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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

The next two afghans were Curve of Pursuit and Fibre-nacci. The first was a representation of a drawing often found in maths books based on the idea of four dogs setting off to chase each other, from the four corners of a square. It wasn’t quite the 45 degree angles we had used before but it was only a small step away. We later made a smaller, cushion, version which was called Trivial Pursuit. I wish we had thought of that name earlier.

Fibre-nacci was a large square showing the Fibonacci Sequence of numbers, in two directions. The Fibonacci Sequence is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ….. where each term is the sum of the previous two terms. Amazingly, over the years this has attracted more attention than most of the others. Perhaps this is because the concept of a number sequence is fairly easy to accept without getting involved in lots of complicated higher maths.

The principle of using two colours together had given us yet another idea. We spent hours choosing ten colours of yarn in a ‘rainbow’ sequence and then set about combining every colour with every colour. We had tried something similar once before where all the squares had been made individually and then joined together at random. The result was a jumble of colours where some were so similar it was impossible to tell whether they were identical. This time it was to be more structured. I really wanted each of the ten yarns in both double knitting and 4 ply weights so that every square would be different even though there would be pairs of squares using the same two colours. Unfortunately we had to settle for just double knitting yarns. In one way, the principle behind this was the same as Windows 100.

Each of the ten colours was used for both a row and a column. The difference was that the squares of Windows 100 had a border and centre. Reversing the colours produced two different squares whereas the yarns this time mixed together in the two squares, making them the same. There were fifty-five different colour combinations. Mathematically, 55 is the tenth triangular number, and comes from adding 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

To make it quite clear that there were matching pairs of squares the hanging had a diagonal line of symmetry. That centre line had plain squares where the same colours from columns and rows came together. The other squares were knitted outwards in L shapes from these squares. The colours were so strong that we decided that the dividing lines between the squares should be black. The colours glow and form themselves into very distinct areas. It has often been said that it resembles a stained glass window and, by coincidence, the next Easter Conference had its main workshop in a modern chapel. Double Vision hung between two real stained glass windows and was every bit as bright.

At the same conference we were running yet another workshop and, for a new twist on what some of the delegates had seen before, we asked them to do the designing, loosely based on a paper and pencil exercise we had often used with pupils. I had completed four blocks, each containing eight squares. The rule for every square was that it had to be half one colour and half another. Within each block of eight there had to be some sort of link or progression. The square could be split in any way provided that it could be mathematically proven that exactly half was in each colour. It became a very addictive task for some of the more creative delegates. Over the next few days they created enough sequences to complete the blocks. I knitted them and assembled them as Half Measures. It doesn’t have the same immediate impact as some of the others. It never sees the light of day at knitting or craft exhibitions but has a special appeal at Maths events.

Click here to see more about Curve Of Pursuit
Click here to see more about Fibre-nacci
Click here to see more about Double Vision
Click here to see more about Half Measures

13a. THE PURSUIT OF AFGHANS