Doing the Math

My needles arrived! *doing happy dance* I LOVE Crystal Palace Bamboo's. I know there are Addi Turbo fans out there that believe they can't get up the speed on wood or bamboo, but I beg to differ. CP's Bamboo needles are polished, unlike other brands that are more "natural". The polish provides enough slickness and speed to make the wool fly.

Armed with my new 35" circulars, I was able to return to the CPH project, with a few changes. I experimented with my goofy idea and found it less than satisfactory. I'm inexperienced with intarsia, fair isle and entrelac (ie multiple color stranding) which probably has something to do with the poor outcome. The center join produced a ridge that would sit right on the backbone... not too comfy; and casting on in two colors (off the top of my head) was a nightmare that didn't look consistent. So I abandoned that idea.

But Stacee commented on the CPH KAL website and suggested I try knitting it with two balls of yarn and just carry it up the side.

I've decided to go one step further. Muhwahahahaaaa!

Rather than switching off every two rows, I'm going to use three balls of yarn. Because the balls vary in the way the colors are wrapped, it provides more variety (that was redundant, but bear with). I will label them A, B and C. Then, I'll base the switching on the Fibonacci Series. In brief, the Fibonacci Series is a mathematical equation. It's a string of numbers where each number is the sum of the previous two, starting with 0 and 1. For example:

0+1=1
1+1=2
1+2=3
2+3=5
3+5=8
5+8=13

...and so on. The series in this case would be:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...

Obviously I won't have 0 rows. ;-)

If 1=2 rows, then:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13... translates to

0, 2, 2, 4, 6, 10, 16, 26...

I'd probably want to stick with the smaller numbers to avoid stripes (that's the whole idea anyway, to get a gradual blend rather than noticeable stripes). So my smaller series might be 2, 2, 4, 6, and maybe 10 (1, 1, 2, 3, 5).

I would switch off the balls in order A, B, C. But I do not have to use the Fibonacci Series in order--any combination of those specific numbers is fine. Therefore:

2 rows A
2 rows B
10 rows C
6 rows A
4 rows B
2 rows C
4 rows A
4 rows B
2 rows C

...and so on, in no particular order. And to think, I once thought I hated math. Well, OK, I guess I do, but I'm better at it now than I used to be.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Grey's Anatomy/ER night... time to put down the CPH and pick up the KnitGrey's project (even though for some unknown reason, I have yet to receive word on my acceptance to the KAL).

Oh. Wait. Apparently Grey's AND ER are repeats tonight. *siiiiigggghhhhhh* Oh, well. Netflix sent me "Lost in Translation". Suppose I can watch that.

posted by Jeanne @ 8:36 PM