The art of crocheting a bike

One of my projects this year has been to crochet a mini version of my nearest colleagues for their birthday. I have dreaded to make Bodil for a long time, because I needed to crochet a bicycle for her, and I had no idèe how to do it. I searched everywhere for a model bike or a toy bike in the right size, but found nothing. As Bodil's birthday approaches, I realized that I needed to crochet the bike myself.

I started by looking in crafts shops for something to build my bicycle with. I found some flexible aluminium rods, winded up in a spiral, I could use. The spiral was a perfect size for the wheels on the bike.

I winded a thin metal tread around the spiral, and made spokes using metal flower sticks. To make the tires, I crochet a circle, added some stitches, and then decreased them back again. This made a perfect tire. I padded the tires and sew them on the metal wheels. Then I embroidered a zigzag stitch, which I learned while making my bunad, to give the impression of tread pattern.

When the wheels were finished, I started to believe that I could make this, and I started to form the bicycle frame. I needed a construction drawing of a bike, and went to my husband for some help, as I am terrible at drawing bicycles.



 
The frame is made up of two triangles, held together with metal thread. I then made the fork and handlebars, and attached them to the frame as well. Finally, I made the seat, the baggage rack and pedestal, and attached them to the frame.

When the frame was finished, I was tired (the clock was 23.30) but happy. But then I realized that I did not know what my colleague's bike looked like. So I concocted a stupid story that I was planning to buy a new bike, but had a history of choosing by color and not quality..., "and what color is your bike by the way?" "Golden orange", was the answer. I did not know what kind of colour that was, but started to look for suitable yarn to cover the frame.

The closest I came to golden orange was a thick yellow orange acrylic yarn. It was too heavy, but the assortment of orange yarn was limited, so it had to do. I found a silver yarn called Metallic Fine from Anchor, to crochet the details in chrome. Then I started to crochet strips which I sew on to the frame. I also attached three gears to the bike.



Some details in black for the handles, pedals and the seat, and the bike was finished. When I showed the bike to my husband, he started to laugh. I had sewn the gear on the wrong side of the bike. I didn't bother to correct it, as this would involve doing the pedals all over again. It would have to do. I thought my bike looks nice, and hope that others do not see the error as fast as my husband did.