Filet crochet portrait progress

Hello world,

I wanted this to be done soon, but as you will see from my progress below, it's slow goings. I knew it was ambitious, but I thought I'd be at least half way by this stage!

I have spent a number of days listening to my favourite TV shows and to some audiobooks while working on this, and I try to get at least a row done to and from work each day on the train. Apparently that is not enough. Nonetheless, I did foresee that problem and mitigated the risk by starting at the top, so the date was one of the last things I would crochet, just in case I blew out my deadline.

It is turning out really great, so the excess time is worth it.

MUM OR DAD, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, AVERT YOUR EYES IF YOU WANT THIS SURPRISE TO BE A SURPRISE, EVENTUALLY.

My progress after two months' work:

What did I tell you? surprisingly good. :) The little white things along the bottom are just stitch markers so that if I get lost I don't have to start counting from the beginning of the row... 300 stitches is too many for me to count back.

Here's another shot showing the detail of what the work actually looks like to me while I'm working on it. I only see it every now and again when I find the time to lay it out flat and review my progress.

So! Still a long long way to go, but I am encouraged by the result thus far. I'll post the final product up both before and after framing... whenever that may be.

Crochet cotton is from the lovely people at Crochet Australia, who you can hear about in a previous post.

Read my previous post to learn how to make your own filet crochet portrait from a photo:

Au revior,

~Eyespiral

How to create a filet crochet pattern from a photo using Photoshop

Hello world,

For those who don't know, filet crochet is a type of crochet that is based on a mesh made of blocks that are either 'open' or 'closed'. Great for the mathematically minded like myself, and there are lots of tutorials online to show you how to get started with this. It can be done using larger hooks and thicker yarn to create blankets, or fine hooks and yarn to create something more akin to lace.

I have been searching for a tutorial on how to covert a photo into a filet crochet pattern and I couldn't find one, so I've decided to write one of my own! Read on to learn how to achieve this.

There are processes for creating a colour crochet blanket, etc, from a photo, however this is not what I wanted to do. I not-so-recently completed a gorgeous peacock filet crochet in Coates Mercer 100 cotton that once belonged to my great grandmother and it is just so lovely that I wanted to see where I could go with it. Unfortunately my drawing skills aren't amazing like my brother Michael, so I needed to use my Photoshop skills instead of manually reproducing the photo. Oh, and I'll post a photo of the peacock soon.

I came up with the process because I am thinking of making an epic xmas gift, but because the person for whom I am making it may read this, I will say no more - for now. I wanted to make a filet crochet pattern from a photo. This is difficult for a number of reasons: Photos are high definition, they're in colour, and it is surprisingly difficult to figure out how to convert an image from colour to black & while only (i.e. with no greys).

However, I am determined, and like Photoshop, so here is the tutorial. I hope someone else out there on the world wide web finds it useful. :)


Step 1: Source your photo
Get your photo or image. Low-res is fine as filet crochet, unless making one of epic proportions, is also quite pixelated. What you want to focus on are images with high contrast. Striking patterns such as stripes, etc, are great for the background if you want them, but again contrast, not colour, is the key.

For this tutorial, I chose this loverly photo of my brother Tim, breaking most of the rules above. Not to worry, I embrace a challenge!

Step 2: Adjust and convert to greyscale
This step is about your own judgment. There's lots you can do to get the best outcome, but at the most basic here's what to do: Crop as much as you can. Don't waste space with background if you don't need to unless you have plenty of time and yarn on your hands, else you will regret it later. Then select 'Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White'. Fiddle around with the various sliders to get the effect that you want - remember you want to maximise whites, blacks, and have minimal greys.

I have Photoshop CS3 and I understand the 'Black & White' feature doesn't exist on some earlier version of Photoshop - in this case, select 'Hue/Saturation' instead and also create an additional 'Brightness/Contrast' layer to give yourself more control.

As I said, there are lots of things you can do to further enhance your image at this stage. To get the below image, I used 3x brightness/contrast layers to improve the definition of the end of the pipe and the overall contrast of the image, plus I used the burn/dodge tool to add definition at the brim of his hat and the eyes, then used the black & white adjustment layer and played with the sliders.

Step 3: Resize
At this stage you need to decide how large and how detailed a crochet pattern you want - each pixel becomes an open or closed block in the filet crochet mesh. The smaller the image resolution, the faster and easier crocheting it is, but the larger the better detail you get. To give you a notion of size vs. pixelage, I am currently working on an image approximately 300 x 150 px using a tiny crochet hook and size 100 yarn and it is looking to turn out about 1 x 0.5 metres in size, so look out.

For this tutorial, I resized the image to 150px width. Lower would lose too much detail and leave me with a greyish mess. I noticed my contrast wasn't great, so I decided to zoom right in and do some more work with the dodge/burn tools to improve the contrast I wanted. I know the below may look silly, but the end result can be greatly influenced by the modifications you make here.

To resize an image in Photoshop, select 'Image > Image size...' and input the settings you desire.

Step 4: Convert to halftone
The bitmap halftone screen is how to reach a workable filet crochet pattern. To do this you need to complete two steps:

• Select 'Image > Mode > Grayscale' and click OK to flatten and discard all colour information.


• Use Image > Mode > Bitmap', leave the resolution as is and select the 'Halftone screen' method with the below settings, or download my settings and load them into Photoshop:
  
  
  

Click OK and in essence you've got your pattern. Here's mine at both 100% and zoomed in so you can see the pattern better.

Step 5: Save the image

Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S to bring up the 'Save for web' or 'Save for web and devices' dialogue box. Save the image as a GIF file and it'll have a tiny file size due to being plan black & white. There's no need for transparency.


Step 6: Print and add grid

If you're nifty and/or OCD like myself, you can add a grid and resize the image before printing. However, in hindsight it is much easier to do it using the built-in Windows print picture function and add the gridlines yourself.

To print the image ready for use, go the the folder where you have the image saved, click the file so it is selected and then select 'Print this picture' from the folder options

Then follow the prompts. When it gets to the 'Layout selection' step, select 'Full page prints' as shown below.

The image will print and really you can go ahead with just this. However, I always like to have my gridlines there to make sure I get the stitch count right, so to achieve this I recommend grabbing a mechanical pencil (for the fine tip and silver colour which will show up on both the black and white parts of the image) and a ruler and get to it. Another good idea is to rule a gridline of double thickness every 5 or 10 blocks to make keeping count easier.


Et voila!
You have now got a filet crochet pattern from a photograph. Congratulations! If you make one, I'd love to see! I promise I will post a photo of mine when it is done and gifted away. :)

----------UPDATE JANUARY 2013----------

I ended up making this portrait for my brother for xmas just passed. Here's a photo of the finished product:

-------END UPDATE JANUARY 2013-------

Well I hope this was useful. Ooh, and if you're interested, here is a peek at the pattern for the peacock that I finished a while ago:

Au revoir!

~Eyespiral

Crochet Australia is excellent

Hello world,

Just a quick note to say how excellent the people at Crochet Australia are. Not only do they stock all sorts of hard-to-find crochet yarn at their online store and respond to my email enquiries uberfast, look at the surprise that came in my package today!

Just what I needed!

~Eyespiral

Xmas crafts! Seatbelt covers, sewn luggage tags, laptop sleeves, crochet Rorschach mask, diary cover, eye mask and peg buddies.

Hello world!

Here's a quick post of the xmas crafts that I have finally finished - just in time. :)

For my darling friend Kylee who came to visit I made a couple of my long seatbelt covers since she admired the idea - she too suffers from the sharp edge of the seatbelt and the short length of standard seatbelt covers. In addition I made her a collection of luggage tags since she and her husband travel a lot and own their own place now - meaning that their address shouldn't change for a good while, and they can therefore keep using these tags for the foreseeable future. I love my iron-on stuff - didn't it make adorable tags?

Next we have these two laptop sleeves which I made for my sister and brother. The idea came when we found the comedian tshirt for special ($5!) but they didn't have any big enough for my brother. I filled them with batting to give them some cushioning and went with a simple flat button closure instead of velcro because I could just imagine how wrecked the ole hook'n'loop would make the fabric in a short time. My sister's one is actually made of this awesome patterned velvet-type stuff that my grandparents' old lounge chairs are made of - I'm sure she'll appreciate that.

Since it was pretty simple, I made up a pic showing how I made the patterns for them. If you can't figure out my super-secret code, L, B and H stand for length, breadth and height, and all measurements are in millimetres. It has a 10mm seam allowance. Cut one of main fabric, one of lining, and cut a rectangle of batting 20mm shorter and narrower than the pattern, minus the flap. Pin the fabrics right sides together and pin the batting on top, sew and leave a hole in one side for turning. Trim the corners and the curve, then turn. Fold up, main fabric on the inside, and sew along one side with 5mm allowance, go around the flap and down the other side. Turn right-side-out, add a button and button hole and you're in business!

I also made this mask for my brother. It's meant to be like the one that the character Rorschach wears in The Watchmen. Can you tell he's into it? :) I would have posted a pic of me wearing it but it's far too big - my brother's head is mammoth. Anyway, it's crocheted with ivory bamboo thread, just like a long beanie, and then I made my own inkblot-type image with fabric paint and pressed the mask into it to get the pattern. Not bad for an experimental piece, I think.

For EJ's mum I made a diary cover which I like, but I'm worried she won't:

And for his sister a rice-filled eye mask:

Ooh and this is how I've wrapped all the prezzies this year - I love the look and I reckon it's tres classy. Not to mention cheap!

For my grandparents I put together a little composition of photos from my graduation since they couldn't come. It's cute, don't you think? Anyway, it's big and framed and now they can brag to their friends about how clever I am.

And now, my favourite item of crafty goodness this xmas - please meet the peg buddies!

This little guy is for EJ's grandparents. Do the penguin walk!

Then we have this wise fellow for my grandma. Yes, it's an owl. I will not listen to anyone who tells me it's a platypus. It's an owl!

And finally, this happy amphibian is for my Mum.

Nourish them with pegs and they'll help you hang out the washing! What a fun way to use little bits of fabric and reuse those little useless hangers you get when you buy new underwear. Eco-friendly and cute, people. That's right.

Say goodbye guys! It's time to be wrapped up for the relos.

If people are interested, I may be able to put together a tutorial/downloadable pattern for the peg buddies. But really, it's just an idea that you can execute on your own, making it up as you go along - that's what I did.

Anyway, it's time for me to get going - we've found our new place and I need to get into the business of packing.

Merry xmas everyone!

~Eyespiral

P.S. Apologies for the poor image quality for this post - normally if they turn out this bad I just go and take some more photos, but since these all needed to be wrapped I can't retake them.

P.P.S. This might be the first post that I've written and posted all in one session. Amazing!

Apple and Banana Cozy Crochet Patterns

Hello world,

***Edit 31/1/2011***

And the winner is... darlababe Congratualtions Darla! I'll send you an email and soon your Eyespiral trading card will arrive in the mail. :)

Thanks everyone for posting and thanks to Kenmore for using my post in their ad and helping all you lovely people come find me.

***End edit***

I finally bought some fruit to fill the cozies I made for my Mum for her birthday, and aren't they lovely?

The other good news is that the vegan lunch box gave me permission to post my crochet patterns which I adapted from her knitting patterns. If you'd like to find her knitting patterns, click the links for her apple cozies (there's three sizes!), banana cozy, and orange cozy.

But now for my crochet patterns. :)

Crochet Apple Cozy

Click the image above to download my crochet apple cozy pattern. Please respect that it is not for commercial use.

Crochet Banana Cozy

Click the image above to download my crochet banana cozy pattern. Please respect that it is not for commercial use.

Et voila! I hope you enjoy the crochet patterns.

~Jessica