Hyperbolic Crochet ~ With a Free Pattern

At the end of my last guild event, one of the members asked me if I did hyperbolic crochet. My response was "What is hyperbolic crochet?"

I had to strain to get my brain to dredge up a mental picture of a hyperbola defined as a symmetrical open curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane at a smaller angle with its axis than the side of the cone. Kind of painful, huh? Look up Hyperbolic Geometry in Wikipedia and I promise the pain will intensify.

Still, when my guild friend started to describe hyperbolic planes in terms of crochet, my burgeoning headache quickly subsided. Really, they are quite easy to make and pretty fun too. You know, one of those projects you can do in front of the TV. My guild is making these fun shapes to be assembled into centerpieces for the upcoming Fibers Through Time conference here in Arizona.

If you want to see a remarkable exhibit of hyperbolic crochet, Visit the Institute for Figuring's Website. Here you'll find striking pictures of the Crochet Coral Reef Project. Unfortunately, I learned about this the day after the exhibit left Scottsdale, AZ, but it might not be too late for you to see it in person. It is currently touring the country and there is a schedule on the left hand side of the link I provided. Even if you can't see it in person, the pictures are spectacular.

In my research I found a book called Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes. I also discovered that Lion Brand offers free patterns for hyperbolic crochet on their website. I found the same Lion Brand Patterns on the blog What Not to Crochet leaving the distinct impression that not everyone is on board here. On YouTube you can see The Complete Hyperbolic Crochet Video where a pseudosphere is crocheted at the hyperspeed of 5 minutes and 20 seconds.

So what should you make of all this? I guess that's up to you. If you want to try out the shape I made up above, here's the pattern:

With medium weight yarn and an I hook:
Ch 8
Row 1: 2 sc in second ch from hook, *sc in next st, 2 sc in next st* across (11 sc)
Rows 2-9: ch 1 turn, *2 sc in next st, sc in next st* across.

(note - I changed from pink merino to yellow brushed mohair in row 9 just to add some visual interest.)