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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

Before the cushions came Try Angulate. Crocheting the circles for the playing pieces in Granny’s Ludo had been fun and unlike anything I had made for a long time, for the simple reason that circles will not tessellate. Circles cannot be fitted together to cover a surface; they need something to support them. I knew what I wanted to create now but was not sure how to do it. It was to be a square of circles with each row being a different colour and moving gently to the next.  It was also to have two triangles showing that the sum of two triangular numbers is a square number. I can’t remember now whether the choice of colours came before or after the decision about how many circles there should be.

I do remember that we drove about a hundred miles to a shop where there was lots of space to deliberate and where we knew we would find simple double knitting yarns in a wide range of colours. It must have taken about two hours of placing and replacing balls of yarn on the stone floor until we were happy with the array of colours. We arrived at 15 different colours starting with blue and shading through lilac, pinks, peaches and many shades of red. There were to be 15 circles in each of the 15 colours making a total of 225. On reflection, a smaller number of larger circles would have been less tedious to make. I had had enough of circles by the time I finished these but the shading was very effective.

This piece is now the first to be seen as we enter our hallway.  It casts a rainbow glow through the glass front door. It is a very welcoming sight

To distinguish between the two triangles some circles were plain, others had navy centres. On the first row all circles were plain. On the second row one had a navy centre and fourteen were plain. On row three there were two with navy centres and the rest were plain. It continued in this way with one more navy-centred circle on each row forming a triangle of 105 circles with dark centres and a triangle of 120 plain circles. I loved the concept of circles to represent triangular and square numbers.

The next problem was how they were to be supported. The background consisted of a very basic piece of navy crochet the same width as 15 of the circles. It would obviously be difficult to completely attach the circles, as this piece progressed, but anchoring them as much as possible would save a lot of effort and counting later. The circles would only touch halfway up each row and where one row met the next but that touching point running across halfway up each row would be ideal for ensuring they all lined up properly and were equally spaced. It couldn’t be in the navy background colour as dark stitches would have been very obvious if they came through to the front of the coloured circles. Along this line the background had to be the same colour as the circles. Problem solved. Running behind each row of circles is a coloured stripe. Not only did this solve the immediate problem but it looks attractive too. The afghan can be used either way round for completely different effects.

I have already mentioned the cellars of our house that we converted into workrooms. They are full of all kinds of odd things. One day I was moving things around and tidying up and happened to pick up a pile of magazines. They were actually copies of MT, a journal for members of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (The same organisation whose conference we go to every Easter.) These journals dated back over quite a few years and, in the way that these things happen, the pile had rearranged itself so that the one on the top had a picture that caught my eye. It was an issue from 1992. I must have seen it many times and couldn’t believe that it had never wormed its way into my brain before. It was a Fibonacci cube. We had done cubes, we had done Fibonacci but never before had I realised that we could do the two together as they were in this picture.

It needed an immediate trip to the local market to buy the yarn. We only required two basic colours so there was no need for a mammoth expedition. The effect of light and shadow on the front, top and side of the cube would be created with the addition of finer grey and white yarns, which we already had. This way of shading is far more effective than trying to buy three toning shades, with the same intensity, in both colours, which is very near impossible these days without dyeing your own yarn, which is something I have never really entertained.

Planning this afghan was easy. Even though there were many different strips and squares to be knitted the calculations had been done before and the afghan was soon on its way. It did undergo one major change at the planning stage. The top, front and side became the bottom, front and side and the whole thing became a flying cube. It is best seen from below when it really does appear to be about to fly over your head. The optical illusion worked well. The design came to be known as Fibo-optic.

Click here to see more about Try Angulate
Click here to see more about Fibo-optic

19b. CUSHY NUMBERS continued