Sunday 6 April 2014

Micro Kylie Part 2; The Voice UK Final

OK, well I knew it was going to be a tough challenge trying to micro crochet whatever Kylie was wearing last night within the 2 hours I had before The Voice finished, not least because I was enjoying the immense amount of talent so much.  It was fun though and I'm glad I set myself the goal...which I managed to acheive...finishing my microscopic version of her dress just as the programme ended :D
It may seem surprising that something so tiny could take so long to make but it is painstaking work...have you ever used a 0.5mm crochet hook?
I never thought I would since my usual weapon of choice is an 8mm Bamboo hook, which works so well with my favourite sari yarns I love how quickly your work grows on a hook that size; perfect for impatient people like me. The biggest hook I currently have is 25mm but I plan to whittle myself some even bigger ones from branches when i break up from uni for the summer.

BUT...there's just something so rewarding about micro-crochet; watching something so tiny come to life right in your fingertips, and the looks on people's faces when they see the pictures.

Then the looks on people's faces when they see it in real life and say "Wow! I didn't realise it was THAT tiny!!!"
(because even though you've seen her next to a penny your brain just can't quite seem to compute the extreme tininess)

Anyway, here's a visual reference on hook size for all you non-crocheters out there



That's the 25mm on the right in the top left photo, with the 0.5mm on the left and the 8mm in between.
Wow, I hadn't actually thought about how insanely small the half-millimetre hook IS til I looked at it against my FINGERPRINT!!!!!

To be honest I was kind of wishing I had a smaller one as there was just no way I could recreate the details of Kylie's gorgeous Stella McCartney dress but on reflection I doubt it's feasible.

So here's my best effort at recreating that dress for a 1 inch tall doll in 2 hours:
 I'm not convinced I've done it justice but I'm pretty happy with it, and micro-Kylie seems to enjoy posing in it, especially in her Big Red Chair

I admit I could have made life easier for myself by modifying the dress I originally made for her but that would be cheating, and as anyone who knows me will tell you I have a very low opinion of cheating, but that's another story...

I may have another crack at it when I have a bit more time on my hands because I really believe I could do better, but for now I need to get back to the essays I have open in another tab awaiting my attention ;)


Sunday 30 March 2014

Micro Kylie

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done any yarnbombing folks. I guess you could say life's been getting in the way of frivolity a bit since I started my OT degree. But to be fair there is always a degree of frivolity in my life (boom boom!) It just varies according to other priorities.

So anyway this week I got the worst cold I've had for a very very long time, I can't remember a cold ever wiping me out for a week solid but this one did. So I've had some time to think about things other than Occupational Therapy and eating.....
things like twitter and half-finished crochet projects and Kylie.

Yes, that's right, I said Kylie. Not that I'm a crazy obsessed fan or anything but I've always had a solid admiration for her; for a start she's an Aussie which wins anybody points in my book, but then there are so many other great things about her, like her general aura of fun and twinkle and mischief, her determination, the way she constantly reinvents herself and always look FAB. Oh yeah, and she can belt out a decent tune!

A combination which I find compelling in a person, which is why I decided to watch The Voice for the first time this year, I wanted to get me a slice of Kylie
(I ended up getting a lot more actually, there's some serious talent out there!)

This could perhaps be the reason I randomly dreamt the other night that I was on Team Kylie and needed to get her a birthday present.
When I woke up I told my husband about it, saying
'I don't know why I was looking round the charity shops, I would obviously crochet her a dress!'


I must admit I have been looking at the gold crochet dress she wears on the cover of Into the Blue and wondering what the rest of it looks like/how I could crochet myself one like it.

Not that I have a snowball's chance in hell of looking as hot as Kylie in it but a girl can dream.

So I thought it would be fun to tweet her about it, although in hindsight she probably just thinks I'm a wierdo now.

Which is a shame because if that is the case then this will only make it worse......




I crocheted a Micro-Kylie!!!



This is what happens when I'm in bed for 5 days, my creative mind goes into overdrive and I start to micro-crochet.

I had a bit of a craze on micro crocheting a while back which resulted in a full english breakfast, some forget-me-nots and a tiny flower fairy but I've managed to go even smaller this time; micro-Kylie is only 32mm tall!!!

I made her using single strands of embroidery cotton and a 0.5mm crochet hook. Yes, it's very fiddly...I was super glad I haven't cut my nails for a while as I needed them to hold her as I worked.

 So next up I want to make her a little big red chair and another outfit. Whether I can achieve this by the end of the final next saturday night remains to be seen; I'll work on the chair over the coming week but obviously I won't know what she's wearing for the final until the show starts so I might have a fun challenge on my hands!




Getting her to pose a la 'Into the Blue' was tricky but I gave it a red hot go.....




  So there you have it, an insight into the workings of a micro crocheters mind.
A bit like a recipe really, just add dreams, ideas, inspirational people, a 0.5mm crochet hook and embroidery cottons and hey presto you have possibly the smallest homage to Kylie ever :)