Data + Yarn = Yummy
As you may recall from the post that made me famous (ha), I have a thing for data. Not Data, although his pale visage and robotic affect always gave me a tingle, but data, that deep well of information that if coaxed and cajoled (with scruples and skepticism) can produce exciting insights into almost any question.
This data-love would explain the lost half hour I spent playing with Google Trends this morning, a tool from Google Labs that allows you to compare the frequency of different search terms over the course of several years and in various geographic regions. Considering my recent dilemma, can you image what I searched?
You guessed it! It was a Data Showdown: Knit vs. Crochet.
I expected knit to roundly trounce crochet — my intuition about web trends just said it would be so. But behold:
Crochet pretty much won that round. Who’d have guessed, perhaps my dirty little secret is not dirty at all!
Now, here’s where the skepticism comes in, and where the beauty of thinking subtly shows itself (I do know that this is a weak example of subtle thinking, but consider it an homage to greater minds). Change the word “Knit” to “Knitting” and BAM! Sudden data morph! Behold, Knitting vs. Crochet.
Knitting wins that round! Maybe I need to put my crochet secret back in my pocket?
In the end, crochet wins one round and knitting the other. Though Bangladeshis have absolutely no interest in crochet, and South Africans are mad for it, most countries come out somewhere close to 50/50. Does this mean there’s really no show-down in the end? I can have them both? Needles and Hooks united? The gang wars are over! They must be — the data says so. (He he. Go ahead, smack me for saying that. I was asking for it).
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 10:36 am and is filed under Tidbits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.