Conversation with Smaug

Conversation with Smaug is part of the Dwarven Collection

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Conversation with Smaug (CwS for short) is an oversized cowl knit in the round. It is inspired by the Hobbit and more precisely an illustration J.R.R. Tolkien made for the book.

Conversation with Smaug by J.R.R. Tolkien

It is made using modified brioche stitches that create a scale-like pattern (without having to do stranded colorwork – only stripes). The pattern is also reversible : the ‘wrong side’ looks like a woven, almost polka dot fabric.

Conversation with Smaug - Right Side

Conversation with Smaug - Wrong Side

CwS can be worn thrown on your shoulders like a shawl – with or without a shawl pin for two different looks – or wrapped twice around your neck – the fit will be snug enough that it’ll keep the cold & wind out.

From both of these points you can pull a fold of fabric from CwS and turn it into a sizable hood.

Color choice:
If you want to stay faithful to the spirit of the Hobbit, where Tolkien describes Smaug as “a vast red-golden dragon”, then pick a combination of red and yellow. The cowl in the pictures was made using Malabrigo Worsted in 096 Sunset and 41 Burgundy.
 Sunset is a rich orangey yellow and Burgundy is a dark red - it looks a lot like oxblood to me, actually.

Sunset matches Tolkien's illustration and Burgundy actually matches the tips of Smaug's wings on the cover of my old copy of the Hobbit (French pocket edition).

Now, if you were to stay true to only Tolkien's illustration, I believe Ravelry Red and Franck Ochre would be a nice, very bright pairing - maybe more 'fairytale-like'?

Or you could go for Peter Jackson's vision, if you like more muted colors.

A rich grey (Pearl Ten), brown (Black Forest) or reddish brown (Marron Oscuro) would be nice paired with light grey (Pearl), light yellow (Fluo) or off-white (Natural).

If red and yellow are not your colors, you could also show your love for another franchise and make your own Drogon/Rhaegal/Viserion themed cowl.

Or, well, serpents have scales too so… How about some green and silver for the cunning ones?

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Conversation with Smaug is part of the Dwarven Collection

Amdam - One Stole, Many Possibilities

Amdam is part of the Dwarven Collection

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Amdam is a convertible Dwarven stole. It can be worn as a scarf, stole, cape, poncho or hood/snood.
Below you'll find a short video demonstrating some of the ways you can wear it:

And pictures, lots of them!

Are you sick of seeing my silly face yet?
No?
 Really?

How about now?

I realize I haven't demonstrated this one so here goes:

Start with the crocheted in front of your face, cross the two halves behind your neck and bring the ends back to the front (on your shoulders). Close the button at the bottom.

Here's another way to wear Amdam that wasn't shown in the video (I only found it after a few weeks of wearing my Amdam). It's the 'sideways cape' and I find it very practical (maybe one of the most practical ways to wear this stole, actually).

To give you an idea of how Amdam would fit on you, I usually wear size M (Europe 38) sweaters (to accomodate my pretty broad shoulders). Also, I'm 175cm tall (5'9").

The model in the following pictures usually wears size XL (Europe 48) sweaters. She is 173cm tall (5'8"). And she didn't want her face to be shown so... cropped shots will have to do!

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Amdam: How it came to be

Amdam: Toolbox

Andam: Index

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The Dwarven Collection

Amdam : How it came to be

Amdam is part of the Dwarven Collection

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Amdam means comforter in Khuzdul, the language of the Dwarves in Tolkien's universe.

Source:  the Dwarrow Scholar's Neo Khuzdul dictionnary

In the Hobbit, the dwarves making Thorin's company live on the road, with no real home of their own. They have to make do with what they can carry, and this is where the idea for Amdam stemmed from.

If you have to live on the road, you want things that are multipurpose – convertible. Now, these dwarves do go the extra mile and carry a harp and viols big as themselves around (in the book, that is) but still… there has to be a limit to what they can carry (unless, you know, they get their hands on a bag of holding, but that’s another story/franchise).

In the case of a stole/scarf/cape, you’d want it to be thick enough to help keep you warm/dry, but not too chunky in case you’d have to fold it and stuff it into your bag. Not too heavy, either – you’d have to lug the darn thing about, after all.

And, without a home, you have to find comfort where you can – I've always found handknitted items comforting, and I like to think the Dwarves of Erebor would've found comfort in such things, too.

The shape of Amdam is inspired by dwarven architecture, as it appears in Alan Lee and John Howe’s illustrations and concept art and in Peter Jackson’s movies.

John Howe's concept art of Erebor

Erebor, as seen in the movies

 It uses lots of repetitive patterns and lots of straight lines.

Concept art from The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring.

It’s very geometric - some would say quite block-y. And yet, there’s always a certain hint of luxury, an elegant feel to it. An air of grandeur.

The Fellowship in Moria by Alan Lee.

 Dwarves are a proud people. Their halls are built to impress – at least that’s how I see it.

Erebor: built to impress, innit?

But Dwarves are not fussy. They’re pragmatic (or, well, they like to think they are...) – and their architecture shows it. There are no squiggly lines anywhere to be seen. Squiggly lines and floral motifs are for pointy eared devils, after all...

No, not this kind of pointy eared devil...

...THAT kind of pointy eared devil.

I had all these things in mind when I chose brioche as the main stitch pattern for Amdam: brioche is straightforward, but more luxurious and refined than regular ribbing. It's very geometric and looks good when repeated across a sizable project. It's squishy and comfortable. It drapes well and can be folded rather easily.

The crocheted spine and border add a little flair without being too frilly, and they're also useful. The spine helps keeps the stole in shape and the border, while also keeping the stole in shape, doubles as a button band.

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How to wear Amdam

Amdam: Toolbox

Index
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Amdam is part of the Dwarven Collection

The Dwarven Collection

--this page is still under construction-

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Amdam

Convertible Dwarven Stole

Conversation with Smaug

Oversized Cowl

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WIPs

Another Smaug inspired piece, because I love this scaley pattern way too much.

This is meant to be an oversized sweater.

I have a feeling I've already made it way too oversized, will run out of yarn soon (I planned for SEVEN skeins. NO, I won't add another. Nope.), will have to frog and re-do it entirely ( with slightly less ease). But I've got the general idea and shape laid out so all that's left is to execute (with seven skeins, and 'only' seven skeins).

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A Moria inspired piece - intended to be a stole BUT I am still undecided. I'm afraid it'll turn out too heavy and quite unpractical. But the stitches combination, I am happy with :)
This'll be, again, a mix of slipped stitches and brioche, but this time there'll be some increases/decreases worked in the middle of the stole (or in the middle of the sweater, if this one ends up being a sweater -_-') to create interesting shapes - almost cable like, but without there being any cable involved.

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There's also an Arkenstone inspired project in the works, but I haven't taken pictures of it yet. For now it involves crochet, stockinette and regular (but two-tone, worked in the round) brioche.

Amdam - Toolbox

FPdc (Front Post double crochet)

BPdc (Back Post double crochet)

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Back to Index

BPdc - Tutorial

Here's how to work a BPdc (back post double crochet).
This stitch is used in my Amdam Dwarven stole pattern.

Step 1 : yarn over hook (=2 loops on hook)

Step 2 : insert insert hook from back to front to back around the post of the corresponding stitch below, yarn over and pull up loop (= 3 loops on hook)

From there on, you’ll work the same way you would for a regular dc, meaning you’ll:
- yarn over, draw through two loops on hook (=2 loops on hook)
- and again: yarn over, draw through two loops on hook (=1 loop on hook=BPdc done!).

It'll look like this:

FPdc - Tutorial

Here's how to work a FPdc (front post double crochet).
This stitch is used in my Amdam Dwarven stole pattern.

Step 1 : yarn over hook (=2 loops on hook)

Step 2 : insert insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the corresponding stitch below, yarn over and pull up loop (= 3 loops on hook)

From there on, you’ll work the same way you would for a regular dc, meaning you’ll:

- yarn over, draw through two loops on hook (=2 loops on hook)

- and again: yarn over, draw through two loops on hook (=1 loop on hook=FPdc done!).

It'll look like this:

Amdam - Index

How Amdam came to be : the inspiration behind it (LOTR and the Hobbit galore! Yayyyyy !!!)

Amdam : One Stole, Many Possibilities (how to wear it)

Amdam : Toolbox (where you'll find tutorials for special stitches/techniques used in Amdam)

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Amdam is part of the Dwarven Collection

Voltaic - Toolbox

Here you'll find links to tutorials I made for some of the techniques used in the Voltaic crocheted fingerless gloves pattern:

Video tutorial: 

Slst from the end of the thumb back into the palm

Photo tutorials:

FPhdc

BPhdc

FPtr

BPtr

If you need help with other techniques that I haven't covered in this blog post, do not hesitate to leave me a comment here, on Youtube or on Ravelry ;)

Happy Crafting!

Voltaic - Crocheted Fingerless Gloves - Introduction & Slst Tutorial

Voltaic is a pair of  crocheted fingerless gloves designed to be worked each in one piece and use a single skein (100g) of Malabrigo Arroyo (though the larger sizes will need more than a skein).

They're made using mainly a mix of FPtr, BPtr, FPhdc and BPhdc.

Below you'll find a quick video I put together. It includes a tutorial on the technique used to work each glove in one piece without having to cut the yarn.

Of course, it's not mandatory you use this technique. If you'd rather cut the yarn, go ahead. I know I don't like cutting and rejoining my yarn, especially when making this kind of project. I've had some nasty surprises in the past where the thumbs of some of my gloves have started to unravel because... well, I don't know. I probably just suck at tying knots :/

Anyway... here are some extra details on the naming of the pattern, if you're curious:

These fingerless gloves are called Voltaic because they remind me of a Voltaic pile I once saw, a while ago, in science class. Whilst I may not remember the whole story behind the device (other than the fact it was the first battery, so to speak), this is the first thing that came to my mind once these gloves had taken form. To me, they look like a stack (or, you know, a pile) of wooly disks - just like the voltaic pile is, basically, a stack of metal disks (Yay! Science!).

Additionally, the colorway of the yarn I used does strangely remind me of clockworks, machines, strange devices and all that jazz. It’s called Arco Iris (literally ‘rainbow’) and to me it looks like the color of an oil/gas puddle when the sun hits it. Maybe it’s farfetched, but this is exactly how my mind made the connection.

Anybody else see the resemblance? No? Just me?

Of course, you don't have to use Arco Iris. This pattern will work with both solid and variegated colorways. A solid color, especially a light one, will showcase the texture nicely, A variegated colorway (especially hand-dyed/with short color repeats) will yield a pretty interesting result, as the stitches used will further mix the colors together. You can also experiment with stripes, especially if you make a size of gloves that calls for more than one skein of yarn.

Here's the first Voltaic prototype (shorter upper hand& different thumb). You can see the texture shows up quite nicely in a solid, lighter color.

If you need help with some of the stitches used (or simply want to see what you'll be in for if you decide to splurge a few bucks on the pattern ;p), you can find the available photo tutorials here.

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In case you've stumbled upon this article by accident and are interested in purchasing this pattern, you'll find it here.

FPtr - Photo Tutorial

Here's how to work a FPtr (= Front Post treble crochet).

This stitch is used in my Voltaic fingerless gloves pattern.