Thursday 9 June 2016

Metal crochet. Kind of.

(You might like to read this post first)

As I was looking through the old pumps, turbines and engines that used to be made at the Queen's Engineering Works in Bedford, I wondered if I could make a picture of them in crochet.

I started off with one 'pipe' then added the fluted bit at the end, then the wheel used for opening and closing the valve. Yes, I think this might actually work!

I carried on like this, adding bits and pieces, rearranging them, fitting them together until I had something like a pump and turbine. I tried to make a fairly faithful replica of the pictures I found in the catalogues at Bedfordshire Archives - here's an example of the kind of pump and turbine I was working on.

And here's my work in progress:

A photo posted by Helen Lindop (@helenlindop) on

The picture was taking shape but I wanted to show what the machinery actually did. Could I crochet water? Let's see...


Yes, it looked like I could!

I've almost finished my this piece now, I just need to sew it to backing fabric and then mount that on a frame of some kind so it can be hung on a wall. I'll post a photo when it's finished.

Update: here's the finished item.

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