Comments on: Heroic Thinkers and Gardeners

By: Big Ears | Cosmic Variance

Big Ears | Cosmic Variance — Sat, 27 May 2006 00:10:21 +0000

[...] I hope you’ve seen the Wallace and Gromit movie “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”. W+G have to catch a giant rabbit, which has been terrorizing lots of English vegetable gardens, etc, etc. Mayhem follows, and much hilarity, all very cleverly executed…. I blogged about it some time ago, and you can see some of the pictures of the models and sets that they had on display at the showing in that post too. [...]

By: Athena

Athena — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 03:53:34 +0000

Janet, that link was great, and it reminded me of this way to knit stripes:

http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/articles/fibonacci_seq.shtml

If you’re into knitting with different colors, using a Fibonacci sequence can be a fun way to vary the pattern.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 05:22:53 +0000

janet: Thanks, it was great! -cvj

By: janet

janet — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:06:14 +0000

Clifford — It just occurred to me that you would probably love this:

http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_04_19_04.html

By: Clifford

Clifford — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 05:12:00 +0000

Oh, you’ll pick it right back up in no time. It’s got a great structure to how it works and I like the fact that you don’t need two separate needles (like with knitting), just the one hook…..even with the clever double-ended single-needle devices for knitting, I’m less attracted to it for that reason. Although it is rather nice too.

The other one I miss is macrame. That was great too. But crochet is the best for rapidly spreading spirals or other symmetrical decorative patterns. I think maybe I’ll just take a month off one day and hide and do nothing but crochet. Ahhhh…..I just love the thought of doing that.

Your observation about Gromit and Grandma is spot on!

-cvj

By: janet

janet — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 04:56:15 +0000

Yes, I don’t know why they changed the title of “Belleville”; I gather in Britain it came out with the title directly translated from the French. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize Gromit and the Belleville Rendezvous grandmother have in common. They don’t speak, but communicate volumes; they’re loyal and determined; they’re extremely competent in the midst of chaos and confusion.

I have a long public transport commute, and I sometimes spend all or part of it knitting (right now I’m working on a tea cosy — I’m sure Gromit would approve). My commute is my reading and knitting time, and on the occasional days when I drive to work, I really miss it. My grandmother taught me to crochet, but I haven’t done any crocheting since I was about 10, so I think I would have to relearn how to do it.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 04:07:37 +0000

Ah! I see. I actually have been known to knit from time to time, and I did not know there was a continental style!

But I much prefer crochet. I love it, in fact. Wish I had time for it these days.

-cvj

P.S. I love “Belleville Rendevous”, or “The Triplets of Belleville” (see our earlier chat about title changes….).

By: janet

janet — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 04:02:09 +0000

Sorry, I guess that was a bit obscure. I was thinking of the scene where Gromit is sitting in the truck, nervously knitting. It reminded me of the scenes in “The Triplets of Belleville” (don’t know if you’ve seen it) where the grandmother is sitting and worriedly knitting.

Anyway, when you’re knitting English style, the yarn is held in the right hand, and you make each stitch by wrapping the yarn around the right needle. Knitting Continental, you hold the yarn in the left hand, using one finger to hold it taut, and make each stitch by wrapping the tip of the right needle around the yarn. There’s more to it than that, obviously, but that’s the basic difference. (The results are essentially the same — you can’t tell from looking at a piece of knitting which method was used.) English is easier for most people when they’re just starting out, but Continental, once you learn how, is more efficient and faster because you don’t have to move your right hand from the needle to the yarn and back again for each stitch. Gromit must have been knitting Continental because he was keeping his paws on the needles; if he’d been knitting English, his right paw would have been moving around visibly. Same thing with the grandmother in the Triplets of Belleville.

But I’m being a bit facetious — I doubt that the animators had any of this in mind.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 01:14:53 +0000

janet.. might you expand a bit? Not sure what you mean. Are you talking abotu the knitting patterns on Wallace’s jumper? no….

-cvj

By: janet

janet — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:22:45 +0000

I just wanted to note that all animated characters seem to knit Continental style, rather than English.