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July 17, 2007
Square root of two
Well, thanks! You certainly made me go from 'pretending' to actually 'feeling' utterly fabulous! Combined with a mention on the CRAFT Blog and BlogHer, and I'd say I made out pretty well for a Monday! Cocktails all around!
Seeing that the Underpants Blankie is getting a bit of attention, let me give you a little update.
Following the hint of one of my readers, I'm knitting all corner stitches as knits - I agree that it keeps the blanket a bit more uniform. For color changes, I have completely abandoned the Russian Join and decided to weave in my ends. Some ends are woven in using the Overcast Method, but most are dangling in the back, waiting to be woven in at some point in the future.
I really don't think it's that bad; the more I knit, the bigger the stripes get, the less frequently I'll have to weave in the ends. I even did a little math (there's a square root of two in there, oh, my!) to figure out the number of stripes in this blanket. Now I have an accurate sense of my progress without taking the blanket off the needles and measuring!
For a square that's 35" along one side (I figured that was a good size - I can always size down if I'm running out of yarn, or size up if I feel I can keep going), I will need to knit about 15-16 stripes. That's counting all stripes - white and various colors. Right now I'm working on stripe #7.
You'll notice that I'm also keeping track of how many grams each stripe eats up. This way I know if a partial skein will be enough for a stripe, or if I'll have to join a second ball to complete it. A little digital scale is all it takes :).
Comments
your ability with the knit maths... amazes me!
Now that's my kind of knitting :) Go Math!
dood, i was totally going to 'underpants warshrag' each stripe till the scraps of yarn ran out...LOL...my mind is a little chaotic like that.
Excellent! I'd love to see more people out there talking about and doing math. It's not as scary as it looks. And I like the way the blanket is coming together, too.
Cool! What a great chart -- very useful.
OMG! Thank you for the link to the overcast method. I literally was going back and forth over e-mail with another knitter trying to explain it to me and it was like GREEK! LOL
This is very helpful!! *hugs*
What a wonderful combination of math skill and beauty!
On a different note, does anyone know where I can get online help for knitting with Victorian Lace Today?
Math rocks!
I love how precise you are about your knitting. Thanks for making this mathematician smile!
Math and knitting - I'm in heaven!
Oh holey moley! The idea of weighing the skeins is SO awesome...thanks for the inspiration!
Wow, that's alot of math love. It's no wonder that your projects turn out so fabulous!
If only my math skills were as good as yours than I might be half the knitter you are. My math teacher should have used knitting not electrical engineering when I asked about the usefulness of math.
Oooh, math p0rn. Thanks!
ah, the math warms my heart. the knitting - it's not bad either. :)
You know, ever since you posted those panties, I'm seeing colored stripes on white EVERYWHERE!!! :) LOL
Well, at least the undie-ket will be in style!!! :)
math is fun! I'm wondering about something, though. You mentioned that you're keeping track of how many grams each stripe eats up. But this will increase as the blankie grows larger... how are you taking this into account in your calculations?
:-B
With this post you remind me of the good old days in the lab, thank you :)
Holy Mathematical Calculations, Batman!!!
You are the queen!!
Great chart! I love that knitting makes math make sense to me (I am more the reader/creative writer type). Math is much less intimidating these days, when I can equate it to something beautiful.
Thanks for sharing your process!
Ouch! Kathy your math gave me 8th grade flashbacks! And how could I pass up a link to an underpants blankie?? It started the whole post!
The sight of your knitty math scares me and intrigues me.
Suddenly I feel a little inadequate. The highest math I've reached is Algebra I (and accounting!), and art school requires no math to graduate.
Hey Kathy - Wonderful article on beading in the
latest Knitscene! So glad to have that info all in one place. Congratulations!
Well there's the answer for those students who plaintively ask why the need to learn the square root of two and when they'll ever use this math in their future -- you need to know this, students, so that you can figure out how many ends you'll be weaving in when you make underpants-striped baby blankets! See, that sounds convincing, no?
Rock on math sister.
I'm liking the way the colors are coming out. Good idea alternating with the white.
Very nice! Those colors look good together! I've never tried doing tons of math out on paper before in my knitting, but I have done some in my head and it is pretty helpful!
Thanks for the link to the pocket scales. They are so cute.
Well, I have jumped on the copycat wagon and started my own. No math for me though - just a pair of scales and a stash of leftovers. This'll be my bubba's first blanky.
I bow to the Queen of all Knitting Math! All those numbers just made my head completely lock up. Oh, I think I'm feeling dizzy.