math – Universal Yarn Creative Network

We’re big fans of science holidays here at Universal Yarn (see Pi Day). After all, next to pure creativity, math is the foundation for knitwear design. Stitch counts, gauge, garment grading, angles, shaping: all of these things and more rely on basic and advanced calculations in order to achieve desired results in knitting.

I have loved math for as long as I can remember, decades before I learned to knit. It was such a comfort with its logical wizardry. I learned that there may be more than one way to tackle any given problem. But in the end, whatever the road taken to get there, math problems have solutions and formulas and satisfying conclusions.

Enter: Mole Day. In addition to being a cute/ugly insectivore, a mole refers to a unit of measurement, Avogadro’s number which is 6.02 x 10^23. (Read more about the history of this here) While I have never applied this to a knitting pattern, this number is forever seared into my memory thanks to a very catchy jingle I learned in my high school chemistry class. It goes a little something like:

“Let’s roll out the barrels in 1993
To celebrate a very special part of chemistry
Avogadro would be proud if he had only heard
Six point oh two times ten! To the twenty third”

Yes, I have just dated myself. But anyway, back in 1993 at 6:02 am on October 23rd, those of us who were total geeks (and looking for extra credit, I’m sure) showed up for some mole day festivities in our chem lab. The song is much more fun with the jingle that goes along with it, but I’d like to spare you from my singing voice.

There are many other songs out there devoted to mole day. I should know – I just spent 15 minutes out of my work day listening to them! Here’s one of my favorites:

I’d also like to turn our attention back to the fuzzy variety of mole which has been the inspiration for a whole slew of adorable knit and crochet creatures. My favorite is Eugene Mole designed by Paola Navarro (pattern link):

Molly Mole designed by Debi Birkin is cute as can be (pattern link):

Uptown DK would be perfect for this project!

Happy mole day!

Though we like to celebrate Pi Day with a slice of cherry here at the office, that’s not actually what this math holiday is all about. But I will take any excuse to eat pie. Not that I need an excuse.

But seriously, Pi day is the annual recognizing of the awesome constant number we know as Pi, and that is recognized by this Greek symbol: π. Pi is approximately 3.14, and is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the length around the entire outer edge of a circle) and the diameter (the width of a circle).

I am a pretty big math geek. Math is logical, useful in so many facets of life, and it never lets you down. Pi is especially cool because it helps to solve the mystery of the unknown. For example, by knowing the formula for pi, and, say, the diameter of a circle, you can calculate the circumference of said circle.

As a knitting designer, I have relied upon Pi on many occasions. Here are a few examples:

The semicircle shawl in Deluxe Worsted begins with a sideways, short-row lower edge, and is then worked upward from there. In order to make a half circle shape considering all of the other aspects of this piece, I applied my love of Pi and magic was made.

A few other similar examples:

Perhaps the most common and well know way of shaping a circular shawl is called the Pi method. Developed by knitting genius Elizabeth Zimmermann, this shape is worked from the center outward and involves only a handful of increase rounds. The basic principle involves doubling the stitch count as the diameter of the circle increases. Typically, a pi constructed piece of knitting begins with 9 stitches, doubles to 18 on round 3, doubles to 36 on round 7, up to 72 stitches on round 13, and so on.

The Burst blanket is purely pi knitting. There are just 6 increase rounds in the entire thing, allowing you to focus solely on the repeating stitch patterns.