I first learned about Tawashi scrubbers while searching for crochet patterns for a helium article. I was on a website (Annie's Attic maybe?) and there was a nice photograph of a book cover (Tawashis in Crochet) with a number of cute designs including a huge multicolored flower. Intrigued I did a search for Tawashi crochet and came up with a number of hits including several for free patterns on ravelry and other sites.
I had never heard of tawashi (a japanese scrub brush) let alone tawashi crochet, but then I found one of the coolest things I've ever seen, the hyperbolic pseudosphere scrubbie. This was something I just had to try so I started messing around with some cotton yarn following the directions on TimaryArt's blog, but it just wasn't happening for me.
I went in search of more information and after looking at images on other sites and reading a few articles I just started experimenting with cirlces. What I found was that my Tawashi worked out best if I started out with two chains as if I were making a hat and then made 7 or 9 SC in the first chain (depending on yarn and hook size).
I had also seen some examples of hyperbolic crochet done from a foundation chain and decided to try that out as well. In the example here I have smoothed it out a bit to show the shape better, but as I was corcheting it curled more and more. After seeing the results I decided to experiment with a longer chain and the result is a curly variegated scarf still in progress. (I may take it along on my trip to Spain next week; need something to do on that long flight!)In my intitial search I found a nifty Tawashi fish and the most adorable Tawashi Ohina. I haven't tried either of those yet, but hopefully I'll get to them over the summer when things settle down again.
While looking for a page displaying an image/pattern of the Tawashi fish that would not require registration for viewing I came across one of the most amazing things i've ever seen in crochet. When I was working on my hyperbolic tawashi I kept thinking how much it reminded me of some kind of aquatic animal. Well, it appears I am not the only one who thought so! Check out the awesome hyperbolic coral reef: http://crochetcoralreef.org/about/index.php.
And just in case you think you have seen it all visit: http://ps122gallery.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/related-free-patterns/celestine_crochet_op/ and check out the dodecahedron crochet star.
