Non-periodic plaids

Here's the latest silliness from the Regruntled Computer Works: non-periodic plaids. These are constructed like normal plaids, except that the thread counts are randomized.

I rather like the patterns. I'd like to have a dress shirt made. And I'd like to watch the seamstress try to match the pattern for the pocket! OK, that's just cruel. No pockets.

Humans tend to see patterns that aren't there. Conversely, if they try to randomize something, they make it "too random". I'm guilty, too. I generated lots of these plaids, and discarded the ones that didn't "look right".

I suspect that's part of the reason I find the sudoku patterns so interesting. The rules of the pattern create something with the colors all mixed up. It's not random at all, in fact it's highly structured, but to the eye it looks random without being too random.