is a totally NEW “normal”, not much like it was prior to Covid.
Last week , I showed a program I was working on to generate deJong attractor images. I mentioned I’d be working on adding some color. I am not there yet! This is a mere stop to take a breather, and to talk about an intermediate step: smoothing the image. Here is one of my images from last week:
While interesting, there are some problems here. I am just calculating points, and as each one is calculated, I draw it on the canvas, even if it has already been drawn. For any given set of input constants, there are going to be the same points showing up a lot, some more than others. The final image, however, is very sensitive to the number of unique points I actually draw. Too few, and there is not much to see. Too many, and the image devolves into an amorphous blob:
In my last post , we played The Chaos Game and ended up with a Sierpinski Triangle. It’s quite nice as far as it goes, but there is not a lot of variation and visual interest beyond the initial surpise of finding it buried in the chaos at all. This time around, lets look at the de Jong attractor.
First, some terminology! An Attractor is a dynamic system with a set of numeric values to which the system tends to evolve over time, no matter what state it starts in. An attractor is called a Strange Attractor if it contains a fractal element. The Sierpinski Triangle we came up with last week is an example of a strange attractor. It doesn’t matter what your starting point is (it could be miles away from the triangle), you will eventually get pretty much the same result for any given triangle. The de Jong attractor is another example of a strange attractor.
I’m finding that, if I choose carefully, a project takes me about a week to complete. I don’t crochet all day, every day. Just when the time allows. But I’m getting a better feel for how long it takes me to complete something.
So I was cruising around on Etsy, and I found an adorable pattern that looked like it wouldn’t be too difficult, but it would be fun when completed.
Today, we’ll play The Chaos Game! It’s easy to play, and it goes like this:
First, put three points on your paper. These will be the vertices of a triangle (so don’t put them in a straight line!) Any triangle will work, but be sure to leave lots of area inside where the triangle will be to make it easier to see what it going on.
Next, you need a way to randomly choose one of those vertices over and over. You can roll a die, and if you get a 1 or a 2, that could reference the first vertex, a 3 or a 4 could reference the second vertex, and a 5 or a 6 could reference that last vertex. If you are a Dungeons and Dragons player and happen to have a 3-sided die, feel free to use that!
It’s hairdo day for my little doll! I think she’s very cute!
This hairstyle is a wig that is crocheted flat and then stitched together. Next time, I will choose a lighter weight yarn, as this turned out a bit heavy. Fortunately, the “stub” neck style is very sturdy, and the head isn’t flopping over.
I have to say, making the “curls” wasn’t a lot of fun. It was difficult to get the hook through the chain after each section of 2 single-crochets.
I’m so excited! Isn’t she cute!
Her head came out perfectly and, as far as I can see, I didn’t make any mistakes!
That’s a first!
Now, to try crocheting her some hair! I think I’ll make her a dark blonde. Just dark enough to provide contrast to the body, but lighter than brown.
Stay tuned!
I’m taking a short break from the Bina the Bear pattern because I found a cute, crochet doll pattern, for free, on Ravelry . It is Sweet Ami's by Beth Webber.
I only had a minor problem, with the left arm, but I’ve gotten this far without any major issues. I’m much happier with the tops of the feet for this project. They are much better than Bina’s!
Next I have to make the head. It is done separately and then attached. It looks pretty easy, so I should be able to get it done in one day.
The largest part of this project, the body, is almost done. I did make some mistakes, but about half-way through, I got the hang of it. After that, things got much better!
After a few more rows, I have to do the tail, and stitch it to the body. Then, I can move on to the arms.
Bina is starting to shape up.
Let’s draw some squares!
Last week I introduced Clojure as a possible replacement for Javascript for my generative art pursuits. Clojure has the Quil library that provides many of the same capabilities that p5.js provides to Javascript. Let’s look at a simple example. This Javascript/p5.js program generates an image like the one at the top of this post.
function setup() { createCanvas(800, 800); background(240); stroke(0); let size = 500; let offset = 50; let centerX = width/2; let centerY = height/2; let topLeftX = centerX - size/2; let topLeftY = centerY - size/2; fill(200, 150, 250, 150); rect(topLeftX, topLeftY, size, size); rect(topLeftX-offset, topLeftY-offset, size, size); rect(topLeftX+offset, topLeftY+offset, size, size); } The program is fairly simple: create the canvas, fill in the background with grey, set the stroke (line) color to black, set the fill color, and draw three rectangles slightly offset from each other. If you’ve been following along with my previous posts, this looks pretty basic. The only remotely tricky thing going on here is that the fill() function has a fourth parameter. The first three set the red, green and blue components of the fill color, while the fourth sets the transparency. This is what allows us to see the through the squares, and is what causes the gradations of color where the squares overlap.
This body is growing. I’ve added stuffing to the feet, legs and part of the body.
It’s fun to see this shape up, but I now realize one leg seems to be a row shorter than the other.
I bought a new row counter, so maybe that will help?
Well, I have two legs and got them crocheted together.
And I’ve learned some things:
I don’t know how to do the invisible decrease properly, I have holes at the top of the feet, where the stuffing shows through. They just look messed up to me.
Crocheting on dark yarn requires good light. I keep messing up the stitch count. I think I may be skipping over a stitch occasionally because I didn’t see them.
I finished the first bug from the Lalylala book. So I feel ready to tackle a bigger-sized project.
I’ve chosen another Lalylala, but this time from her Doll Project. Bina the Bear , appears to be the first one, since it says No.I on the instructions. I figure it will be the least complicated and give me practice with the basic project without any additional things added, other than ears and tail. And both of those look fairly easy.
I finished all the parts for the blue bottlefly! I am so happy with the way she turned out. And I am happy that I am giving crochet a go. Some parts have been a bit of a struggle, but mostly, it’s been fun!
The wings were easier to make than I thought they would be. I was worried, because there was a graphic “chart”, but the instructions were also written out. I didn’t really have any problem following either, after I understood them.
If you’ve been reading my posts each week, you’re probably aware that I have been working mostly in Javascript, using the p5.js drawing library. There are many things to like about Javascript, but also many ways for it to slowly drive you bonkers. I won’t go into all those reasons here, but I will say it’s time to try something new. I’d like to try to do some generative art using the Clojure language. This is way out of my comfort zone, since I don’t actually know Clojure, and it is not a simple language, but I thought I’d share my experiences with it here.
As I am purchasing yarn for amigurumi, I need a way to store it, use it, and keep it clean.
I came up with this idea yesterday morning, but I’m sure I’m not the first person to ever think of it.
This is a gallon ZipLoc bag, which fits the yarn nicely. I cut off one of the bottom corners, and thread the working yarn through the hole. Then I sealed it.
Anybody remember Underoos ? I think I see a few hands out there!
My daughter’s each got a set of Wonder Woman Underoos for Christmas one year. I’m guessing this is 1978, which would make the younger one about three years old. I’m sure someone will correct me.
They still make a form of Underoos! I found them on Amazon .
Apparently they are for adults now.
Yesterday, I made the “body suit” for the fly. It’s made from the same yarn as the hat.
I got to learn how to crochet something that is flat and basically rectangular. In addition, this has a pattern to the upper part. I’m not totally sure if it’s right-side out, since I lost track of which was the front and which was the back side of the piece. But other than that, I think I did ok with it!