My Juggernaut

In entomology lab today, we got to play with beetles. We tied a piece of floss around them and taped that to an empty petri dish. We then set them to walking along a fairly rough surface so that they could grip and pull. As they walked along, we added washers one at a time until the beetle just couldn't pull the dish any more. The Juggernaut pulled 32 washers before he pooped out, earning himself his name as well as pet status. The deal I've worked out with him is that if he dies before the end of the semester, I will pin him and add him to my collection, and if he's still around after final exams I will let him go. This kind of beetle can live for over a year as an adult.

Yarn Pancake

My yarn collapsed. Just died. It's been sagging for a while, but until recently it still had a little structure to it. Now it is little more than a puddle of string. I suppose this is one of the hazards of working from the center of a ball of yarn.

I've also decided that I want to incorporate a twisted rib into the hat , possibly from either this pattern, or this pattern. I'm hoping this will have the illusion of a vertical garter stitch. I'm am slightly worried about the gauge of all this, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

I'm none too pleased with my first set of scores this semester. In one class, the teacher goes through his presentation so fast you can't write everything down. In another, the book I ordered never came in and the class itself is really difficult anyway. And the last class was a bad combo of luck and timing. Ironically, I got the same score in all three classes. I have another test coming up this Friday. I want to do better, but part of me wonders about the pattern I've made. I will have to work my butt off the rest of the semester to undo this no-so-good start.

Oh, and one of my triops disappeared over the weekend. My roommate said the bigger one ate it. But that's not unusual.

Knitting again

So, I'm in the mood to knit again, after taking several days off because I knit myself out last weekend. I had to fix a mistake I found in a cable, but I've already had to do that once before on this scarf, so I've had some practice with that technique. I also added a new ball of yarn because I had used up all of the first ball. I had to pull out the innards of the commercial ball of yarn in order to find the other end, and so out of necessity, I made my first center pull ball by wrapping it loosely around one of my knitting needles. So, here is my progress picture:

I'm still debating whether or not I should block this when I'm done. I really really want to, because the widths are so different in various places, but it is acrylic, and I've heard some mixed reviews on blocking acrylic. I'm not sure if "killing the fabric" will work with cables very well. When it comes time, I'm afraid I might have to knit a swatch to practice on. When I started this project, I started on the suggested size 11 needles. I only got about an inch done when I realized that was not going to work at all. It was waaaay too holey. So I tried again, and again, with smaller needles every time, knitting about an inch or two or three until I was sure I liked how it was coming out. And that is why I do not have a swatch. In a way, this is my swatch... upgraded to the real thing.

I also did a little research on the snake that scared me half to death in the mountains over Labor Day weekend, and found out that it is a ring necked snake. It is completely harmless, and eats things like earthworms and slugs. They are supposed to be secretive, but that one sure wasn't shy!

And look how my little triops have grown!



Arn't they cute!?!?!

Living Things

This semester I'm taking entomology, among other things, and we are required to make an insect collection that is Smithsonian quality, with a minimum of 70 insects covering 10-12 families. Today we made our kill jars.


The plaster is still drying. After it's done I will pour ethyl acetate into the little holes in the bottom to soak the sawdust, and off to massacre some wildlife I will go! It still bothers me that I will be killing living things--and that our class as a whole will be out there doing the same thing. Some bugs, such as ants and cockroaches, are fairly common, but things like butterflies? I don't feel like there are enough of those around here for us to be collecting them for the fun of it. Why do all of us need our own dead bug collection anyway, when just a few living specimens of each species can teach us the same amount of information, if not more (behavior for instance). Sure, it won't be mounted on the wall for us to reference, but when we are done with them they can go on to make sure that our grandchildren will be able to look at them up close and personal as well. How sad would it be to know that everyone has a certain mounted butterfly in their attics or basements, but that has since gone extinct?

On a better note:

These are my two little Triops! They are only about 5 days old here, and already about half an inch long. This is about the 3rd or 4th time I've hatched some. They are very fascinating creatures. They start out about the size of the dot on the letter i, and grow to be an inch and a half long or more. I bought the eggs at Hobby Lobby for about $4.