Fibre arts such as knitting, crochet, quilting, weaving, etc., are an important tangible expression of mathematics!!!!
Crochet hyperbolic planes
Check out some examples here. You only need to know how to chain and single crochet stitch to get started.
Jacquard loom
This punchcard operated loom mechanism is The Grandmother of Modern Computing. We went on a Trent Math Department field trip in November 2024 to see this one at the Lang Pioneer Village in Peterborough.
Quilts!!!
Check out the work of Prof. Gerda de Vries, who gave a really cool talk at Trent University in November 2024 on mathematical thinking in quiltmaking.Quilt: "sl3C as an sl2C module"
This is my first attempt at making a quilt from January 2025 to go along with a reading course on Lie algebras. It is currently displayed in the math resource room at Trent.
Möbius scarf
(ADD PHOTO)
I knitted this in 2022 using the circular needle technique from this book. Even more remarkable than the finished product is the visceral experience of watching the Möbius strip shape build up from a central spine.