In observing my crafting tendencies, Myria tells me that she thinks I am trying to follow the thread of the universe to see how it works and how it shapes everything and that my pursuit of that, whether through beading, crocheting or knitting, is deeply mathematical.

Initially this came as quite a surprise.  I didn’t think of myself as a math kind of person and, in fact, had done abysmally in highschool geometry and algebra.  But, over the weekend, I fell over something that helped me to understand what she was getting at.  And it was the consideration of these types of patterns, dishcloths which incorporate a clever use of knit and purl to create a picture, that sort of illuminated things for me.

First of all, I doubt that I could have come up with anything as nice as some of the patterns I’ve seen - from things as simple as an apple to as complex as an Army Eagle.  But I realized as I was looking over the patterns that they are really very simple.  It’s simply a matter of knowing whether a stitch is a knit or a purl (which, of course, the patterns tells you).  There’s no math to it - just counting.

On the other hand if you take a look at some lace stitch patterns, you’re dealing with math all over the place - increases countered by decreases, symmetry, balance, shifting stitches, half-drops and so forth - it all has to be worked out properly - pattern on pattern from row to row - in order for the final fabric to look pleasing to the eye.  And hopefully, not just pleasing, but drop-dead gorgeous :)

It’s the pattern of the working that does it for me - the actual rhythm of the needles doing this and that in a regular, sequenced fashion.  I am in no way minimizing the validity of the dishcloth patterns, the picture knit/purls - I certainly couldn’t have designed them and many of them are quite lovely.  But I would have a difficult time working them (or picture lace, for that matter) because there’s no pattern to the working; I wouldn’t be able to focus on it and would never be able to keep my place without a dozen markers and a clout over the head :)

But give me something complex, cables or lace where there’s a real rhythm to the working and it’s like dancing - and I’m happy as a clam :)

Just how happy is a clam, anyway?

I have decided to go forth on a rather large project that I’m not going to discuss much for now - except for pieces now and again.  I promise that if I actually manage to pull it off, you’ll be the first to know :)  It’s a lot of work, but it’s also fun - in a breath-taking, wet-your-pants kind of way.  These are what I’m setting up now:

This is picture lace and I’m nervous about using it because of what I was talking about above.  Still, it is exactly what I want so I’ll just have to cultivate the focus and concentration I need to do it properly.

This, however:

...should be sheer joy to work :)

Goldie begs to differ :)