Random Friday

Here's a thing you might not know about me.  I am a Sudoku addict.  No, really.  It's a bad, bad thing.  The reason that you probably don't know this about me is that I don't allow myself to muck about with it very often.  I can't.  It's kinda like the Lay's potato chip thing. I can't do just one. If I were to pick up the Sudoku book, say....over breakfast for instance, I might not look up until the wee hours of the next morning.  Ask me how I know.  So, since I have a job to do, cats to feed, a husband to hang out with, stuff to knit, and a house to renovate, I don't do nearly as much Sudoku as one might expect of a self-confessed Sudoku addict.

You might be asking yourself what, if any, relevance this might possibly have to a 'Knitting' post on what claims to be (and again, I realize that I use this term a bit loosely) a knitting blog?   Well, do you happen to remember this post about the brilliant idea over at Pixelated Knits?  Go ahead, refresh your memory. I'll wait.

Back now?  Good.  Now let's talk about how I set about interpreting this little bit of insanity, step by step, to 'design' an afghan for our living room based on two Sudoku puzzles, one to generate the stitches to be used, and another to generate the colors.

1. First commit oneself to as much absolute randomness as possible.

2. Visit the stash.  Hmmmmmm.......yes indeed......THIS is the perfect thing, and there's lots of it.  Perfect.  Assign each of the colors a value 1-9.

3. Look through one's library for some stitch dictionaries.  Pull out as many as look likely.  How many did you pull out?  2?  Flip a coin.  4?  There are some of you out there who know exactly what to use for that, aren't there? Go ahead, raise your hands.  We're gamer friendly here at Chez Obsession.  6?  A regular die will do. You get the picture.  In my example, the winner was 250 Creative Stitches: Harmony Vol. 4.

4. Using a handy-dandy online random number generator, create several lists of 250 random numbers between 1 and 250 ('cuz, the book has 250 stitches, see?). I created 6 different lists, and then rolled a regular 6-sided die to pick which list to use, but that's really starting to walk the fine line between commitment and insanity, and I know it. I'm also aware that I didn't need 250 numbers, but, um.......all right, so I'm crazy.

5.  Next, call a very patient friend and ask them, without explaining why, to pick a number between 1 and 250 (see? more insanely unnecessary randomization.).   If they pick the number 50, for instance, go to your list of numbers and find out what the 50th number is.  If that number happens to be....say...125 ('cuz, you know, random), then the 125th stitch in the stitch dictionary is your first of the 9 stitches you will need for your Sudoku Afghan.

6.  Do this 8 more times.  It's your choice if you want to tap out just one friend or nine for the number choices, only you know how patient your friends are with your lunatic ideas.

7. Now, and only now, pick two separate Sudoku puzzles, but before you work them assign one of them to generate the colors and the other to generate the stitches.  I chose to do this before working the puzzles because....well.....because it seemed more random.  What?  Leave me alone.

8. Once you've worked both puzzles, merge the results onto one master 'board'.  Mine, looks like this: 

(The wierd thing at the bottom that's all black & white to you because I don't have a color scanner available to me at the moment is where I colored in a 'mock up' with colored pens to get an approximation of the color distribution.  Just for funsies.)

I haven't cast on yet, but I will.  Soon.  Winter's a-comin', and my house is old and drafty.

Comments

[Bookish Wendy]

You know, when you talked about this it didn't seem nearly as OCD as it does now. I love it!

[The Feminist Mafia]

You are completely and utterly insane and I love it.

[Beth S.]

Girl, you are crazy. But in a really fun way :-)

[Debbie]

While Kellee's description of the process seems random and crazy, it doesn't do it justice. You have to see the lists and the books and scraps of paper and hear her describe it in person. When she told me about it, I felt eerily like a cult member, drinking freely of the Kool Aid. I was all set to do my own Soduku blanket, then when I left, the fog lifted and I thought - that's nuts! I'm nowhere near organized enough to be that random!

[caro]

I love it! This is right up my alley.
And not to be an enabler, but have you seen the flickr sudoku? Dig it: (with my pictures tagged knitting) http://www.beckysweb.co.uk/sudoku/flickrsudoku.asp?t=knitting+&un=splityarn&sz=lg&lv=001&sg=&sk1=48&sk2=39&sk3=43&sk4=64&sk5=20&sk6=19&sk7=6&sk8=52&sk9=16&skn=&sx=71

Long link, sorry 'bout that.

[elisa]

I love you, but you're nuts.

Of course, I know that as soon as I see the project in person I am going to decide that I Must Have One Too.

[mamacate]

My dear, you are completely insane. I love that.

[wenders]

I don't know if you scare me or if I want to be your new BFF. :)

Sounds fun, though! (And I've never done one of those puzzles. Ever.)

[Chris]

Yeah, seems nuts to me. But fun to watch.

[maryse]

you know. i wasn't convinced when i started reading the post. but by the end of the post, you had me...

you had me at "Do this 8 more times."

and i have to say that i'm a little hurt that you didn't call me for a random number.

just sayin'

[melanie]

wow. I'm kind of dizzy.

[Marcy, Not so Blogless]

Total and complete nut job! All I can say is: http://www.websudoku.com/ :D

[Carole]

I stand in awe of you OCD.

[Laurie]

I'm with Maryse. And Marcy, Not so Blogless? SHUT UP. Kellee, you are SO nuts. It's one of your most endearing characteristics. Truly madly deeply.

[rositta]

Just stumbled onto your blog, interesting the soduko thing but I wouldn't want to try it. My sweeties is addicted but so far I have avoided it. I have waaay to many addictions as it is. Nice blog, ciao

[benedetta]

way too much for a sunday morning, now i need some more coffee!
looking forward to the result of this madness, sounds amazing!

[Linda]

Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Chris]

My head hurts now.

[Jackie]

I'm with Debbie - you have to be super organized to be that random. But I need to see this in person. Seriously. So, next time we see each other, okay?

[Sara in WI]

I've done something similar....in fact my notebook page looks eerily the same. I'm not ready to cast on yet...too many Christmas presents and projects to go. Keep us posted on your progress!

[armando]

it looks like you haven´t heard about the latest in sudoku, there is now something new out for two players, it´s called SHENDOKU, you can find more information on www.shendoku.com , the online game is a trainingprogram on http://www.lightningbrain.com/shendoku.html and they also have a blog http://shendoku.blogspot.com/ , it seems that they are bringing out a shendoku game for the mobile phones to be played between two players, through bluetooth, infrared or sms.

[Stephanie]

The randomness makes me sort of crampy.

[Suzanne]

This is so fantastic that I may just have to drink the Koolaid as well. Has this post been submitted to Yarnival? It's always good to have someone representing for the math geeks. (And hey, if it's already on Yarnival - apologies; I'm behind.)

[David P Bird]

See what you started! http://www.sudoku.org.uk/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=29&post=14895#POST14895

[Sudoku]

Your procedures are quite complex. Thank you for sharing your "madness" :)

Carolina
http://www.domo-sudoku.com