Friday, February 24, 2012

The Seashell Model for 2012 **.

Undaunted, one proceeds!  I had so much trouble remembering how I did stuff last year that I determined to begin again;  do another model from scratch.  I think I overdid it a bit-  the lip edge is too wide and the inner spiral section is too short:-





Image 2 reminds me of the ancient Vedic Paisley pattern!?  One can check it out on Wikipedia.
Image 4 shows stitching top edge to middle of 89 row.
It felt peculiarly as if I were following a Moebius Strip!
 See http/:www.mathworld.wolfram.com/moebius strip
**(I checked if you can click directly on to this,  but, sorry, no.  Search engine may work ok).


Images 7, 8 and 9 make me consider adding Time and Space to the Pattern..
While the leading edge is growing so too the entire shell is keeping pace,  thus the "2" at beginning might become "5".

 One wonders just how the living animal creates itself so mathematically exactly at atomic and subatomic levels no less!  It is the Mantle which secretes the minerals which make a CaCo3  crystalline  shell which is harder and finer than porcelaine, it seems to me. 
Pearl shell, nacre, is aragonite.

 See www.web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/Ben/BenPaperRevised
for nanoscale morphology and more.
 Mind boggling and beautiful science from Dept of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder. Sept 2005 J MaterRes Vol 20 No 9,  pg 2403.
(PS  I checked if you can click directly on this, but no. Search engine may work ok)
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As for me-  like Fagin,  "I am reviewing the situation...... I think I better think it out again!"
I'll not publish a proper crochet or knitting pattern until it is just right.
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Now It's Getting Closer to the Real Thing! **

Images say it all:-


The X ray is drawn from Internet images.  There are many online,  eg  www.sciencephoto.com/media/438998/v


The tiny triangle at right top might be useful for helping to stitch the top of the whorl.
The top left hand corner, 34,  sits halfway around the outside of the last 89 row and is stitched from the inside;  quite tricky.


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A skewed fibonacci hyperbolic fan shape.

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Here next is the nicest little seashell model made last year.  Knitted in 1 ply tapestry wool.
Cast on 34 stitches and work as per tiny diagram... Yellow is 89 stitches;  12 rows at lip edge, 8 rows in middle and 4 rows inner section...
The brown line is embroidered on.  I wanted to try to duplicate the spiral stripe that goes up the tiny whelk like shells that you get in chook feed shell grit.
Images show model stitched from inside and from outside.

Still it is a far cry from an exact model. The intricate elegance of the top whorls still eludes me.
I think on the poem "Tree"  by the soldier poet Joyce Kilmer:-
"I think that I shall never see
a poem lovely as a tree.....
Poems are made by fools like me
But only God can make a tree."
For me it reads
"Models are made by fools like me
But only God can make a real seashell."

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Update 16th April 2014

I have promised to spell out the Crochet Pattern in response to a young lady's request after "A Proper Pattern" of 1/19/2012.

Please see the 1 page diagram to crochet 8 to 13, 13 to 21, 21 to 34, 34 to 55 and 55 to 89
on post of 2/1/2014.  Here it is:-    I think it is easy to understand whether you crochet or knit (tho sometimes one needs to knit from the top down....)  You can figure out how to increase (work twice in same stitch) or decrease ( skip a loop for crochet or do a 2 half crochets and then pull the yarn thro both loops to make one.   Or Knit 2 together to decrease.)  I hope you can figure out how to make the models chiefly from the diagrams.  I don't think I can bear to write it all out stitch by stitch!

 Just experiment.  You might make some good discoveries!  Page 2 from 2/1/2014 post also runs to higher numbers.  You might have good results if you make a Seashell with 377 or 610 stitches.  I am planning to make some with spikes and bumps.



*************************Good Luck!****************

Make some New Fibonacci Seashells.**

1.  Here I repost the Pattern for crocheting the Fibonacci Series, from 2010.
The stitches are increased evenly along the row.
My favourite crochet stitch is half treble. 
ie.  wool around hook, hook into loop, wool around hook, pull wool through loop, wool around hook, pull through all three stitches.
note:  Australians follow British and European terminology.  American single crochet stitch equals British double crochet stitch.
My half treble would be half double crochet in America.

The unit pattern is crochet twice into three loops and then once into the fourth loop.  4 stitches become 7.

To make 12 or 13 stitches into 21, it is handy to make yourself a list of multiples of 12,  ie, 12, 24, 36, 48, etc,
to keep track of the skip 13th stitch, when needed.
If one loses count, it is easy to track back how many loops are missed.....

Back in 2010 my seashells were made with the equation Fn = 2F(n-2) + F(n-3)
eg 89 = 2 x 34 + 21  etc.  easy to increase stitches etc.

When you need to decrease,  ie. make 89 into 55, you need to reverse the unit pattern.
Crochet once in loop, miss one loop; 3 times, crochet once in 4th loop.  7 stitches become 4.
Similarly, to make 21 become 13, do the unit pattern in reverse, then make an extra stitch in last loop.

If you wish to knit the model,  you can work backwards.

You can make one or more plain rows between the increase rows, etc.
It is very much trial and error, as you can see by the following story.
You get to see what works best by making many kinds of variations until something succeeds.





Insert 20/5/2014  This might help you to knit or crochet a Pattern
See  where you knit one or knit twice in the same stitch.  Good luck.





This image shows what the seashell looks like inside.  Very thin inner edge and thick opening area.  This needs to be factored in to the Crochet or Knitting Pattern.  Otherwise the inside can be too bulky.


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2.  Here is the very first model of this type that I made last year:-

I tried to create raised spots along the ridges, just like a real shell I bought at a local market stall.
Half was knit in wool and half was with fine sewing machine cotton.
Image 1 shows how a real shell looks inside.  The column is wafer thin!
Image 2 shows this exactly!  model is at half stage work, ie 89.
Image 3 shows what Image 2 looks like, flat out.
Image 4 has "top" sewn on;  made separately.  Corner is curled under to make spiral.
Image 5 is "under view".  And  it is back to front!  It should be right hand spiral.
Easy to get it muddled up, especially when one tries to work Pattern backwards....
Image 6 shows how it should be done.  In fact, it might be better if only one quarter of the model were to be worked in fine sewing machine cotton.
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3.  This next little knitted model is also back to front.
Actually if it were to be stitched up with the inside outside, then it would be correct,  that is if you don't mind the inside being outside!
The opening lip is maybe too big,  and one would have to adjust the way of making.
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4.  Here is a knit and a crochet model.  The Pattern is evenly balanced both sides.

The models are a bit bulky,  sewed from outside.  144 gets to be difficult;  89 is easiest.
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5.  This model looks rather weird.  I actually forget how I made it-  it was last year.
Maybe the brown was 233 and yellow was 144 and 89?
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