Earth Science Hat: And I Took A Lot Of Pictures

It has all paid off.

Sketching on a whiteboard, drawing little arrows to visualize plate motion and erasing in frustration designs that didn't work.  Lists of things to include that got longer as the semester continued.  Purchasing yarn, and the adventure that is dyeing with food coloring.  Going out the day before Halloween in search of black food dye (yeah, not going to find any!) and coming home with a sampler box of twelve dyes (including black but not orange?).  Experimenting with cast-ons, realizing I hadn't built one into my yarn requirements (oops).  Starting at least four times (too many stitches, twisted cast-on, etc).  Ripping out my first efforts at colorwork again, and again, and again.  Finally figuring out some half-assed intarsia-in-the-round thing that left a few ends but looked pretty good.  Frantically altering the design as we progressed through the class.  Learning to relegate some details to duplicate stitch; learning to do duplicate stitch.

And finally, wrestling a finished hat onto a balloon (you would not believe how many balloons end up in our house...) to take pictures of it.  And I took a lot of pictures.

I think this is my favorite shot of the bunch:

In fact, it's the first one on my Ravelry project page.  I like it because it's off-center, and you can see the mostly-concentric circles my gradient yarn produced.  The tiny twinkling stars out in space are pretty darn awesome as well.

So now let's go on a tour of the rest of the hat, shall we?

Spinning In Public

I take my spindle pretty much everywhere.  Anywhere I'll be standing or sitting in a position convenient for spinning, either Jara or Akitla has an invitation to accompany me.  I'm especially partial to places where there will be a balcony and enough time to get a good make or two over the edge, such as one of the college campuses I attend for classes regularly.

It's always fun to see the reactions I get.  A lot of people just stare out of the corners of their eyes.  Some people ask me what on earth I'm doing (at college, sometimes with stronger language!), while others ask more intelligent, informed questions.  Here are some of my favorite stories:

Earth Science Hat: Finally Off My Needles!

Yes!  Finally, this insane project is no longer occupying my needles!

Now, this doesn't mean it's done.  Oh, no.  For one thing, the back is a mess of ends hanging off from myriad different corners (notably, the subduction zone and ocean edge above it).  For another thing, there are a number of structures and details that need to be duplicate-stitched or embroidered in.  Here's what I can come up with off the top of my head:

• Stars
• Clouds
• Rain
• The details on the mid-ocean ridge
• The magma/lava on the volcano
• The stick-figure geologist
• The outline of the mountain range
• The converging crustal plates of the mountain range
• The below-ground portion of the rift zone
• The outline of the subduction zone

But at least it's a hat now!  Ready to see?

Resolutions for December: And We're Back!

Hello!  The particularly astute among you will have noticed that there were no Resolutions for November this year, and that is because I was too busy and distracted to make any until about the 20th, and by then I didn't even want to bother.  I did accomplish some stuff in November, including finishing that cupcake that was on my resolutions for I think two or three months!

Now it's the last month of the year.  Christmas decorations are going up everywhere I look, which reminds me I need to clean my room so it's not a fire hazard so I can get some candles going in here.  The Texas weather is going haywire, as usual. Expected high tomorrow is 75°F (24°C), while Thursday we're looking at 37°F (3°C).  That's quite a difference!  I have a pile of blankets on my bed keeping me nice and cozy, and I've been wearing a purple-and-grey plaid jacket every time I leave the house these last few days.  Definitely feels like December.

So let's get this ball rolling again and set some resolutions for December, shall we?  As always, Ravelry users are welcome to join us in the Resolutions Monthly group, anyone with a blog can link back to this post if they desire, and everyone else should feel free to post their resolutions in the comments.

I have a lot of resolutions this month, but I think most of them are fairly attainable.  Some are probably wishful thinking, but I'll do my best.