Element of danger

The sock has had it's required 6 rows knitted on it today and is waiting for the heel.

Next, a correction about my 45 things about me post where I say that I'm not using math at work (#28). And while I stand by my statement that I don't use math while muttering 3 digit numbers, I will occasionally use math throughout the day.

Say, if a purchase cost $4.96 and a customer gives me a $5 bill. I mistakenly type in $500 and the register says that I owe change of $495.04. I use math enough to know that something's wrong... And then have to figure out the correct change (that's the hard part.)

At this point I should tell you that I had a math major in college and taught math in middle school for three years. Also, you should know that I'm not very quick with money. Someone recently said that if you major in math, you don't actually deal with numbers, and that's so true. Triple integrals, differential equations, Fibonacci sequence--yes. Figuring change from a $5 bill--no.

That all being said, my register is usually correct. I attribute this to the fact that no one knows about my math degree and therefore there's no pressure to perform.

(And yes, I also do the addicting Sudoku puzzles.)


In an effort to stay in the blogging world, I have taken pictures of my newest yarn purchase (pictured on top of DD#1's rug for college. Evidence that she really IS leaving.)


Here's my eight 8 oz. skeins of White Buffalo 3ply in a pretty turquoise that I got from ebay.

It's crazy. I've never knit with unspun before. My first attempt was to try knitting with just one strand. I found that if I looked at it too hard it would pull apart. Next, I tried with all 3. (Yes, it's wound with all 3 at a time, I just never noticed that at the beginning.) Much stronger. (Unless I jump up to answer the phone and have it wrapped around me. Then I break all 3 plies.)

I really don't have to do any twisting, just knit as it is off the ball, (or cake, as it's affectionately called.)

Here's the beginning of a cardigan for me. This is my other main project that I'm try to work on a couple of rows each day. It's a pattern found in "Quick Knits to Wear".


I quickly got bored of the seed stitch and am adding a few rows of garter. (May not be a more interesting knit, but will make it go faster.)

Now that you know about my math, you may think that I sit down and graph out the design, figuring proportionally where to put the design interest to fully catch the eye.

While a lot of math knitters do that, I prefer the "eyeballing" technique. In this case, it's accompanied by the "can't rip it out without it becoming a mass of disconnected fibers" technique.

Why not add an element of danger?