Crafty geeks

May 30, 2005 11:43 AM

Whether its crocheted hyperbolic models or Lorenz manifolds, a lace pi shawl or knit Fibonacci socks, some math geeks find expression in the fiber arts.
posted by madamjujujive (26 comments total)

I saw many of these models and some talks by the artists at the big meeting in Atlanta. There was a knit catenoid which was deformable into a helicoid, by far the best illustration of that deformation I've seen.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:52 AM on May 30, 2005

This is excellent. Thanks
posted by ZippityBuddha at 11:52 AM on May 30, 2005

This is a double-post, but still excellent.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:55 AM on May 30, 2005

*hugs mjjj*
posted by matteo at 12:01 PM on May 30, 2005

Darnit, there goes my business model.

Seriously, one day I was in Michaels Crafts thinking "all these #### flowers-and-kitten samplers. I bet there's a market for geek crafting kits!"
posted by ilsa at 12:19 PM on May 30, 2005

Really, Alex? All the links double, one of them? Damn. If so, my apologies to the original poster. Thought I searched every link and key word both here and at blogdex. My Google fu must be failing me.

By the way, meant to thank Layers of Meaning for a pointer to the first link.
posted by madamjujujive at 12:27 PM on May 30, 2005

Heh, next time you're accused of getting your panties in a bunch, you can claim you're actually exploring textile models of the hyperbolic plane.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:40 PM on May 30, 2005

I saw many of these models and some talks by the artists at the big meeting in Atlanta. There was a knit catenoid which was deformable into a helicoid, by far the best illustration of that deformation I've seen.

Hey, I was at that talk too! It was a bizarre sort of talk to see at the Atlanta meeting (lots of plopping the manipulative down on the projector and talking about how she made it), but great fun.

I particularly liked Amy's Moebius quilt [PDF].
posted by gleuschk at 12:40 PM on May 30, 2005

Teresa Nielsen Hayden made a really great post about geek knitting on her blog last year.
I don't knit, but some of this stuff is just amazing.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 12:54 PM on May 30, 2005

Wow, I need to take a moment to bring a new understanding of physicists into alignment with my lack of understanding of knitters. Amazing stuff to see folk art and high physics collide like this.
posted by blindsam at 1:48 PM on May 30, 2005

I should qualify myself - I called the knitting folk art because the knitting in the 'lorenz' link ended up as a christmas decoration, not out of disrespect to the world of fiber arts.
posted by blindsam at 1:51 PM on May 30, 2005

Hey, I was at that talk too!
posted by gleuschk at 12:40 PM PST on May 30

Indeed, you're pictured on page 3.
posted by Aknaton at 1:54 PM on May 30, 2005

A friend gave me a Moebius scarf for Christmas. In the future all garments will be one-sided.
posted by hermitosis at 1:55 PM on May 30, 2005

Only allegedly.
posted by gleuschk at 1:58 PM on May 30, 2005

madam, you rock my world, as always!
posted by clever sheep at 2:28 PM on May 30, 2005

[this is good] I want those Fibonacci socks.
posted by LeeJay at 2:28 PM on May 30, 2005

Wonderful! Now I just need a mathematician friend to make some of these for ... Thanks for the inspiring geekitude!
posted by Quietgal at 3:41 PM on May 30, 2005

Fantastic! Looking at that Pi shawl for a while really satisfied my love of both perfect symmetry and Stevie Nicks, two itches so rarely scratched at once. Thanks so much, mmj.
posted by melissa may at 3:42 PM on May 30, 2005

And for biology/gynecology geeks: a knit uterus.
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:04 PM on May 30, 2005

Awesome, thanks.

I wanted to mention that I have a good friend who makes pi bracelets (bottom of page) in which each number is assigned a color and the colors are strung in the order of pi. I think they're pretty neat.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:05 PM on May 30, 2005

More for biology-geek knitters: the double-helix DNA scarf.
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:44 PM on May 30, 2005

great post!

Don't forget the (sadly out-of-stock) Klein bottle hats!
posted by Dr. Wu at 4:52 PM on May 30, 2005

Here's a knitted [this is good]
posted by dhruva at 6:36 PM on May 30, 2005

For those who like their concrete abstractions a little more corporeal, there's this, courtesy of boingboing
posted by birdsquared at 6:38 PM on May 30, 2005

This variegated hyperbolic plane is most certainly and without doubt the single most important and universally benevolent creation in the comprehensive history of humankind.

This is a good post.
posted by gramschmidt at 9:26 PM on May 30, 2005

This actually makes a lot of sense. As any knitter will tell you, knitting is all about math. It's the only area in which I have ever used pi.
posted by orange swan at 12:23 PM on May 31, 2005