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Desert Bus 2025 Total Raised
$1,059,553.89
The Team Bussed For
06:21:00:00
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Giveaway: Aperiodic Turtle Blanket
A knitted blanket outside on a rectangular, wooden table. The blanket is shorter than the table, but it's wide enough to hang over on both of the long edges. The blanket is made from 48 copies of a turtle shape, in sky blue, sand yellow, air-freshener green, and lane-line white. Around the outside and between turtles there are borders in asphalt black. The turtle shape was discovered in 2023 as an aperiodic monotile: it can tile the plane, but it can't form a repeating pattern. The white turtles are mirror images of the other turtles, and the turtles all appear in an assortment of rotations.
A close-up of the blanket. At this distance, a triangular/hexagonal grid is visible. Each turtle is made from segments of this grid.
The same blanket, this time on a queen-sized bed with no pillows. The blanket mostly covers the bed, but it is not large enough to hang off the sides or foot of the bed.
Winner: northos
Donation drive raised: $13,405.45
A knit blanket made out of turtles. The turtle tile is a shape discovered in 2023 with the property that copies of it can cover an infinitely-large surface without gaps, but it can't form a repeating pattern. It's similar to the more-well-known hat tile, but it's cuter, because turtles are objectively cuter than hats. (Though, turtles wearing hats are even cuter.) The blanket has irregular edges, so exact measurements are awkward, but it's around 56" by about 60", erring towards a little larger than that. The yarn is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. It can be machine washed on a gentle cycle with warm or cool water. If possible, it should be laid flat to dry.
Those interested in the shape itself can learn more at https://isohedral.ca/aperiodic-monotiles/.
Donated By 3geek14 (Pi Fisher)
Pi is a mathematician, bell ringer, square dancer, and programmer who likes to knit. Having learned nothing from the 2022 Craftalong about time management, Pi picked a project this year that would've taken far too long for someone with a fulltime job, making it incredibly lucky that Pi was laid off in April. This change in employment has been a blessing not even attempting to disguise itself, as it's enabled this year's donation, a chuppah for friends, and a lot more time for travel.