Redistribution

The two halves of this work use the same recursive branching structure, mirrored through the color-change axis. As an outgrowth of the recursive rule, the numbers of purple columns at each level are the Virahanka sequence, also known as the Fibonacci numbers. In the top, the branchings occur at the Fibonacci levels, so that the length of the knit rows grows proportionately to the height of the knitting. Thus, the top fabric lies flat and occupies a sector of a circle. By contrast, the branchings in the bottom are evenly spaced, so that the length of the rows grows roughly exponentially, giving the bottom its flared form. Inside the I-cord border, the total number of stitches in the top section and the bottom section are the same.

This piece is based on the earlier works A Tree for Virahanka and Virahanka’s Thoughts Overflow. The recursive branching rule appears in the Bridges 2016 proceedings paper A Recursion in Knitting, which describes the earlier artwork Fibonacci Downpour.