Hello! My name is Laura and I am currently a junior computer science major. I am from Ledyard, CT and I have two dogs, named Suki and Hobbs. I really like hands-on 3D art, and in my free time I mostly crochet and knit. I also work part-time at a fabric and craft store over the school breaks, so I also have some experience with many different types of fabrics. I took woods and metals classes in high school, and I really enjoyed the process of making things out of these materials. I have not done anything with wood or metal since then, but I am excited to try experimenting with them again. I am not so good with drawing or painting, and I don’t have a lot of experience with digital art. I also don’t have experience using the Makerspace.
I have made many little crochet creatures, mostly as presents for others (so I don’t have many pictures of them). Usually with these creatures I follow a pre-written pattern, as with the dinosaur and the bunny. Although, I do like to try to freehand smaller things, which I did with the hat that the dinosaur is wearing. The dinosaur was a
birthday gift to one of my friends. The bunny was a birthday present for my niece. There is a variety of different yarns that you can use, which give you different outcomes. The dinosaur is made out of a regular “medium” weight yarn, while the bunny is made out of a softer, chunkier yarn. The thinker the yarn, the bigger the project will turn out. You can’t really tell from the picture, but the bunny turned out to be around 1.5 feet tall, which is much larger than the dinosaur.
I also really love to make wearable pieces. I have mostly made sweaters, socks, and hats, using both knitting and crocheting. These are two of my favorite sweaters I’ve made for myself. At this point, I believe I have made 7 (!) sweaters, 2 of them being gifts for other
people. The cat sweater was the first time I used a complicated color pattern. I found the cat chart on Pinterest, and then freehanded the rest of the sweater. I am really happy with how it turned out. The other sweater was the first sweater that I knit, and I loved it so much that I made a second one using the same pattern. I don’t feel as confident free-handing while knitting, so I tend to only stick to following knitting patterns.
I also love the process of knitting socks. I’ve made 3.5 pairs so far, with this lavender sock being the most complicated (this is the 0.5 pair, I am still working on the other sock). My first 3 pairs were “vanilla” socks, meaning they were basic socks, using just one color of yarn and no fancy stitch techniques. However, the lavender sock is called a “colorwork” sock, since I am using multiple colors to achieve the lavender pattern. I wear my handknit socks all the time during winter, because they are made of wool and much warmer than my store-bought socks.
This hat is actually my most recent finished piece. I knit it over the winter break. This was my first time doing cables (which makes the hat look like it has strands that twist together), and I really really love how they turned out. I am excited to try out more projects that use cables, such as sweaters and socks.
This is a wall decoration that I made. After I took this picture, I attached a wooden dowel and some yarn to the top of this crochet frog tapestry, and it is now a wall decoration in my apartment. He just turned out so cute!!
These final pieces are from when I was in high school. I took a woods class and a metals class, and these are the two pieces from each that I am most proud of. This first piece is an aluminum casting of a seahorse. I had to make the mold, pour the molten metal into the mold, demold it and cut off the excess metal bits, file/sandpaper a bunch to make it smooth, and finally polish it. It took a lot of work, but I am super happy that I got the opportunity to make this!
Lastly, I made this bookshelf in my woods class. Similarly to the seahorse project from my metals class, this took a lot of steps and different techniques. Most notably is my last name engraved into it, and a wood burning of a goose on the side. Both the seahorse and the bookshelf have been hanging up in my parent’s house since I brought them home.
And if you were curious, here are what my dogs look like 🙂 Thanks for looking at my pictures!
Familiar – Your piece of the seahorse reminds me of a wall hang I had as a child. (You did such a good job with this)
Familiar – I love seeing crochet and knit projects. Your sweaters and socks are really impressive, especially when you freehand some of them!
Dark – It is dark in the sense that you tend to use a lot of more muted colors that gives everything a homely, comforting feeling.
Gorgeous – I love all the intricate details in your designs. Knitting and crocheting takes a lot of patience and I’m super impressed!
Detailed — I can’t believe you have the patience to make those adorable knit sweaters and socks, wow!! That cat sweater has my whole heart omg — all of your stuff looks sooo professional, you could have told me you bought it all and I would have believed you!
impressive – The sweaters that you made are so impressive to me. I love the use of both knit and crochet and I even more love the little cats on the first one.
Quirky – All of them are fun and quirky, love your crafts
Cute- The crochet/ knitting patters are very cute and detailed
cute – SILLY DINO WITH A HAT?!?! love
Gorgeous – The wood work is beautiful, I am especially impressed with the sea horse!
Impressive – Can I have a beanie?
Impressive! Very thoughtful artwork
Cute – Loving all of your different crochet characters and the pics of your pups are adorable