Riddle:
If your sock drawer has 6 black socks, 4 brown socks, 8 white socks,
and 2 tan socks, how many socks would you have to pull out in the
dark to be sure you had a matching pair?
I
mentioned Godwin knitting a moebius (also spelled mobius) scarf in
the book I'm writing. I remember learning about moebius strips in
eighth grade, when the teacher took a strip of paper about seven or
eight inches long and an inch wide, put a half twist in it and taped
the ends together. She had us follow suit, then take a pen and start
drawing a single line down the length of it. It took longer than it
should have to complete the circle – because the line covered both
sides of the strip. “You see, this paper now has only one side,”
she explained. I thought that was magical. But I had two uncles who
were farmers and discovered they knew all about it, because they
attached one end of a long canvas strip to the side of their tractors
and the other to a mechanical saw or other implement and used the
tractor's motor to run it. The strip had a half twist in it so it
would wear evenly on both sides. Still, it was kind of wonderful to
use such a magical device in such a pragmatic way.
The
reason a person might want a moebius strip scarf is that the half
twist makes the scarf lay in an attractive way around the neck. And
it is possible to knit such a scarf all in one piece. My problem is,
it is hard to cast on the doggone thing. I have a pant suit in a
shade of gray that goes good with light brown, and found some
knitting yard in overdyed dark brown, light brown, buff, dark gray
and light gray. A narrow moebius scarf in that yarn would look
fabulous with that suit. I have so far tried five times to cast on
the yarn on the circular needles the pattern calls for with no
success. The instructions are not difficult, but I keep messing up.
Sometimes I wonder where I got the nerve to continue this needlecraft
series after the first three! I'm using an online instructor now,
where there is a video of the teacher casting on the yarn. She makes
it look so easy! Maybe this time I'll get it. Here's the YouTube
site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVnTda7F2V4
The
second book in my first series of mystery novels is going to be
offered as a free download Wednesday and Thursday. It's okay to
read it without having read the first one; it's a prequel (in fact, I
wrote it first; I learned how to write a mystery novel in writing
this one. Get The
Unforgiving Minutes
here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00507U1ES
Answer to riddle: Five. There are only four colors, so pulling five socks guarantees that two will be the same color.
6 comments:
Oh, I really want to knit a Moebius scarf. I will keep watching the video. Thank you. (I have tried to do this in the past and failed.)
Are you writing a new mystery series?
There's a mobius scarf pattern that I'd love to knit. I cast on a small test piece and it worked just fine, but by the time I got long enough needles to do the scarf, I'd forgotten how the first one worked so well. Same instructions, same knitter, but could I repeat those first results? Nope!
I'd no idea there were so many different kinds of scarves I never heard of, Monica, but a moebius scarf is among them! And, as always, I enjoyed your riddle.
Thanks for the free book! Sounds interesting, but Besty and crew will always take top billing in my kindle.
Anonymous, if you ever do read this novel, let me know what you think, please. Thank you!
I enjoyed your description of the moebius form...and it's practical applications, Monica.
Including the scarf. Hope to try it sometime.
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