Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef comes to Adelaide!

I checked out the INSTITUTE FOR FIGURING a while ago, while doing a little obsessive research on unit origami (I haven't given up on that project!) and saw their work on using crochet to model mathematical principles - hence the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. (Please click the link, it's just too cool to miss!)

This is the blurb for the institute, and if I could clone or split myself so I had more time to do anything and everything, I think I'd be here, making stuff!

The Institute’s interests are twofold: the manifestation of figures in the world around us and the figurative technologies that humans have developed through the ages. From the physics of snowflakes and the hyperbolic geometry of sea slugs, to the mathematics of paper folding, the tiling patterns of Islamic mosaics and graphical models of the human mind, the Institute takes as its purview a complex ecology of figuring.

So when I found out that RiAus (Royal Institute Of Australia, bringing science to people and people to science) was doing a satellite reef, I wanted to be part of it. I feel that it's time I actually acted on events, rather than just reading about them, thinking that'd be fun, and never actually getting there.

So I rode down to Craftsouth last Wednesday (first time riding into the city from the new house, pretty safe and easy ride), meant to stay for ONE hour only, and join in and do a piece.

It was a drop in crochet day, and was pretty fun, people were busy making corals, anemones, mathematical models, and altogether weird squiggly things.

I hadn't crocheted in a while, and sat next to a woman who's been doing it for 62 years. I kept up as best I could, needless to say, I didn't chat much, and had sore fingers by the end of it!

This is my contribution, it's actually larger than it looks, but it twists back in on itself, there's actually a whole section of plain red up to the top, then I trimmed it with the red/green weird bobble yarn I'd op-shopped. So there you go, hyperbolic's at work (I don't even know if that makes grammatical or practical sense!)

And as fun as it was, here's the predicament:

Do I have time for a massive project that can take over your life?

..........no

I already have too many projects, plans and deadlines. So, I'm happy that I did some, but I'm going to leave the making of it to others...................probably, mostly!

the top two photos are from the IFF site, hopefully Adelaide's will look similar!