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PICKING UP THREADS

This was written in
2007
so is now very dated

During the hectic year of 2000 we had also come to realise that not everyone wanted to make huge afghans or wall-hangings. For a few years we had been invited to exhibit at shows at G-Mex and NEC (and others that we were not able to get to). We had been given huge stands and on one particular occasion we were asked, at the last minute, to fill twice as much space as a vendor had pulled out and they didn’t want empty stands in the centre of the hall. We had a vast number of huge pieces so could easily fill big spaces, which was to the advantage of those stands selling yarn as they sold larger quantities for an afghan than they would have done for a sweater. From talking to knitters, at these shows, we discovered that some wanted the ideas, methods and techniques but on a smaller scale.

Cushy Numbers was conceived. It was a book of twelve mathematical cushions, some being scaled down versions of afghan designs, others using ideas that we had held onto because they didn’t work well at large size but were very effective as cushions. The book immediately provoked interest and has remained our most popular publication ever since. It was followed by a ‘sequel’, 12 Pillows of Wisdom, in 2001.

Information about the afghans was still in demand. We received an email from the Times Educational Supplement asking if they could write a feature about us for their colour magazine. Us? In the Times Ed? It was inconceivable – but it happened. First we were visited by the reporter who was to write the article. She spent more than three hours making notes about our designs and their mathematical significance.

Next, a photographer came to visit us in school. He had a very precise brief for the photographs. We recruited some pupils and the photographs were duly taken – and rejected. They were rather uninteresting and ordinary. The photographer was sent again. This time he came to us at home and it turned out to be one of the funniest things we have been involved in. He wasn’t sure how to get the results that were needed and tried everything he could think of. He had us peeping over the back of a sofa covered with afghans; back to back behind the sofa, with Steve having to bend at the knees to make us the same height. We were sitting, standing and kneeling until he hit on the idea of us lying down covered by an afghan. The final picture was quite impressive. We were covered in the Snakes and Ladders afghan and he must have taken the photograph in the few seconds when I managed to stop laughing.

It sounds easy to take a photograph of someone lying under a blanket but how do you get into a position to be able to take such a picture? We had the solution. This is a house with very high ceilings where a stepladder is often needed to reach windows, lights, etc. We have what Ben refers to as ‘our collection of historical stepladders’. This collection amounts to a grand total of two, plus a modern metal ladder. The old wooden ladders are beautifully made, taller than the average stepladder and date from about 1910. In addition to their intended purpose they have proved useful for displaying various items at home and at exhibitions. They now proved useful to the photographer. We were lying on the floor; he was balanced on the top of the stepladder. It was a precarious position and he kept popping up and down the ladder to make minor adjustments. One such adjustment was when he wanted me to lift my head and used the first thing that came to hand for propping up my head. It was a large ball of yarn. It didn’t show in the finished photograph but it was enough to send me into hysterical laughter.

The article was very well received. Later that year one of the organisers of MathsYear 2000 gave us t-shirts with the photograph printed on to them. The t-shirts still hang in our workrooms.

With so many events in 2000, and mixing with so many other slightly eccentric mathematicians, we might have expected to pick up new ideas to interpret as afghans or cushions. Looking back now, in reality most of the ideas came from articles in magazines and, in some cases, from pictures that had been staring us in the face for months or years.

We get very few phone calls, letters or emails asking questions about our designs. The instructions are almost foolproof. On the rare occasions when we do get these messages I always panic in case there is a mistake somewhere and we have confused someone. Not long after the first publication of Cushy Numbers we did get two phone calls. One was from someone asking where she could buy 4 ply grey yarn, as we had suggested mixing this with another yarn to create a shading effect. The second was from someone who had bought a copy of the book a few weeks before and had made eight of the cushions. She was phoning to say she intended to complete them all and that her husband had bought her some special benches, as a Ruby Wedding Anniversary present, so that she could display them.

Click here to see more about Cushy Numbers
Click here to see more about 12 Pillows Of Wisdom

19a. CUSHY NUMBERS