BETWEEN THE FOLDS and in stitches...

http://www.greenfusefilms.com/index.html

Last night we watched a movie on PBS (Independent Lens) called "Between the Folds" - Made by Vanessa Gould.

Don't you dare miss it if you haven't seen it yet.  It is all about very advanced Origami creations, transcending Paper Folding 101, and involving most of the sciences, and the scientists and artists  who make  these truly amazing shapes out of ONE sheet of paper, without cutting.  One of them, Dr. Erik Demaine,  said that the proteins in our genes are folded in  intricate ways as well.  And that folding paper can lead to more than a pleasant artifact.  It may help us understand even better our genetic structures.  Yeh, I know; you have to see the film!

At the same time that we are watching, I am crocheting something.  Starting with a long chain as you do with crochet, and then coming back with a double crochet in each chain stitch, which ends up in a thin, straight,  ladder-like  structure.  Then with another color, I decided to add a lot of double crochets in each ladder opening (2 sets of three double crochets, with a 2 loop separation  at the top between them) so in total 6 dc in each of the ladder openings on one side so far.  This is a lot, and also,  the aqua knobby yarn is thinner than the black smooth yarn.  Anyhoo, after a while, I noted that the whole structure started to spiral, much like the double helix of our genes.  Which made me wonder  if the proteins, like my lots of black stitches in one blue stitch, might fold up from a large flat surface area into a bunched up clump, becoming a much denser mass where they attach themselves.   Like my 6 black stitches in one aqua one?  Would the proteins then, because of, say,  "overloading"  the initial "ladder", force  it to twist... like my ladder is doing?  Anyone?

That's how my mind works when doing simple crafts and watching an inspiring movie.  I must get a copy of it: it is only $20.00.

The film was over in a flash - we were left with our mouths open.  And Dr. Erik, whom, I believe he wrote his thesis when he was 20  and still looks like he's about 18,   is quite a "wunderkind" and renaissance man at MIT,  with his own website:

http://erikdemaine.org/http://erikdemaine.org/

Don't ever think that juggling isn't serious business.

And hey,  he's actually almost thirty and we have the same birthday!
Although I am close to 40 years "earlier" than he is.

So, here's my little project.  It actually works better as a photograph.

The aqua yarn not yet loaded with black looks pretty straight.  And even though I am crocheting on only one side of the aqua, it looks like I am going around it, but I am not; it's MAAA-gic!

I really didn't meant to start out with a (little big) bang theory in froebelland... but there you have it: everything is basically science, innit?

☯

~ Tranquility and Tolerance ~