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The idea for Half Measures had been with us for a long time. When we made Equal Parts we thought about  many ways to split squares into different numbers of parts. The first square was one single piece, the second had to be split in two such that both pieces would be exactly alike. On that occasion we opted for one of the simplest methods and split that second square with a diagonal line. It planted the germ of an idea about splitting squares in half.

The ‘rules’ for Half Measures were that the squares should be in groups of eight and each group of eight must show some kind of progression or movement. Each individual square must have pink and blue exactly matched but they could be in any number of pieces. The squares could be knitted straight or diagonally. Those that were straight would have twenty stitches across and twenty rows of garter stitch. Those knitted diagonally would start at a point and work up to twenty-eight stitches on the diagonal. This would mean that all the squares would be the same size.

We made four of the sections then added the borders to separate them from each other. The borders looked very like window frames so it soon looked as though we were making panels for a wall or window. We took the half completed afghan to a conference of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics and asked the participants in a workshop to design the other sections. Four of their designs were used for the remaining sections.

How many different ways can a square be coloured so that half of it is one colour and half another?

The answer to the question is that (theoretically) an infinite number of ways could be found. In knitting, the answer is a finite number because the number of stitches in the square is fixed and, in reality, only whole stitches can be coloured in a particular colour. The answer would, however, be a very large number and would change according to the number of stitches in the square.

HALF MEASURES