Craft:

The Lion Brand booth was jam packed both days at the Maker Faire with their how to knit and crochet workshops taught by Shannon Okey and Cecily Keim. One of the things also happening at the booth was the Hyperbolic Crochet Sea Coral Fantasy and Liz of Lion Brand (pictured above) worked with booth visitors to create their own crochet sea life. The project was inspired and developed by the Institute for Figuring and has taken new levels with IFF's Hyperbolic Coral Reef project. When I came up to Liz she was happily crocheting and talking as she was finishing up another piece to add to the ever growing display. It was enchanting and soothing to see all the different sea creatures that we created. Liz also told be about the new Lion Brand Flagship Store that will be opening in NYC this winter 2007-2008. Yay!

On the flyer Lion Brand was distributing was this background on hyperbolic crochet:

Hyperbolic crochet is the name given to applying a mathematical principle to crochet patterns. A hyperbolic plane expands exponentially from any point on its surface, always curving shapes away from itself. Hyperbolic growth gives rise to the ruffled shapes of coral, kelp, and sea anemone. You can easily crochet a hyperbolic surface by increasing at a constant rate throughout the piece. Crocheting a reef is a great opportunity to try the different yarns and stitches. The variety of textures and shapes will inspire you to expand your crochet boundaries.

Get the free pattern from Lion Brand to make your own Hyperbolic Crochet Sea Coral Fantasy here. - Link.

• See more photos of Lion Brand booth at Maker Faire here. - Link.
• Photos from Cecily - Link.
• Photos from Shannon - Link.

And leave it to Cecily and Shannon to come up with one of the best crafty Ikea hacks around. They used plastic trash bag holders and layed them flat on the table to hold all the gorgeous Lion Brand yarn! What a great idea for when you're working on a project. No rolling balls of yarn and all your colors will be at your fingertips. Link.