Shirley Paden

I bought this book for the patterns. It turns out this is a bit like saying you bought The Diary of Ann Frank for the sex.

WELL I DIDN'T KNOW!!!

It's a knitting book. It is not entirely unreasonable to expect it to have knitting patterns in it.

Not only that, it is full of calculus and difficult maths and quantum physics, as is all the rage at the moment.



And if you think that's funny, really, it isn't.

The modern interest in math and craft began in 1997 when Taimina devised a plan for crocheting a hyperbolic plane. Hyperbolic planes are spaces of negative curvature (imagine the shape of a riding saddle) where all lines curve away from each other. Hyperbolic planes are fairly common in nature, appearing everywhere from the frills on a sea slug to growth patterns of coral to the way the brain folds.

The craft objects themselves tend to be common shapes, such as discs, spheres and cones. However, just as a triangle that normally only has 180-degrees worth of angles can have three 90-degree angles when drawn on a sphere, the shapes take on novel and surprising forms when projected across hyperbolic space.

Despite being widespread in nature and well understood in theoretical math, no good physical models of a hyperbolic shape existed until Taimina crocheted her first plane. In hyperbolic space, points move away from each other as the shape expands. While it is hard to model this using paper or plastic, it is easily replicated by simply increasing the number of stitches per row as the shape is knit or crocheted.

“What you can do is get a tactile insight. I theoretically understand the concept, but [the model:] allows me to communicate it,” said Taimina.

After Taimina’s crocheted models gained a degree of notoriety, Hinke Osinga realized that if a hyperbolic plane could be modeled with crochet, then a model of the complex shape her research focused on could be made the same way. Osinga was looking at the Lorenz manifold, another shape that had yet to be presented in a physical model. Manifolds are shapes where the curved nature of the larger shape can be treated as a flat plane over short distances, like a 2-D road map sufficiently representing a portion of the 3-D Earth.

The Lorenz manifold models how objects move through a chaotic space such as a flowing river or the atmosphere. Various applications include meteorological prediction and spacecraft navigation. Before Osinga made her crochet Lorenz manifold, there had never been a physical model of this shape for reference.

Around the same time that Osinga was using craft to answer questions about math, Yackel and Belcastro began their attempt to answer questions raised by craft with math.

Belcastro designed a mathematical proof detailing why any topological surface can be knit. While seemingly limited to explaining yarn work, the proof could have ramifications for biology. A range of phenomena from shell growth to bird’s nest-building replicate knitting by building up a structure one line at a time.

(quoted from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25011806/)

Apparently Alan Turing knitted geometric shapes in his lunch breaks. I guess he was anticipating the discoveries being made at the moment.

I do think this is going to be a great book, by the way. I just have to stop being scared of it.… (more)

First, this is NOT just a pattern book. Think of it more as an upper level course in The Math of Knitting. OH! NO! I said the “M” word!!!!

Like a lot of people, I grew up being told that “Girls Don’t Do Math”. Yes, it is stupid, unconscionable and deadly to the female psyche, but growing up where I did, it is just the way it was. Of course, later, I got a math degree just to prove “Them” wrong. :-)

“Knitwear Design Workshop” should be used as a math class in school. Ms. Paden takes the math of designing knitting patterns and makes it easy. This is, literally, a step-by-step guide to planning your own knitting design. From researching your idea, Ms. Paden leads you through all levels of design, from selecting yarns to selecting your silhouette. Bodies, shoulders, armholes, necklines (my personal bug-a-boo) and finishing techniques are all covered in simple steps with clear and concise formulas. This is, literally, a step-by-step guild to the perfect knitting project!… (more)

Shirley Paden takes us through the step by step process of designing a knitwear item. It is not a light read, but not too technical to turn the average knitting reader off.
It is very thorough, with info on how to narrow down your design idea, select yarn, swatch properly, and best of all, how to do the MATH to get a great fit!!! She does state that she is not trying to teach the reader how to be an industry knitwear pattern designer, that this book is for the knitter who wants to do something original for their purposes. That being said MUCH of this book invaluable to the aspiring knitwear designer.
The patterns she shares are very pretty and some, like the one on the cover, are show-stoppers. Her sizing charts are extensive and the beautiful fashion illustrations are inspirational. There is even a section at the end that explains HOW the math works.
This book was worth every penny I spent on it.… (more)