Hyperbolic Baby Pants Revisited.

Well I finally had a little one within arms reach so of course I scooped him up and stuck him in the pants as a model. And, as we are still waiting for the intended owner to be born I thought this was the best option to make sense of this marvel.

As you all remember I made these awhile back from a pattern in craft magazine. They are for size 6 months, Ben here is only 5 so they are a bit baggy but I think they still illustrate how they are pants and not a flying bat (which is what I think they look like in this picture.)

And isn’t it wonderful that I haven’t managed to mail them yet so Ben here could try them on!

Hyperbolic Baby Pants

Yes, that’s what I said hyperbolic baby pants. In the last addition of Craft there was an article on how to knit hyperbolic baby pants. The pattern was adapted from a new book Making Mathematics with Needlework and came with little diagrams of how an octagon could be folded into a pair of pants. Needless to say, I had to try it. What I lack in math skills I seriously make up for in knitting ability. I admit I thought this might be the answer to my math fears. I can knit anything. Maybe through knitting I could learn math. I dutifully traced the diagrams and folded them into pant-like shapes.

My first attempt yielded baby bell bottoms. Although the article warned row gauge (the amount of rows, vertically, to the inch) was important, I didn’t realize just how important. In my defense row gauge is rarely important, really, I swear ask any knitter! So, I ripped it out and started again, paying lots of attention to all things vertical. I did better the second time around, although I still had to fudge the last few rows.

So this bat like creature, an adapted version of half an octagon.

Here’s what it looks like from the back

and the front.

They make a little more sense in person. Alas, I am afraid I have no 6 month old baby’s around the house to model so Sara will have to promise that once her bun in the oven is 6 months old she will send in an updated photo.