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Hemmingway's Cat by Picasso afghan

Becks

By Becks
in Afghans

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Becks

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This afghan is designed after a ceramic sculpture by Pablo Picasso of a cat.

The cat sculpture was made and given to Earnest Hemmingway as a sort of "thank you" for a box of grenades that Hemmingway left for Picasso as a gift. No really. That's how the story goes anyway.

 

And there's more.

 

The cat sculpture was actually stolen from the Hemmingway House, (which is now a museum), back in 2000. When the museum got back the Picasso, it was broken in pieces and stored in their basement.

 

Another sculpture artist named Bob Orlin then made a replica of the sculpture and that replica is still on display in the Hemmingway House in Florida.

 

Phew! Having explained all that there is still more.

After googling around to get a good photo of it to make into a graph I stumbled upon a stained glass artist who had actually designed a Picasso's Hemmingway cat to make into a stained glass piece. Her name is Judy and her planned design is on her "in the works" section of her website. (I have a link to her site in my blog.)

 

Anyway, I took Judy's photo of her stained glass design, graphed it at Knit Pro, and then crocheted it into the afghan.

 

I wanted to use typical "Mondrian colors" since the black outlined sections of the piece reminded me of a Piet Mondrian painting.

 

I used a size J cabled, (flexible), afghan hook.

The yarn is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby and Red Heart yarns

 

It's not a very big afghan or anything. Kind of baby crib sized measuring 32 inches wide by 47 inches high. It took about a week to make.

 

The border is a basketweave stitch using a regular size J crochet hook and alternating black rows with colors from the afghan thrown in randomly on each side.

 

I'm including a photo of the front and then the back of the afghan here.

My blog has links to photos of the original sculpture and also the replica.

 

:cat I really enjoyed making this afghan! :yay

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Afghaniac Proficient

Afghaniac

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Great art piece you've created with your hook!

 

A footnote to Hemingway and cats: If you ever visit the author's house in Key West (it's well worth the visit), you'll see lots of cats with extra toes running around the property -- descendants, apparently, of a six-toed cat given him by a sea captain. Hemingway was a cat lover.

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Becks Collaborator

Becks

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Afghaniac, you know, I was going to mention something like "You'll have to imagine all six toes on each paw even though there appears to be only three on each in the afghan"., but I thought people would think I was nuts. :lol

 

Yes, Hemmingway loved his cats. Didn't he have over 40 to 60 of them running around his place at one time?

Picasso certainly chose a topic for his gift that Hemmingway would appreciate.

 

:cat :cat :cat

 

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! I always feel so good when you say such nice things! :manyheart

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Afghaniac Proficient

Afghaniac

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Afghaniac, you know, I was going to mention something like "You'll have to imagine all six toes on each paw even though there appears to be only three on each in the afghan"., but I thought people would think I was nuts. :lol

 

Yes, Hemmingway loved his cats. Didn't he have over 40 to 60 of them running around his place at one time?

Picasso certainly chose a topic for his gift that Hemmingway would appreciate.

 

:cat :cat :cat

 

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! I always feel so good when you say such nice things! :manyheart

 

Yes, I think there are around 60 polydactyl cats there.

 

You piqued my curiosity, and I had to google an image of a replica of the sculpture that's in the house. I love the way you've overlaid the Mondrian lines and blocky shapes on the image. Then to translate it to crochet. Wow. Don't let anybody use that afghan and get it pilled!

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Craftonite Apprentice

Craftonite

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I'm constantly amazed at the works of art that people here at the 'ville create. Every time I visit I'm impressed.

 

This, however, has to be one of the most stunning and artistic yarn creation ever. The feeling of being inspired is one of the best feelings there is, and it came through in your work. Kudos!

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