The Tension in Knotted Threads

The writer of 1491 had some wonderful pages about the knotted strings that were used to carry information in Mesoamerica. I should lug the book up here to cite his name, and the name of the researcher who gave him so much more data about the tension and the twists carrying megabytes of information. Maybe on a more energetic day.

And the other day I looked up prayer shawls, wondering if I'm going to work on more of these newfangled Christian ones; and found a lovely pair of websites about the tallit, the real prayer shawl. A Jewish man would possibly wear his all the time, but to pray, he can pull it over his head and have a private tent. And the fringes are at the four corners, and there are specific instructions on the turns, the twist, the knot, of those fringes, so that the tension and the twists carry information to the wearer as he fingers the fringes. These fringes became the hem of the garment. Plays nicely into the new research about Mesoamerica. Even the color of the string used, a blue string in each corner for special reminding...