Saltwater Purls

Metal without heat

The last couple of metal working classes I've taken have been about techniques that don't require heat. Late last year I took a class on riveting and and sawing metal. I made a little hinged thing...it was cool but pretty useless. Two weekends ago I had a wonderful creative weekend and I made this ring from an art glass bead, silver and a copper tube. No soldering was involved. Unfortunately it turned out a little small. This last class was on etching. This time because it was just me and my friend Angela (who works at the bead store), we pretty much did what we wanted. Etching is awesome. I have so many ideas for designs...but I need to get to Armstrongs for some supplies. The best part is the etching needs copper containing metals so I won't be breaking the bank like the silversmithing was. Both images are of different types of kelp that I have riveted together. I can't decide what to do next...I want to keep this piece out of the fire...

A new constellation

Blackhole AKA Stardust is finished. I am very happy with the results. Louet Kidlin is very soft after it is washed and I am enjoying wearing it next to my skin. The cardy is very wearable. the only I would change if I had a time machine would be to make the sleeves a little wider. Drum roll....here she is...
Pattern: Stardust from Knitty
Yarn: Merlin by Louet
Words of Wisdom: This was a pretty straight forward pattern. I made the ribbed section 9 inches to add a little length. I made the ties a little narrower (16 stitches). The biggest change though was in sleeve length. I have little use for short sleeves. I was aiming for 3/4 length sleeves, but futzing around with the sleeve caps, trying to get them to fit into the body, made the sleeves longer than I wanted. Oh well, no biggie. I would recommend this pattern for a light cardigan to throw other outfits. You can dress it up or down too.

Back to Black

I need to blog this project before I finish it! I frogged the kidlet feather and fan cardigan I started last year. I made two different sized sleeves and once I discovered it I couldn't bring myself to knit another sleeve. This time I am making the stardust cardy from Knitty. Several people have used Louet Kidlin lace weight to great effect so I am following suite. I am going to make 3/4 length sleeves though. I'm speefing through this so I should be done this weekend...then what?

Statue...???

Sometimes I don't know what to do with Finlays art work. This latest piece had us in stitches...

What would you call it. Daycare called it 'statue'. Here's the proud artiste.

A Rosy Future?

well Rosa is finished. I'm not sure if it was a good choice for a larger bust. The buttons have to go. I thought they  looked retro but they're the wrong colour.

Pattern: Rosa from Thrown Together by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft 4ply
Words of Wisdom: I didn't make any major changes except lengthening the body. The ruffles were painful. In particular I had trouble binding off loosely.

Roses wrist warmers

I have a new viewing obsession. Dr Who. I've just finished season 2 and in the final tear jerker scene, Rose Tyler wears some lovely wrist warmers. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be a time traveler, escaping everything you have to do, adventuring and seeing amazing things, and in the end be returned moments after you left. Of course Dr Who never does that, you usually end up somewhere you don't want to be crying in your pea soup. Like a good knitter I spied the gloves and wanted to posses them the moment she appeared on the screen with them. Wouldn't you know it the rabid Dr Who fan base has already created a pattern. I'm making some modifications of course. The yarn is Garnstudio DROPS Angora-Tweed.

On the high seas

Well I'm back and I can say California is mightly nice this time of year. The cruise was a success...not a ridiculous success but we will be able to satisfy our promises to NSF. I took two grads and an undergrad to San Diego with me. First checking in. You'll be pleased to know as of 30 days ago our ports are safer, you can not walk on a port unless you have a twix card and that will be $100+ thank you homeland security. Second, the guy at the front desk was pleased to tell us we'd be sailing on the bucket....the bucket?...yes the barf bucket. This is the point where you smile nicely and hope the students behind you were not listening too closely.

The Robert Gordon Spoul is one of the smaller boats in the Scripps fleet (the Melville in my Tahiti pictures is one of the biggest). And to be honest, there were no comfortable spots on the boat. The galley was right at the front and the cook suggested we could always take our food to the fantail to eat if we felt sick. The indoor lab was small and the fantail frequently flooded. That was okay becuase I soon learned that there was no hope of collecting a kasten core unless the conditions were calm and fortunately the conditions were calm most of the time.

We collected lots and lots of mud from the last 2 thousand years and the wonderful stratigraphy meant we very quickly learnt the age of the end of the core (within 200 years ) based on flooding events (the grey layers.

Our last move was to try and get some sediments from below 2000 years from a different part of the Santa Barbara Basin...a move that put us in the median strip of the shipping lanes, but the sea picked up and we were unsuccessful at getting any sediment (ie we kept dragging the coring device along the bottom as the current swept us off position in the 'moderate' seas).

Not a Rosa Picture of Ruffles

I have almost finished Rosa. A relatively easy knit until now, she went to BC for Xmas and I made a lot of progress on her there. Rosa is another knit from Kim Hargreaves 'Thrown together' book in RYC cashsoft. This is the third sweater I've knitted in the last year in cashsoft 4ply... the odd thing about the yarn being now it is so cold (read yesterday when I went to catch the bus it was -25°C) the air is dry and the yarn has static cling....this did not happen with the previous knits. I have now knit 3 of the 6 ruffles and they are killer on the hands....340+ caston stitches, two rows of ktog and then I get slammed with the castoff. 2 of the 3 ruffles I need to recastoff because I castoff too tightly and they are not long enough for their slots on the knit (see the verticle lines on the front....that is where they go). So I was racing along until now and everything has ground to a halt. I also need to find some buttons.

Going to sea

Next week I am the chief scientist on my own cruise. Woot! Going back to sea again, lalala, playing in a boat again, lalala. I'm a little like Finlay at the beach (Spanish Banks in Vancouver) at Xmas (the white stuff is snow). Maybe I am a little excited about leaving the -25°C weather behind as well. We're returning to Santa Barbara Basin to collect a whole new load of medieval warm period and little ice age sediment.

A new beginning...

Where have I been? Well snowed under with teaching (the picture was actually taken in Nainaimo, BC at Xmas this year). I taught two large classes. One for the entire semester with 151 students and the other since late October with 422 students. Last time I wrote about work I got some negative feedback about my teaching jokes. Well even if my students happened across this blog, even if someone from the University reads it, I don't mind proclaiming that there is no way I can effectively teach that many students. In the super large class all I was doing was entertaining, hoping the students were following along and taking the responsibilty to learn by themselves. No discussion sections and one teaching assistant shared between a number of classes did not provide the learning support needed. For the first time ever I put an automated vacation message on my email after the last exam to cut loose. I got precious little else done this semester...fortunately things in the pipeline kept me looking productive.

Knitting wise I have a couple of FOs to show but I have yet to take proper pictures of them. Instead I'll show you my latest WIP. Its Rosa from Kim Hargreaves Thrown Together in RYC Cashsoft 4ply bark and it will have contrasting pale lavender kid silk crack. Front finished and 1/3 the way up the back.