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The World of Illusion Knitting

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PICKING UP THREADS

This was written in
2007
so is now very dated

One day I was looking through a Maths puzzle book and came across a drawing of 100 squares where each square was made up of centre and border arranged haphazardly but showing all the different combinations. We decided to have a knitted version with the squares in a logical sequence. We used ten colours, one strip in each colour and, as the strip progressed, knitted in a block of each of the ten colours. The blocks were in the same sequence in each strip so that, when it was assembled, there appeared to be ten coloured stripes running across, behind the ten coloured strips that were going upwards. Once on each strip the border colour and the inner colour were the same, giving a solid block of colour. Windows 98 had just come on the market so the title for this one had to be Windows 100.

Textbooks provided the next idea. We were working with squares so what would be more logical than square numbers. A nice property of square numbers is that they can be generated by adding all the odd numbers together. Add the first two odd numbers (1 and 3) and you get 4, which is the square of 2. Add the first six odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11) and you get 36, which is the square of 6. We could represent these with squares made from nesting L-shapes. The first square was on its own, the next shape was an L with three squares, then came an L with 5 squares, and so on. The first thought was to show the mathematical elements clearly. The next thought was to make it look as good as possible. We chose seven colours and Some Square Over the Rainbow was born.

Somewhere along the way, we had realised that the ‘square in a square in a square’ design, we were so fond of, had even more potential. By using the same two colours as before but positioning them differently, and using four tiny squares at the centre instead of one, we could create something that looked like a spiral made out of triangles. With a bit of research we found that this is called a Baravelle Spiral.

One unit made like this looks good but when several are put together it turns into something that is far more than the sum of the parts.

We made a large size version in orange and purple. This certainly wouldn’t be a combination of colours to wear but in a large hanging the two colours fight with each other. One minute you see orange on a purple background and, while you are still trying to understand what is there, it jumps to become purple on an orange background. This was Best of Both Whirls.

We were attracted by the notion of the single unit being another design that could be extended to infinity. We wanted it big and thick and heavy. And we wanted a way to use up all the odd bits of primary colours that were left over from other projects but were all in different shades so could only be used if they were obviously mismatched. It was magic ball time again. Collecting together all the oddments of red, blue, green and yellow, plus anything else we wanted to be rid of and might sneak into these, resulted in huge piles. The magic balls were a bit different this time. There were two in each colour and the lengths of yarn were very much longer, sometimes using all of a small leftover ball together but splitting the bits that shouldn’t really have been there, so they would not be noticed. The idea was to use two balls together. This meant that two shades of red, or whichever colour it was, were used together so there was always a mixed colour but when one changed the other did not. This would give a streaky effect rather than solid stripes. As each new piece was worked directly onto what has already been knitted this made a very heavy rug. It would not have been suitable for hanging so, when it was nearing completion, the final set of triangles stopped before they reached their points, turning the shape into a regular octagon.

The mathematical idea of Swirl Without End had led to developing a different technique. That technique, in turn, led to ways of using other mathematical ideas.

You may remember that we had used cubes on sweaters and jackets a long time ago and now they surfaced again. We stumbled across some wonderful yarn that cried out to be big cubes. It was a variegated yarn in shades of blue. It was in huge balls, from a famous factory and was supposed to be faulty. I still don’t know what was wrong with it but it was ideal for Cubism. Variegated yarns can look very boring when they are knitted in ordinary straight rows but we were using this for the front faces of the cubes which were knitted diagonally. Because every row has one stitch more than the row before the yarn doesn’t get chance to build up a regular pattern of colours and it gives a zigzag effect across the cubes. The sides of the cubes were in navy blue, as though in shadow. The tops were in a lighter blue as though they had a light shining on them. On a small scale this design had been impressive.

At the larger size, and hanging on the wall, the blocks were the size of steps and it looked as though you could walk up these cubes.  We have used the idea many times since, for a cushion, a book cover and stitched on canvas. It is an optical illusion that seems to work at any size provided the colours are chosen with care.

Click here to see more about Windows 100
Click here to see more about Some Square Over The Rainbow
Click here to see more about Best Of Both Whirls
Click here to see more about Swirl Without End

10. DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?