Geekery « abigailscraftshowto.com

Spindle Physics - how drop spindles work

Cedar and rosewood abalone-inlaid spindle by 'Falls-Down-Laughing'

How does a drop spindle work? Why do some spindles spin longer or faster than others? How does the type of spindle relate to what kind of yarn I want to spin?

Today we’re going to go into the physics of drop-spindles. I apologise if this post [...]

Crochet basics - Sign seeker belt

Today we continue with our crochet lessons, learning how to single, double and treble crochet, plus chain stitch and the magic ring cast-on. We’ll be making a belt inspired by Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark is Rising’ novels (incidentally, if you haven’t read these books, please do check them out! I’ve reread them every year since [...]

Periodic table - make cardboard furniture (part 2)

In our last post, we glued together layers of cardboard and prepared our periodic table decoration to make a cardboard table. Today, we’ll cut out and assemble our table.

First step is to mark the cut lines. The easiest way to mark out the tabletop is to lay out all the bits of your periodic [...]

Periodic table - make cardboard furniture

Ever wanted to make your own furniture, but don’t have tools, space, or woodworking skills? Well it is possible to make sturdy, usable, unique furnishings yourself, out of something most people have lying around at home – the humble corrugated cardboard box. Flimsy though it may seem, cardboard furniture can be very strong. Today I’m [...]

Berry Pie/Pi beret - free knit hat pattern

Happy Pi day! To celebrate 3.14 (that gives you a month’s knitting time ), here’s a pattern for a cute slouchy beret – a hat style that suits almost everyone – with the first 10 digits of pi encoded in bands of reverse stockinette.

An easy knit – skills required are knit, purl, increase (knit [...]

Math geek love beaded bracelet/cuff pattern

Here’s a little mathematical romance for this week’s Saturday quickie – a loom-beaded bracelet pattern for your favourite math geek. Attach a fastener to make a bracelet, or stitch onto felt or leather and add a snap for a cuff.

Tell the recipient to ‘solve for i’.

* the answer is…

9x – 7i > [...]

Love at first byte - romantic robot tote

Because it’s almost Valentines day – and even robots need a little love in their lives – here’s a ‘recipe’ for a sweetly geeky appliqued tote bag for you or your valentine

Sadly I didn’t take photos of this as I made it, or make pattern pieces – and have already given the finished [...]

Funky sheep crochet/painted/applique tote bag (part 1)

Many grocery stores now offer incentives for you to bring your own bags, or have even stopped giving out bags altogether. But face it, most of the canvas bags out there are just plain boring! This week I have a couple of projects for re-usable grocery bags that will really stand out from the crowd!

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Dancing robot beadwork motif pattern

Here’s this week’s Saturday quickie – a pattern for a dancing robot motif in loom-beading. Next week we’ll be looking at how to build a cheap beadloom from household objects, and how to get started using it!

(bead graph is my own work, but printable/editable beading graph paper is courtesy of Shala Kerrigan)