Oops! Can you find the mistake?
Oops! Today I realized I had used the wrong shade in one of the rows of my prime factorization cardigan. I remembered I had discovered that in the process of knitting, and had planned to go over the offending line with duplicate stitch. But I forgot — so now I think I will use it as a puzzle. Can you spot the number that is out of place?
You’ll definitely need a closer look at the cardigan.
Who will be the first person to spot the error? (You can use the comments to inform me.) This person is almost as geeky as me! 🙂 Though at least I can restrain myself from taking apart the cardigan. There was an error in my Prime Factorization Sweater — but it was one of five factors of a number (probably 72), so it only involved four stitches in the wrong color. I was able to pick them out, then reinsert the right color with a yarn needle.
Oh, I should say that the error is not in row 48, which is 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3. I didn’t want to have the pink thread loose over all four blue stitches, so I twisted the yarn after two stitches — and it ended up showing up a bit on the front, though not as much as an actual wrong stitch.
I did it! More than two years after beginning, I have finally completed my Prime Factorization Cardigan!
Here’s how it works! The stripes each represent a counting number. They go from left to right, cuff to cuff. 1 is black, the background color (which is a factor of everything). Then each prime gets a new color. 2 is blue; 3 is pink; 5 is yellow; 7 is purple….
Composite numbers get the combination of colors for their factors. 6 = 2 x 3, so it’s alternating blue and pink. 10 = 2 x 5, so blue and yellow. 12 = 2 x 2 x 3, so two stitches of blue followed by one of pink….
Perfect powers get multiple rows. 4 = 2 x 2, so two rows of blue; 8 = 2 x 2 x 2, so three rows of blue; 9 = 3 x 3, so two rows of pink. I think my favorite is 36 = 2 x 2 x 3 x 3, so I did two rows of alternating blue and pink.
As for details, I used Plymouth Encore yarn, 75% acrylic, 25% wool — it is not expensive and comes in many colors. I looked online for a pattern knitted cuff-to-cuff, and found this Rainbow Lace Jacket. I of course changed the colors. I knitted the stripes in garter stitch, and the rows in between the stripes in black stockinette.
There you have it! The latest in my prime factorization knitting adventures. Let’s see, I feel compelled to summarize what I’ve done.
It began with the Prime Factorization Sweater.
I experimented with stripes when I made my Prime Factorization Scarf, and planned out how to do this cardigan.
Then my siblings were expecting babies. For my sister’s baby, I knitted a Coded Blessing Blanket.
For my brother’s baby, nothing but a Prime Factorization Blanket would do.
Which got me going on a Pascal’s Triangle Shawl.
Which got me to start another, prettier one (Still not finished).
And brings me back to the Prime Factorization Cardigan!