Knots

best pal sent me a link to Monday's Washington Post, where Paul Richard claims that "knots made humans human." I don't know if I agree with him, being one of those stitchers who doesn't make knots, but there are some interesting things that have been done with fibers over the millenia. I kept waiting for Richard to talk about the way ancient Peruvians tied knots to remember important things...and there it was. (I belong on Jeopardy!) A California windsurfer won math's highest honor for creating a tool for distinguishing between knots. You should also check out the Knot Place. I think there are some patterns to be made from those pictures.

Of course, there's always a crazy woman in these stories: a woman crocheted the Lorenz manifold. I could totally see my friend amy! crocheting the Lorenz manifold. Not only is she probably the only friend I have that knows what it is, she can picture things in 3-D and rotate those images in her head. I am in total awe of that skill--I have to move the map to match the direction we are heading or I can't read it. And she makes up patterns that would take her 85 hours to crochet. But I wouldn't call her crazy.