How Knitting and Math Go Together

It’s common for knitters and crocheters to say that they don’t like math or that they’re afraid of math, but the intersection of fiber arts and mathematics is actually a really cool place.

For two years now Math for America has done a mini workshop on knitting mathematics, which enables teachers to craft objects such as a tessellated plane, a Möbius band, a trefoil knot, a Klein bottle, and other two and three-dimensional objects.

Scientific American also explored fiber arts and math a couple of years ago, looking in on a session at the Joint Mathematics Meetings that considered math, education and fiber arts.

One of the people mentioned in that article is Sarah-Marie Belcastro, whose website is basically the home of mathematical knitting online. It’s fascinating, even if it does go over my head quite a bit. But it’s really interesting to see how complex mathematical objects and concepts can be illustrated with yarn.

[Photo via Math for America.]

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The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

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