Apologies

No, I'm sorry to say I didn't complete your website update, your tri-fold brochure, the finishing work for that model that needs to go in the mail ASAP, my taxes, or any of the other 18 deliverables on my punch list.

I did, however build a desktop laser interferometer today with a bunch of high school kids.  Pretty cool - it totally worked, although you can't actually see the dark lines in the diffraction pattern on the paper in the photo.  We also built some bridges from straws and tape - about as fun as it  can get without lasers.

Lenses and mirrors and lasers, oh my!

"Nobody said the span needed to be >1 inch."

The bridge session kids didn't realize it until the end of the session that the whole purpose of the exercise was to follow rules but look for loopholes and ask for information that they needed.  Their first task was to line up along one wall in order of sequential birth month and date without anybody speaking. A lot of mad hand gesturing happened before they realized they weren't prohibited from writing on the whiteboard behind them.

And thus concludes another STEM-con. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math!) Back to my regularly scheduled to-do list.

About Face

Continuing evidence of why the mill ends aren't sold as first cuts.  This bag of yarn has been quite nice, but has not been without surprises.  The first ball I tackled turned out to be two parallel strands wound together for the whole length, making a large twisty mess (which I set aside as it was taking 3 people to wind and untwist it into submission.)  Now this other ball...

The color sequence has up and reversed on me!

Has been marching along in rainbow order, although to be picky I would point out in one sequence the yellow portion was about twice as long as the other. Until last night.  Teal, blue, purple, pink, then back to purple, then blue. It's now my lucky DOUBLE RAINBOW.  You did know that the color sequences of the second rainbow (referring to the meteorological phenomenon) are flipped from normal, right?

Fortunately, I don't think anyone will know or care once it is wrapped around the neck and draped about.

It does leave me to wonder what mysteries the third ball will hold. I just hope it's not the "knot every 20 yards" flaw.

Snips

A couple of incoming papers to share with you today.  The first is this desperate plea for help from Zabet, from the Anticraft:

I think I have no course of action but to grab my musket, a few vials of laudanum, and mount up the horses and head her way. I hope they can hold out until help arrives. This is actually part of elaborate Parlour Trick. If the thought of haunted chamber music intrigues you, click the picture below - you can hear the album on line and then buy a download. Cool stuff. Thanks, Zabet!

Also, this bit of ephemera, as found tucked inside a second-hand book purchased this week. I found it terribly entertaining, not just because of the atrocious spelling, but the idea that a person would need all of these things at once. It's such a random collection of items that extends beyond the typical grocery list. The edibles are so disparate, I can't even image what s/he's going to be cooking for dinner. I'm trying to imagine the person who wrote it out.

The most amusing item is the Metamucil, when considering the book was a volume of manga. Seriously, how many Death Note readers supplement their fiber intake with Metamucil? Maybe it was for grandma.

Oddball

The screwiest ball of yarn I've ever seen: I tried to pull from the center, but after disgorging half of its volume it became clear that there wasn't an inside end. There were TWO! Picture two strands wound together just slightly twisted, not plied.

To make it a bigger PITA, this discovery was made in the car after our trip started. So instead of getting to knit, I spent the whole time trying to wrangle it into submission. Still not done.

When I got home, I was happy to find the other balls didn't suffer the same defect. I can't wait to see how the colors unfold in this scarf.

Wicked Tools

Studio tools that could seriously maim you: My newly acquired (pre-owned) 30" paper cutter. Looks like it could quite easily slice off an arm as well. It opens the door on the type of papers I can buy and use, since some only come in the full sheet size, and I usually make a mess of those if I try scissors.  The white sheet of paper is a standard 8.5 x 11" for comparison.

I haven't exactly rationalized the cost of it or where I might be able to store it, but it was a good deal. I will use it. In fact I feel the need to chop things up right now.

Retail Therapy

And I had been behaving so well.  One of the little lies we knitters tell ourselves is that we are working down our stashes and trying to be in control. We would only be tempted to visit the wool shop for altruistic reasons: the gift scarf would be so much nicer if it were in her favorite color and matched her coat, I could mend my poor bachelor neighbor's sweater sleeve if I can find a red that matches, I just knit a sweater with 22 balls from my stash and now I need buttons. You know these lies, although you may reframe them in the metaphors of your different avocations.

I was behaving well. I visited Jimmy Beans Wool in Reno over Christmas and despite having finished the mittens I brought along to work on, I bought nothing. Today, I wasn't even in a yarn shop. I would not normally ever shop for yarn in the big box craft stores. I'm a bit of a yarn snob and don't like the froofy acrylic "novelty" stuff and the dishcloth cotton I associate with the chains.  I was in Craft Warehouse (nicest of the chains IMHO) shopping for frames.  I won't say buying frames, because I was saddened to find out that what I imagined to be a standard size, alas, was not. Frustrated because I now am having to custom order one, I stomped around a bit looking for some miracle to bail me out of my dilemma. I did pick up some acid-free foam core because I am perpetually and inexplicably out of it. One day I will figure out which bookcase I slide the sheets behind and I will find 20 sheets, along with 800 missing ball point pens that had slipped down behind as well.

So there next to the framing department, while I waited for the gal to fetch the foam core, I saw giant bins filled with bagged yarn and signage declaring a grand mill ends closeout. The only think I like less than plasticy novelty yarn is bags of novelty yarn.

Met and started chatting with a lady there who searching for the right color of yarn for a Star Wars character in a bin of loose balls. When I asked if she meant something like a Yoda amigurumi that I had made from a pattern on Etsy, she said "Yes, Yes!"  We had a lovely discussion of which yarns would good Ewoks, and how challenging it was to find the perfect Yoda green.  And then I put my hand in the bin. The black eyelash yarn would be great for making soot sprites (from Totoro and Spirited Away) for Hannah. And a ball went into my basket.

We then discussed a strange netted yarn called Starbella that can be used for making really simple ruffled scarves. And a ball went into my basket. The rust and green and black on used in the example on the link.

Then I looked closer at the bag yarns. They had no labels, no information, no fiber content listed, no weight or gauge info, no hint of brand. They were packaged as 1 pound bags for $8.39. They had to be total crap yarn, right?  Mostly yes, but I saw a bag peeking from a few layers down that looked, to my surprise, like Noro or Knit Picks Chroma.  It looked like a wool blend, single ply with the color shifting and tweeding a bit.  I had bought some Noro Sock yarn a few years ago that was $20 for a 100 gram skein (over $80 for a pound.) I knew this couldn't be as nice, but damn, it looked good and was an amazing deal.  A little more sifting and I found several more bags, including some in a heavier (worsted?) weight.

Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop. (That was the sound of four bags landing in my cart.) I had to stop myself from taking them all. Besides, without being able to properly fondle it bagged as it were, I may not like it at all. Not all the balls in each bag were the same color, which will be important to figure out when It comes to scheming up a project. Also, whoever bagged it was conscientious to ensure there was at least a pound in each bag. One had 6 oz above and beyond!  The good news is that unbagged, it looks and feels like quality yarn. How did this happen? For under $40? In a chain store?

So I blog this score as both a rationalization of an unneeded purchase and the confession of a yarn hoarder. Besides, It was nice meeting someone from the Tri-Cities who actually knows what amigurumi is. Time to turn my attention back to things that I actually need to do, rather than rambling on and on.

Old School

And here are a few tiny paintings I did last week using more traditional materials - ink and paint. I was on the road, so it was interesting to see how adequately I packed my travel art box. I know of a few things I need to add/change.

Scanning Electron Microscope

I wish I had one. It would take pictures like this, at least that's what I think it looks like. These are fractals that I generated using the Mandelbulb rendering software. The coolest thing about fractals is that the closer you look, the more you see. Makes you want to just dive in and keep zooming, which you can do until your computer's floating point arithmetic runs out of digits.

Closeup of one of the blue lines in the bigger pic below

Digital Snowflakes

I've taken a challenge to make art every day in January. We're not required to finish something every day, which is good.  I have done a bit every day so far - even when we've been on the road. I'm sharing pictures today of some digital renderings I made of fractal equations. I thought they looked like snowflakes, so I colored them as such.  I'll post some of the other (traditional media) finishes from this week when I bother to get the scanner back on.

rotated and zoomed

Coffee Break

Finished this today: ink and gouache, 6" square.

Coffee Break

The ink came out a bit heavier than I had originally envisioned, particularly on the orange border. But it didn't look finished with just the paint. In the top photo, you can't see the gold is metallic and the red looks a touch more gaudy than real life.

Here is the initial sketch, for anyone who cares.