inanna's knitting : buckminsterfullerene / buckyball / football / soccer ball

knit a 3-D shape
buckminster fullerene : molecule of Carbon 60 (chemistry)
bucky-ball : truncated icosahedron (mathematics)
soccer football for the world cup

twenty 6-sided hexagons (white)
twelve 5-sided pentagons (red)

bucky ball net

materials
set of 4 double ended sock needles size 3.75mm (uk9 us5)
100g white wool double knitting
50g red wool double knitting
needle to sew up
balloon / or stuffing

size
finished ball measures 7"-8" (18-20 cm) across & 23"-25" (59-64cm) round
(depending on how hard you stuff it!)

each (red) pentagon is 2.5" high (6cm) & 2.5" at widest point
each (white) hexagon is 3"(7.5cm) high & 2.5"(6cm) across

(easy to make the ball bigger : add extra rounds to each shape )

32 separate shapes
each knitted out from the centre
on 4 double-ended sock needles
sewn together

6-sided shapes have equal number of stitches on each needle
continue until 18 stitches on each needle

5-sided shapes have half as many stitches on one of the needles
(10 stitches : 4 on 1st needle, 2 on 2nd needle, 4 on 3rd)
continue until 18 stitches on 2 needles
and 9 stitches on other needle

hexagon (make 20)

using white wool and 4 sock needles

               cast on 3 stitches
row 1      increase into each stitch                   6sts
row 2      increase into each stitch                12sts

   divide onto 3 needles
   and continue in the round

round 1 (increase 1 k1) to end                         18st
round 2 (increase 1 k2) to end                         24st
round 3 (increase 1 k3) to end                         30st
round 4 (increase 1 k4) to end                         36st
round 5 (increase 1 k5) to end                         42st
round 6 (increase 1 k6) to end                         48st
round 7 (increase 1 k7) to end                         54st
               cast off

pentagon (make 12)

using red wool and 4 needles

               cast on 3 stitches
row 1      increase 1; knit 1; increase 1              5sts
row 2      increase into each stitch                10sts

   divide onto 3 needles (4,2,4)
                 and continue in the round

round 1 (increase 1 k1) to end                         15st   (6,3,6)
round 2 (increase 1 k2) to end                         20st   (8,4,8)
round 3 (increase 1 k3) to end                         25st   (10,5,10)
round 4 (increase 1 k4) to end                         30st   (12,6,12)
round 5 (increase 1 k5) to end                         35st   (14,7,14)
round 6 (increase 1 k6) to end                         40st   (16,8,16)
round 7 (increase 1 k7) to end                         45st   (18,9,18)
               cast off

take 1 of the red pentagons
and sew 1 white hexagon to each of its edges
and sew the 5 seams where the hexagons meet

continue adding shapes following the diagram ("net")