Begun in 2005, the project uses crochet to model hyperbolic shapes-curved surfaces that continually bend away from themselves. Though long considered too unruly to model in physical form, these geometries appear throughout the natural world, giving kelp and corals the optimal surface area to maximize nutrient intake and lending sea creatures like nudibranchs their frilly flanges for propulsion. In 1997, mathematician Dr. Daina Taimina developed a method to materially render these elusive structures using crochet by simply increasing the number of stitches in each row. Adopting and building on Taimina’s technique, the Wertheims and their collaborators have, over the past 20 years, evolved a woolly taxonomy of crochet coral forms. The project is now one of the world’s largest art-and-science endeavors, with more than 30,000 contributors across 50+ cities worldwide.

A few detail pictures:

There were a couple of small beaded coral displays.

And in the center of the room were Coral Forests.

This satellite Crochet Coral Reef is on display at the MIT Museum until February 27, 2027. Visit the full project website for more information and installations.

There’s a long color change in this yarn that worked really well. The stitch is Dalarna, which I chose for its interaction with adjacent rows.

On the left is the top side of the stitch, and the right is the underside.

So, if you know someone going to Japan who wants to hunt for secondhand camera lenses, you too can suggest they purchase Noro for cushioning. You won’t regret it!

Some statistics: the finished weight of the sweater is 457 grams. It’s made of Reynolds Lite-Lopi, at approximately 109 yards per 50 grams. So, this is 1000 yards of yarn, and just over nine skeins.

I used Mammen stitch, which makes great fabric for a sweater. I used my handknit sweater from Iceland as a guide for sizing and shaping. I started with a circular yoke, increasing in 10 places, then added a chain of stitches to create the base for the sleeves. Upward of the chain plus the sides of the yoke makes the sleeves, and downwards of the chain plus the bottom of the yoke creates the body of the sweater.

I’m very satisfied with this. I would like to try a bottom up sweater next, and I have other ideas to try too. But next, I think I’m back to the loom!

This was my first project in Mammen stitch, which is the same structure as Oslo, but incorporating an additional loop in each stitch. This will make it a bit heavier and warmer, and potentially stiffer. Structurally, this was made top down, and after completing a tube that will keep my neck warm, I increased equidistantly in eight places until I decided I was done.

I took notes, and I’ll use what I learned in making a sweater. Next time, I’ll increase in 10 places…

I ordered some “vintage” Icelandic yarn from eBay to match, which took a couple of attempts. I ended up with a brown, perhaps fingering, single-ply. Unsurprisingly, it’s not very strong. The weft is almost all this yarn, and the warp is mostly a merino blend I had on hand. The few brown warps failed at a rate of about 20%. There are knots, but not easily seen.

I lost a ton of length and a fair amount of width, even with a careful gentle wet finish. I wasn’t sure about twisting the fringe before washing because of the different fibers. That was truly a mess, but I successfully detangled and twisted the fringe after it dried. I did add in some more of the brown Icelandic yarn when I did the hemstitching before I took it off the loom.

Then, I wanted a hat. This is nålbinding with Oslo stitch, made with a two-ply of mostly merino and a little cashmere, with one ply much heavier than the other. I followed some guidelines on shaping a hat, which was mostly successful. It works great on, though I now I think it’s perhaps a little tighter on my head than I like. I should say that started with a different yarn and made most of another hat before abandoning it – the color wasn’t right, and the shaping was worse.

At about the same time, I bought a cowl I had been coveting from Makwa Studio. Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) is a Minneapolis textile artist I have admired for years. Makwa Studio is her knitwear line, and she does other fine textile art, including beadwork. She posted that her wool yarn supplier was closing, and I have been wanting her Backbone Cowl, and I wanted these original colors.

It is a beautiful cowl, and I wanted to nålbind a hat for it. This is Icelandic wool I had on hand, again in Oslo stitch. It’s better shaped than the cream merino hat above, and I took notes this time to help the next time I want to make a hat. For my next nålbinding project, I think I will try a new stitch.

“Many of my rugs are completely or partially done using natural-dyed fabric from plants I have collected around my homes in Stockholm, Wisconsin and Golden Valley, Minnesota. The materials used include cotton monk’s cloth, recycled wool, and naturally dyed wool. There are all hooked about 1/2″ high. And for the rug hookers, I use mainly 8 cuts.”

Olson machine quilts used single-use plastics, uses batting of pallet wrap or packing material, and utilizes thread left over from garment manufacturing. His sewing machines are previously owned. Any leftover scraps are used in future works.

“By minimizing my carbon footprint in the creation of pieces and transcending the medium without denying what it is, I create art that embodies Marshall McLuhan’s concept that ‘the medium is the message.'”

Nålbinding is a looping technique done with a single needle, an ancient technique found in archaeologic record around the world. From Anne Marie Decker’s website Nalbound, “The earliest known extant examples of nalbinding, if one is to include the simple looping variants, are from c. 6500 BC. They were found in Nehal Hemar, a cave in the Judean desert, Israel.” The next specimens are Stone Age fragments found in Denmark. Then, more specimens are found around the world, including the Andean region and Egypt.

It is now primarily a technique used in Scandinavian countries. I believe there are three different stitch naming methodologies. The one I’m most familiar with is naming the stitch after the location where the textile fragment is found. These mittens of Icelandic wool are made in probably the simplest stitch, the Oslo stitch, often the first stitch taught. In Hansen’s Notation, this same stitch is UO/UOO F1. I’ve also seen it called Finnish 1+1. Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha has a directory of nålbinding stitches with examples. It can be done with loops on the thumb of the non-dominant hand, picking them up with single flat wide needle with a large hole held in the dominant hand. This is how I made these mittens. Or, it can be done laying on a flat surface with essentially a tapestry needle, picking up the correct loops, to make a finer fabric.

I have a very small start on a hat, and I hope to try a sweater. I’m going to sample a doll-sized sweater first, so I can try to understand the construction. There aren’t many instructions available for nålbinding; only a few books. The best resources can be videos online if you don’t have access to an in-person instructor.

I did a much better job this time ending the basket, tapering the rope core down to the previous row (visible at about 2 o’clock on the first picture). I like the shape too. I will figure out the yarn I want to use for the next basket, and get it started so I’m ready for my next road trip. This yarn did all the work of the pretty colors; maybe I’ll try using multiple yarns on the next basket.