The captive knitters went on to three more, all of which were mainly to do with fitting mathematical shapes together. Figure of Eight was an amalgamation of all our thoughts about shapes with 45 degree angles and the magic of ridges of garter stitch exactly matching up with stitches. It was a delightfully simple piece of geometry and an equally simple method of construction.
It originally resembled a windmill with eight sails which started with eight narrow radiating spokes of knitting. The spokes could be any length and they determined the overall size of the octagon. Everything else was done by simple counting related to these spokes. We later decided to add the extra pieces to turn it into a regular octagon.
It was nice to make because it was so simple to adapt though it looked quite complex but, once the shapes had been identified, it didn’t have a lot to say for itself in a Maths lesson.
Confusingly, there was also Pieces of Eight. None of these names existed at the time. They only became necessary when items had to be identified for some purpose.
