Hootenanny Knitting

As James Thurber's Prince Zorn notes in "The Thirteen Clocks", "I am no longer ert. I have lost my ertia." I could swear I've been working non-stop on the mitered squares.

The yarn is going down. I need to set up my swift and spend some time singing "The Turning Song."

Yet the score card reads:

Blocked - 24.
Completed - 37.
On the needles - 38, 39 and 40.

This puts me seriously behind schedule. I was supposed to have passed the 40th square over the weekend. I think I need another, tangible proof of progress.

It may be time to start putting things together. Now I have to face the fact that I just don't do random well. I have established some rules (Kay says you have to have rules, otherwise you don't get the fun of breaking them): No repeating a color in any given block of 4 squares. Only 8 pairs/16 squares of duplicates. The borders on the pairs have to represent 8 different colors. Since I don't want any of the pairs to be too close to their sibling, the 16 pairs have been assigned specific places. The colored squares on the diagram represent where they go.

I need to choose 6 more squares to duplicate. This is where the "Hootenanny" part comes in. For those too young to know, "Hootenanny" aired on ABC in the 60's (and blacklisted the likes of Pete Seeger as too left-wing).


The point, however, is that it always closed with an audience participation number. What are the chances I can get 6 of you to choose a number from 1 to 80 [Edited to add: 72, that should be 72, not 80. 73 through 80 are the spots I need to fill. I am so sadly numerically challenged] , excluding 4 and 20 (because I've already got two of those combinations)?

I don't promise to abide by the choices. After all, you may all choose a number with the same color border, and that's against the rules. Still, given the level of indecisiveness I'm demonstrating, it just might help me find my ertia. So, here's your chance to join in. All together now, "I-rene goodni-i-ight, I-rene goodnight..."