Sightings
Last week I went to get a prescription re-filled. Outside the store was a woman selling raffle tickets for a knitted, sampler afghan to benefit a children’s hospital. I stopped to look at the work and we chatted for a while. The center motif of the afghan was a basket of fruit and I recognized it as a pattern I happen to have. So I asked her:
“New Knitting Stitch Library?”
Her eyes went “boink” and I explained that I had that book too. We both laughed and she went on to explain that she had taken all the patterns for the afghan from that book, working out repeats and numbers so that the panels and pieces would align properly. She had done a lovely job with the work and was casting on to circular needles for something new while we were chatting. She gave me a couple of pointers about working with DPNs and I wished her luck with her raffle tickets before going on into the store.
Then, a couple of days ago I was getting ready to check out of the supermarket. As I approached the registers, I saw what looked to me like a hand-made sweater and that (rather than my usual decision criteria in such circumstances - which register is least busy) determined which line I got into. The woman in front of me was wearing a crocheted sweater done in bobbles, chains and single crochet. Both the body pieces and the sleeves had been worked vertically so that the stitch pattern moved up and down rather than from side to side. It was beautiful work and the effect was quite striking in beiges and pale greens. Of course this was a very slim woman who could carry the bobble-created bulk with ease and the sweater looked great on her. I asked if her if she had made it. She said that it was her favorite sweater and that one of the men in her church had made it for her along with a blanket for her child.
I wondered if I was noticing more hand-crafted things because there were more to notice, or because I’m particularly prone to noticing because I’m involved in it myself. It’s certainly nice to see real evidence that hand-crafting is popular and practical. Blog pictures are lovely (sorry - there aren’t any today) but, as I seldom see hand-knits (or crochets) on my daily out-and-abouts, it was great to spy these two items in less than a week’s time. Very cool! Though, I suppose, I could have passed any number of hand-knitted socks and never known it. While it’s tempting to ask people to pull up their pants legs so I can have a look, how many times do you think I’d get away with it before someone either called the gendarmes or popped me in the snoot?
Mathematics
One of the appealing things for me about knitting is the math. I like figuring out pattern repeats, motifs and the general number-juggling that goes on when you’re trying to get something to work out the way you want. I count things constantly, almost unconsciously, even when I’m not knitting, but especially when I am. I’ll be working along, say, a 30 stitch stretch and get distracted around stitch 9 by something on TV only to come back to the knitting at stitch 21. Something in the back of my brain has been tracking the stitches even while my forward consciousness has been otherwise occupied.
Consider the topology of an ordinary piece of yarn. It’s a cylinder. If you stretch out the length of a ball or a skein, it’s a long cylinder. Now, knit that into a square. What’s the topology of the square? What would it be if you had knitted it into a Moebius scarf?
Then there’s this article, featuring the knitting of a tam which says in part:
bq. “In mathematical terms, Ellen has worked a band of translational symmetry with two alternating motifs on a reducing number of units, until another strip pattern takes up the journey to the centre of the spiral where she changes to another pattern - the star with nine-point symmetry. Working from the circumference in, shes produced a geometrically perfect dome-shaped design.”
I turned the heel on the sock without problem and, hopefully, will have a picture for you tomorrow. I also pulled a needle out of 36 stitches. Know what happens when you do that to a bunch of tightly knit stitches? They run like hell. But in retrieving the little buggers, I discovered a trick that I’ll pass along on Friday. No, not the new swear-word trick :)
Finally, I’ll leave you with a recipe I was compelled to seek out when I discovered a box of strawberries was about to go vicious on me. Adding the juice to the batter makes an oddly colored end product, but the results were pretty tasty all the same :)
O-kay, I’m off to do some more transformational geometry :) Hope you’re all having a good mid-week :)
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I saw a woman at Wal-Mart yesterday wearing a sweater made from that new worsted-weight self-patterning yarn… Mexico or whatever it’s called. The finishing was excellent, if I didn’t recognize the pattern I would have thought it store-bought.
She did, however, look like a giant sock : )
She might look “socky” to you and I, who are familiar with patterned sock yarn, but to most other people, I wonder if the sweater seemed anything but colorful? I admit I’ve given some thought to it myself, but narrow, horizontal stripes just wouldn’t be the way to go for this “generous” figure :)
Great posting, Robbyn! I always love reading “scientific” or “mathematical” takes on knitting, although I hate all the math part m’self…
Well, I was terrible at math all through school. It took me a long time to understand that I could do it - it just took me a little longer to figure it out. Now, I really enjoy it and actually enjoy using math. Scary, hunh? :)
I rarely say this in public, but I love math. Because it is challenging, it actually makes me use my brain. I realized recently that’s part of my love for knitting, the challenge and the math. It’s why I want to start designing handknit patterns. So Math Geeks stand proud! hee hee
You go girl! When I discovered I actually could handle math, I was so excited that I haven’t stopped using it. You’re exactly right; it’s challenging and meeting the challenge is exhilirating :)
