Half a rectangle is a triangle
Lately I've been obsessed with shapes. No surprise there, I'm kind of a math geek, and shapes are the way that math and knitting get together and have a good time.
The most trivial non-trivial topology is the Möbius strip and we've already learned how to knit those. You can take the connection between knitting and mathematics much, much further, but, if you're only beginning, like me, there is a lot to be said about trivial shapes.
The easiest way to knit a triangle is to knit a half square or rectangle. The idea is to start with a certain number of stitches and as you go along keep on doing a regular amount of decreases. Or, if you prefer, you can do it the other way: start with only a few stitches and as you go along keep increasing the stitches regularly. Here is an example to make it more definite:
Don't like the regular shape of the isosceles, increase more to one side than the other and make a triangle with all different sides.
Note that the recipe above uses garter stitch. This is very important because you must take into account the ratio between the number of rows and the number of stitches per length, when predicting the shape, change the recipe to stockinette or any other stitch and you'll probably find that the triangle is no longer right-angled.
You can get a slightly different effect if you only increase to one side. Here is a recipe for a shallow shawl. Use variegated yarn with slow colour change for effect.
The most trivial non-trivial topology is the Möbius strip and we've already learned how to knit those. You can take the connection between knitting and mathematics much, much further, but, if you're only beginning, like me, there is a lot to be said about trivial shapes.
The easiest way to knit a triangle is to knit a half square or rectangle. The idea is to start with a certain number of stitches and as you go along keep on doing a regular amount of decreases. Or, if you prefer, you can do it the other way: start with only a few stitches and as you go along keep increasing the stitches regularly. Here is an example to make it more definite:
- Cast-on 3 stitches.
- Row 1: knit one, increase one (make one, or any other increase you prefer) and knit to the end of the row
- Keep repeating row 1 until you've got the size you want and then bind-off.
Don't like the regular shape of the isosceles, increase more to one side than the other and make a triangle with all different sides.
Note that the recipe above uses garter stitch. This is very important because you must take into account the ratio between the number of rows and the number of stitches per length, when predicting the shape, change the recipe to stockinette or any other stitch and you'll probably find that the triangle is no longer right-angled.
You can get a slightly different effect if you only increase to one side. Here is a recipe for a shallow shawl. Use variegated yarn with slow colour change for effect.
- Cast-on 3 stitches.
- Odd rows: knit straight.
- Even rows: knit one, increase one and knit to the end of the row.
- Keep on working until you've got the size you want and then bind-off.
- knit one, (yarn-over, knit two together) and repeat until you have one stitch left, and end with a yarn-over, knit one.
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