Magic squares

in reply to JudithConnors's post:

Hmm, hmm! I went and looked at @Bay's tutorial on designing magic squares to see how it could be done. This could be a good design challenge - take a repeatable one-round square and turn it into a magic square. I'm still busy with my current design challenge, though. Anyone want to take this up?

I've just heard back from Georgia Seitz! She sent me a link which has all the pictures: https://web.archive.org/web/20111107231334/http://www.georgiaseitz.com/younkin/younkin.html

Notice that it's a webarchive page. Perhaps she's not able to keep her site up any more?

Thanks so much @GraceT. The half-square is beautiful. Imagine how large the square itself would have been had the lace been doubled! (Far along on Archimedes' geometric series!)

Thanks for obtaining a working link @GraceT. I didn't realize just how big the wedding shawl was until I saw the photo of it on the couch. Very impressive!

in reply to Bay's post:

Yes, it really is impressive!

Georgia Seitz said to me that her whole website can be found on the Wayback machine. I think she's content for it to be that way,..

in reply to GraceT's post:

There are ways of tessellating the formula at #2 to produce the larger triangular 'half square'.

in reply to JudithConnors's post:

Yes, I know that in theory it can be done. But I don't think I'll be the one to take it on...

Several years ago @muskaan asked who coined the term 'magic square'. From looking at older patterns it would seem that this term is late C20th-early C21st.

I recently found the 4-square design of the 'serpentine' magic square in a pattern published in The New Idea (Australia), 30 October 1971, page 25. It was used as the corner inset of a handkerchief and was merely called 'Corner Motif'.

So, though the idea is pretty old, the name is new. I wonder if it originated here - or in its predecessors, InTatters, or e-Tatters...

I have no idea who coined the term, @GraceT. I remember it being used occasionally during the late 1990s in Australia.

However, the general construction and usage show that early tatters were as intrigued by its design as we are. And, with the techniques available to them, were also as keen to use continuous thread methods.

My grandmother filled in a corner of a hanky with one of the simple versions. Since she passed away about 1935 at age 65, she would have tatted it closer to 1925. The box full of edgings and small doilies contained NO information on pattern sources... This would have been tatted in upper midwest USA-- rural area, before electricity..