Sunday, April 30, 2006

Episode 4: Short Rows

Thank you to Shannon at Knitcentric for a very kind review of my podcast. She said the name put her off at first, since she had any affection for math kicked out of her when she was in school, but that she listened anyway and liked my show. That is the whole point for me of doing this -- taking the fear out of math.

The music this week is “A fog” by Furious Ball. I found it at Podsafe Audio. This has no hidden or double meaning, I just liked the music.

This week I’m talking about short-rows, a shaping technique which can make your sweaters fit better or allow you to make 3-D shapes with just 2 needles. Also, short-row socks and heels. Thanks to Carrie Shanks for suggesting this.

The short-row hat thing is not my original idea. It has cropped up in many places over the years. I first saw it in the Knitlist’s 199 gift exchange. It is here. The most fantastic and lovely version I have seen, using elongated triangle wedges and great color is by Brooke T. Higgins in Knitty’s summer of 2005 issue. It’s called Tychus. It’s beautiful.

Download Episode Four

6 comments:

profbookwurmknits said...

thank you so much for the podcasts
i was thrilled when i heard about your idea -and i have enjoyed your work
i will continue to tell everyone to listen.
thanks again

Holly said...

I've really been enjoying your show, I like how you explain things, it's very simple to understand. I'm not sure how many times I've said 'AHA!' already. Thanks for the great time. :)

E to the M said...

As someone who loves both knitting and math I was very excited to hear about your podcast (via Cast On). I'm enjoying myself immensely and like to listen with a pad and pencil so I can work up what you're saying - as much as I love math I can rarely do it in my head.

Thank you for doing an episode on short rows, every time I make a sock I have to relearn this technique as I can't seem to retain it. Being able to visualize the technique is helping me to better grasp the concept.

I know that you aren't a fan of ribbing on hats but I would love to hear about decreasing evenly on a hat that is entirely ribbed.

math4knitters said...

I'm just not a big fan of ribbing. :) I like the way it looks but I hate making it.

For a ribbed hat, your decreases could be exactly the same as for a usual one. The challenge would be maintaining the ribbing pattern, evenly, as you go. It would be pretty easy, just work each stitch as you come to it, knit or purled. This would mean that, for about half of the rounds or rows, you would have two knit or two purl stitches next to each other. It might look charming. Otherwise, a cleaner look would be to divide the stitches into four sections instead of eight and then do a double decrease over one of the knit ribs of the pattern. I may mention this in a future cast, it is an interesting problem.

math4knitters said...

A good double decrease is sk2p, explained very well here.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Lara it is Dad. I couldn't sleep so I thought I would log on and see if math4knitters would help. Nope, just to yarn exciting.