Andrea Heald

Graduate Student
Math Department, University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

I have crocheted for most of my life and have always been most interested in creating things that are both attractive and useful. My ongoing love affair with algebra has inspired me to create motifs that visually represent groups in some manner.

Dihedral Granny Pillow
Dihedral Granny Pillow
17"x17"x4"
Crocheted acrylic yarn
2011

This throw pillow is made of granny crochet hexagons. The pattern was determined by associating each color with an element of the dihedral group of order 6 and letting it "act" on the multicolored hexagons. Thus, two multicolored hexagons are related by left multiplication by the solid color between them. The colors of the reverse side were chosen similarly.