Week 23: Fibonacci Weaving

If I am not playing with math, then I am tangled in yarn and thinking about math. This week I combined the two and wove A small fibonacci washcloth. Fiber arts are so versatile and an insanely fun way to express mathematics. In future weeks we will look at collage (wool appliqué), Cantor art, etc.

Fibonacci is a sequence where you start with 0 and 1. You then add those to get 1: {0,1,1}, and then you add 1 and 1 to get 2: {0,1,1,2}, and then you keep adding the last two numbers to get the next number. Here is a comic I created for Marie’s Atlas on Fibonacci:

For weaving, you need a piece of cardboard, small loom or even a notebook card (for thread weaving). The idea here is to create any form of Fibonacci patterns in your work. For mine I did 8 for a lower border, then 1 blue, 1 white, 1 blue, 1 white, 2 blue, 2 white, 3 blue, 3 white, and so on. Below is a sample. There are tons of ways to weave this sequence. You can use different sized looms, patchwork squares with areas that equal the sequence, etc. Have fun!