Woolly Thoughts

CRAFTY MATHEMATICS FOR BARBIE AND FRIENDS

Fibonacci Barbie
Knit and crochet Barbie dresses based on Fibonacci numbers

Pat Ashforth & Steve Plummer

 Fibonacci Barbie

Many people are familiar with Fibonacci Numbers. They appeal to artists, and craftspeople, because they create
a pleasing arrangement. They also appear often in nature. The series of numbers was not named until the
nineteenth century but was named after the first Western person who wrote about them in 1202. He was also
known as Leonardo of Pisa. The sequence of numbers does appear in Sanskrit, and other sources, many centuries
before that.

The sequence is generated by adding consecutive numbers to get the next term 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 ...

The numbers cannot be used in any other order because they would no longer form a sequence. They would
become just random numbers.

The pattern contains three dresses all using the same numbers. Two are knitted, the other is crochet.

Black and yellow dress (knitted)

This is the simplest dress. It is an almost straight tube and
stretches enough to pull on without fastenings.

Yarn
Approximately 30 metres/yards black and 15 metres/yards
yellow of any standard DK yarn.

Needles
3.75 mm (or suitable needles to give 5 stitches to 2.5 cm)

Abbreviations
m1 = make a backwards loop on the needle.

Note
A ridge is two rows of knitting.

Method - Dress Sleeves (Make 2)

Black: Cast on 20 stitches (long tail method). Black: Cast on 8 stitches (long tail method).
Carry the yarns up the side. Carry the yarns up the side.
Yellow: Knit 1 ridge (2 rows). Yellow: Knit 1 ridge (2 rows).
Black: Knit 2 ridges. Black: Knit 2 ridges.
Yellow: Knit 3 ridges. Yellow: Knit 3 ridges.
Black: Knit 3 ridges. Black: Knit 4 ridges.
Next row: k5, m1, k10, m1, k5. Knit 1 row.
Knit 3 rows (5 black ridges in total). Cast off loosely.
Yellow: Next row: k5, m1, k12, m1, k5. Stitch the seam. Join the sleeve underarm to the
Knit 3 rows. top of the dress with a few stitches.
Next row: k5, m1, k14, m1, k5.
Next row: knit. Boots (Make 2)
Knit 5 ridges (8 yellow ridges in total). Make in exactly the same way as the sleeves.
Black: Knit 12 ridges. When joining the seam also close the cast-off
Knit 1 row. edge, to form the foot.
Cast off loosely.
Stitch the back seam. Because the pieces are small
it is easier to stitch from the outside so you can
match the stripes accurately.

1
Lilac dress (knitted)
The centre panels, for the back and front, are knitted first, then stitches are picked up to work the sides.

Yarn
Approximately 10 metres/yards dark and 30 metres/yards light of any standard DK yarn.

Needles
3.75 mm (or suitable needles to give 5 stitches to 2.5 cm)

Short rows
Because the dress is so small, and the direction of the knitting is unusual, it is not possible to make all the short
rows look the same. You can use any method you prefer.

I used ‘wrap and turn’ - Knit to the stitch where you want to turn, slip the next stitch purlwise, turn, take the
yarn to the back, put the slipped stitch back on the right needle, continue knitting.

Method
Dark: Cast on 6 stitches (long tail method).
Knit until you can see 13 ridges.
Light: Knit 8 ridges.
Carry the yarns up the side.
Dark: Knit 5 ridges.
Light: Knit 3 ridges.
Dark: Knit 2 ridges.
Light: Knit 1 ridge.
Dark: Knit 1 row.
Cast off loosely.

Turn the work sideways with the cast-on end at the right. Using light, pick up one stitch from the end of each
ridge, cast on 6, pick up stitches from the other piece in the same way, starting from the cast-off end (72 stitches)’
Knit 2 rows.
Next row: Knit 21. Turn, Knit to the end.
Next row: Knit 13. Turn, Knit to the end.
Next row: Knit 29*, cast off 14, knit to the end. * If you are not familiar with 3-needle
Next row: Knit 21. Turn, Knit to the end. cast-off, you could turn and cast off these
stitches now. You would then join the yarn
Next row: Knit 17. Turn, Knit to the end.
to the remaining stitches, cast off 14 and
You now have two sets of 29 stitches. knit to the end.

If you are not doing a 3-needle cast-off, cast off loosely now and stitch the sides of the dress.
Keep any live stitches on holders and complete the other side in the same way.

3-needle cast-off: Fold the dress at the shoulders, with right sides together. Using a larger needle, cast off
through both sets of stitches.

2
Pink dress (crochet)
The dress is worked backwards and forwards in rows and stitched at the back. It cannot be worked in continuous
rounds as it does not stretch enough to pull on. The fabric is quite firm but if you make it looser the dress will
also get longer.

The disadvantage of working in rows is that you cannot

easily count the number of rows. The Fibonacci sequence
becomes difficult to identify but the proportions are the same
as in the other dresses.

Yarn & Notions

Approximately 25 metres/yards dark and 15 metres/yards
light of any standard DK yarn.

Small button or hook to fasten back of neck.

Hook
4 mm (or suitable hook to give 5 stitches to 2.5 cm)

Note
The instructions use UK terminology. A UK dc is the same
as a US sc.

Method
Dark: Ch 29. 1dc into 2nd chain from the hook, 1 dc into each chain (28 stitches).
Rows 2 - 13: 1ch, 1dc into the top of each stitch (28 stitches)
Light: Rows 14 - 16: Repeat row 2 three times.
Row 17: 1ch, 5dc, dec, 14dc, dec, 5dc (26 stitches).
Rows 18 - 19: As row 2.
Row 20: 1ch, 5dc, dec, 12dc, dec, 5dc (24 stitches).
Row 21: As row 2.
Dark: Row 22: 1ch, 5dc, dec, 10dc, dec, 5dc (22 stitches).
Rows 23 - 26: As row 2.
Light: Rows 27 - 29: As row 2.
Using dark, 1ch, 4dc. Turn. Working on these four stitches, as before, 1 more row dark, 1 row light.
Join the dark yarn to the centre 8 stitches (leaving a gap of 3 stitches) and work 2 rows dark and 1 row light.
Join the dark yarn to the last 4 stitches and work 2 rows dark and 1 row light.
Using dark, work 1 row across all 16 stitches. Fasten off.

Stitch the bottom 21 rows of the back and attach a button or hook to fasten the back of the neck.

3
 Using Fibonacci

The sequence of numbers is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987 ...

As you can see the numbers get very big very quickly. By the time you get to the 16th colour change you are
almost up to 1000. These are not numbers you would usually want to work with in knitting.

Here are the first seven terms of the sequence (omitting zero). This makes a total of 33.

You could double every number to get a total of 66. This does not change the relationship between the numbers.
Each number is the sum of the two that came before. Trebling the numbers would give you 99.

For something like a scarf you could use the numbers in the reverse direction for the second half of your scarf.
When it is hanging round your neck you see the Fibonacci Sequence starting from each end. This would give
a total of 53. Doubling these numbers would give you 106.

You cannot use the numbers out of order. They become random numbers not a particular sequence.

The Fibonacci numbers are closely related to the Golden Ratio. If you take any two consecutive numbers their
ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio.

When using the numbers for knitting and crochet it doesn’t really matter which direction you work but beginning
with the narrow stripes can be quite fiddly. The stripes in the black and yellow dress begin at the top with the
narrowest, those in the other dresses begin at the bottom, with the widest. If you decide to begin the black and
yellow dress at the bottom you will need to change the increases to decreases.

The designs below all use Fibonacci numbers in some way.

Fibo-optic Fibrenacci Golden Spiral Fibonacci Fichu Rolling Around Mr Fibonacci

©Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer 2019

by Woolly Thoughts™

166 Keighley Road, Colne, Lancashire, BB8 0PJ, England

[Link]

All rights reserved

4