Friday night links

Have you ever pulled an all-nighter and then struggled through the next day, fueled only by massive amounts of caffeine? Then, after about twenty-seven hours without sleep-- and that sleep was pretty much just a nap anyway, so we're really talking about thirty-three hours or so (and the night's sleep before that was horribly insufficient) -- you're so completely exhausted that suddenly you're wide awake? No? Oh.

So yeah, I've had a long week. At the moment, I feel alert enough to go out and do something with my Friday night, but I'm afraid that my body might unexpectedly shut down like an overheated laptop in some really unfortunate and embarrassing place like, say, the bathroom at the Nachbar. Instead, here are a bunch of random links (and a video):


O'Reilly surprised "there was no difference" between Harlem restaurant and other New York restaurants (Media Matters)
So now we can add "clueless racist" to this list of terms used to describe Bill O'Reilly (compiled by me right this very minute using the always-entertaining "[name] is" Google search method): "nuts", "thug in a suit for Fox News", "wrong", "spineless wimp", "big blubbering vagina" (?!), "lying son of a whore", "nutball", and "moron".

Response to Student Writing: 13 Ways of Looking at It [.pdf]
My graduate advisor passed this on to me some months ago. I wish I'd reread it before I read that first pile of lab reports earlier in the semester.


I've been really into my knitting lately. I finished another pair of socks today (they're on my feet at the moment, but I'm way too lazy to go grab a camera, so you'll just have to trust me when I say they're pretty sweet), and I'm doing a pair for my grandmother next (in KnitPicks Swish DK, Pale Lemon), and I've got about fourteen other things I want to make after that. It is fall... maybe I'm nesting or something.

hard stuff made soft.
When Neil toasted us at our wedding, he speculated that I might at some point knit an entire place setting. From time to time, I've thought about how I might actually go about doing that. I'd like to attempt it at some point, just to see if I can.

Craft the Vote! (Slate)
I'm loving this one:

RepubliCraft No. 4: Pro-Life Baby Onesie
Make pro-choicers feel the shock and "awwwww." Embroidered appliqué reads "I'm Alive!" If you have twins, make another one that says, "Post-Born Fetus!" Why abort a baby when you can use it to express your political views?

Southern Indiana FiberArts Festival
Allison S. brought this to my attention today, and I definitely think I'm going. As I explained to my darling geek of a husband, "It's sort of like a comics convention... for knitters." He gets it. Bonus: Southern Indiana is beautiful in late October.



I think I first saw this over at Neil & Erin's house. I've decided to include the term "mafipulation" as a possible answer choice in the exam I'm writing for my Biology 104 classes. I guarantee you someone'll pick it.

And now: a few rounds of knitting, and then bed. I have a feeling I'm gonna have some really bizarre dreams tonight.

I'm still not eating chicken, but...

This bit of good news reminds me of how much I miss eating my mom's lemon pepper chicken wings. They're heavenly.

Yesterday morning, as Dave and I loaded up the Explorer for a day of exciting ecological fieldwork, a University custodian commented that he appreciated what we were doing because it was people like us who were going to fix the mistakes that his generation had made. Nice thought, I guess (and I'm glad that more and more people seem to be thinking like him), but it's sometimes hard for me to see how whatever little things we do fit into the bigger picture. Of course, scientists could figure out solutions for every pressing crisis under the sun and it still wouldn't mean jack until those who make the big decisions decide to listen. These days, I seem to be vacillating between utter despair for the future of humanity and the planet and hope that maybe things will change.


Oh, and I also finished another pair of socks.

This and that and the other thing

Rafael Nadal is a pretty man. So it's especially unfortunate that he looked like a starving lunatic during Sunday's award presentation, chewing on the French Open trophy like an overexcited puppy:

Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated

Um, Rafa? It's real. Seriously, you don't need to do that. Please stop.

On the other hand, I really like this shot:

David Vincent/Associated Press

In other French Open news... I don't fully understand what's going on here, but I suspect it's pretty awesome:


Take a look: Roger Federer and Serena Williams gave similar performances.


"So, Allison," you may be wondering, "I couldn't really care less about tennis. Or French television, for that matter. Do tell, what have you been knitting lately?"

Well, first of all, French television is quite entertaining, especially their game shows. Giant floating skulls asking trivia questions! Cheap Survivor ripoffs! But that's another discussion for another time. As far as knitting goes, I'm so glad you asked.

Here are the Monkey socks I finished a few weeks ago using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and #2 double-pointed needles:

I'm now working on a pair of socks for Paul, but before I started those, I took a couple of days to make myself a hot pink beer bottle cozy using some stash yarn (something cotton, maybe on #5 DPNs -- I really can't remember):

I plan on knitting up a few more of these using various yarns and colors; I'll probably change the pattern up a bit, too. They'd make good gifts, I think.


I have little nerdy content at the moment, mostly because it's summer and I'm spending more time in the lab than I would like and less time in the field. The lab work isn't exactly thrilling, though maybe I'll describe my study in more detail some other time. I'll definitely have more to say when I start teaching in the fall; I'm looking forward to that.


One more thing -- dried strawberries are crazy delicious. I'm just sayin'.

Rock out with your socks out

About a month or so ago, I was planning to buy a new laptop. After realizing that our tax refund wasn't going to be as big as I initially thought, I decided to put that off for a while. Maybe next year. Next year, maybe I'll get this.

On to the knittin'...

Finally finished those damn Gryffindor scarves for my labmates. They were certainly tedious, but they look real nice. Here's the one I made for Allison, who shares my office (two Allisons in one room! Hilarious!) It's freaking huge, but it'll serve her well when she's driving her scooter to campus on those lovely thirty-degree rainy mornings. Too bad I didn't finish it a week ago.

(I appear to have no arms in this picture. Creepy.)

Guess what? I finished my first-ever pair of socks! They're a bit wonky (and the photo's a bit blurry), but they're mine; therefore, they are awesome. Behold!

So, now that I'm addicted, I started a pair for Paul, too. I'm using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino: 55% merino, 33% microfiber, 12% cashmere, 100% yum. Harriet helped me with the cuff:

Where were you today, Harriet, when I turned the heel? Huh? WHERE WERE YOU?!?!?

Snowflake

As Paul mentioned, we planned a short trip to Lexington on Saturday to meet our new neice. She's remarkably gorgeous for someone who just spent nine months all smooshed up in a uterus. Some photos:

She slept for all but about five minutes of our visit, but I suppose it's tough to be a good hostess when you're only four days old. We're planning on making the trip again next weekend, as Paul's mom will be in town as well.

I finally had the chance to give Beth and Rod the baby blanket I finished a couple of months ago:

I don't have a good full-size image of it, but it's made of Bernat Cottontots, has a garter stitch edge, and is about the size of, well, a baby blanket.

In other knitting news, I'm working on a couple of Harry Potter Gryffindor scarves for people in my lab. I'm following this pattern in the interest of authenticity, which unfortunately means that it's taking forever and is relatively mindless knitting (thousands upon thousands of basic knit stitches with a color change every now and again). I'm also not a big fan of the yarn I'm using (some Bernat acrylic something-or-other), but it was cheap and the people I'm knitting for aren't that picky. It'll be nice to work with something soft after this... I'm thinking it may be sock season.

"If you were into ceramics, you'd be my Hairy Potter"

Seeing as this is the first post, I should probably write some sort of short introduction or note of welcome or the like. However, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to write about particularly nerdy things, either (though I suppose knitting can be nerdy... knerdy?) because I made a lot of things over the past couple of weeks and I'd rather discuss those than talk about research proposals and leaf litter decomposition experiments.

Here is the scarf I made for the National World War II Museum's Knit Your Bit campaign. It's a simple 3x3 rib in Lamb's Pride Worsted.

I had enough yarn left over to make Paul one of his own (though slightly different: it's narrower, is knit in 2x2 rib, and has wider stripes). Though he is not a World War II veteran, Paul does possess a shirt indicating that he is an "All-American Grandpa".


Here's a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves in Mission Falls 1824 Wool (merino superwash, yay!) I altered the pattern slightly -- I made them smaller (eight pattern repeats instead of nine) and skipped the picot edging. I think they turned out really well, especially considering this was my first time trying cables and only my second time using double-pointed needles. Plus, I learned a new cast on method.


Because I wanted to try short rows, I also made myself one of these Calorimetry hats. It turned out a bit bigger than I'd like, so I thought I might felt it, but it's ribbed, so I'm not sure if that'd work very well. The yarn (Patons Soy Wool Stripes) is really nice but would be a pain in the ass to frog, so the hat's just going to sit there for now, unphotographed.

Have a happy and healthy new year, everyone.