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In a follow up to the post below, Karla contributed photos for pattern predictions. She wrote:
I made up a yarn and programmed it. It is laid out like this - 5 stitches of beige, 3 of black, 5 of beige and then 10 of brown. It repeats infinitely in this sequence. I have posted the patterns that emerge at various stitch counts. The frank Argyle is quite striking, but the other patterns that can be made that are much more subtle are also quite charming. Of course, to get a nice sharp pattern, the yarn has to be fairly precisely dyed and maintaining an even gauge is critical. I have avoided the tight knit loose purl problem by using garter stitch or seed stitch in many of my swatches.
These projections also show why variegated yarn that is so well behaved in one part of a project becomes blotchy in the next part. A change of one stitch can make a big difference in the amount of shifting in the pattern. I am thinking that the weight of a project on the needles might also have the effect of loosening each stitch enough that the pattern changes.
plus, karla: whoah.
Posted by: zombie rotten mcdonald | January 11, 2010 at 06:36 PM
That's awesome, Karla!
~
Posted by: ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© | January 11, 2010 at 08:43 PM
Can you start with a desired pattern and try to make the yarn generate it or is it only emerging from the variables?
Posted by: fish | January 12, 2010 at 12:45 AM
Good question, fish. I've been working on reverse engineering designs. So far, it seems that with a yarn that has color repeats within the limits of a normal skein of yarn which is about 50 to 60 inches, you are either going to get some version of plaid for designs that are made by back and forth knitting, or a variant on a spiral if the knitting is done in the round (socks). I think I need a whole other post to describe how the patterns come about. What I love is how, as I go through the slides of patterns produced by different numbers of stitches, it is like watching a marching band transition from one formation to another.
Posted by: karla | January 12, 2010 at 08:05 AM
What I love is how, as I go through the slides of patterns produced by different numbers of stitches, it is like watching a marching band transition from one formation to another.
That is exactly it! Now I'm curious,what song does the combo of the above patterns represent?
Posted by: Jennifer | January 12, 2010 at 08:13 AM
This also reminds me of a question I've had for a long time. If you attached different colors of yarn to the back of cars that were driving on multi-lane expressways, what would the resulting woven pattern be??
I think posted about this waaaaaay, waaaaaay back... long ago.
Aha! I found the post.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 12, 2010 at 08:21 AM
Can you use uneven stitch sizes (short, short, long, for example) to create different patterns?
Posted by: fish | January 12, 2010 at 10:49 AM
Fish - sorry to respond to this so late - hope you find it.
Aren't you smart! (Duh!) There are stitches in knitting where combinations of stitches of different height (1 row vs 2 rows) is used to make the pattern when different colors are used on different rows. I programmed one alternative of this where the short - tall repeat just alternates. Now, I wonder what could happen if it was more complicated.....
Posted by: karla | January 13, 2010 at 08:14 AM
knitting and programming! cats and dogs living together! mass hysteria!
Posted by: Account Deleted | January 13, 2010 at 09:16 AM
Very cool.
Posted by: fish | January 13, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Quite beyond my understanding but very coo, Karla. 43 stitches is Space Invaders.
Posted by: Another Kiwi | January 13, 2010 at 05:04 PM
actually very cool
Posted by: Another Kiwi | January 13, 2010 at 05:05 PM
AK!!! I thought the same thing! I loved that game.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 13, 2010 at 05:10 PM