Double Helix

triplicate

In wild dreams, I get through whole experiments without snags. In waking life, not so much.

Like many academic labs, ours lacks a manager to ensure smooth sailing. The result is pretty much what you would expect, and favors those who are self-seeking by nature.

In lieu of a manager, we each have specific jobs that serve the lab broadly. Mine is to order all reagents and supplies, and I've got a form for eliciting the necessary details:

• Who are you?
• What do you need?
• Who sells it?
• What's the catalog number?
• How much do you want?

Niggling as it might seem, my absolute minimum is answers to the first two questions. Some will happily divulge their identity, but the minority must be harangued.

The binder where we keep the orders has been falling apart progressively. I got a new binder, and decided on a mascot:

 

For much of the movie, the audience is under the impression that Roz is an irritating bureaucrat who wants to keep Mike Wazowski from getting laid. At the end, we discover that she is the mastermind of a sting operation. Hey, does her sweater have a seed-stitch border?

reproduced

As the AntiToast points out, results are only valid if an experiment can be repeated. Here's the scoop.

A couple of months ago, I was test-driving BlackTabi's scarf. When collecting PeachPit at school, her classmate Kiwi expressed deep admiration for the scarf. Small boys with a passion for color should have a hand knit scarf, don't you think?

My first attempt was a striped scarf with Noro odds and ends, but the colors just weren't jiving. Sideways seed stitch scarf, perhaps? After trying experiment on myself, I concluded that the texture would suit Kiwi. Would braided fringe at the end would be masculine enough? For a boy who wears his hair in corn rows and braids, the fringe should be fine.

Kiwi really loves his scarf, and it has a little room for growing.

Specs

• 96 grams of Noro Kureyon
• US5 Addi Turbos (47 inch)
• each strand 15 wraps around a CD case, sided to side
• 187 stitches
• 15 rows
• fringe at 5 and 6 inches long

thoughts while walking

Wouldn't monkeys be good at picking peaches? How could you get them to bring them down instead of eating them?

Why won't these people wait for the WALK sign?

Too bad that astronomical thingie is installed in front of a brick wall - I'll never get a good picture of it.

I hear you, black-capped chickadee! Where are you?

I didn't really imply that 59 is a possible solution of x times 3, did I? Well, there are 57 rows in this scarf, so x = 19, and that must be why I am remembering a nine - from the unspoken 19.

Not!

Thanks, Lucia, for catching that!

trompe l'oeil

Here are those odds and ends I was telling you about:

Seed stitch knitting with contrasting colors in every row gives the woven look, which I love. Knitting in the long direction gives one something to do with all of those ends, namely fringe.

Now I'm not big on fringe in general. I suspected that Kureyon fringe would not wear too well, so after knotting at the base of the fabric, I braided it and knotted it again.

The only thing that had begun to constrain my Kureyon addiction was the partial balls. Now that I have a reasonable solution for the loose ends, I have no mechanism for restraint.

Specs

• 175 g Noro Kureyon
• US5 Addi Turbos
  
• crocheted cast on 291 stitches (odd)
• 59 rows total (x times 3, where x is odd)
• gauges
• before bath: 4.2 st per inch
• after bath: 3.9 st per inch
• after bath: 11.2 rows per inch
• Fringe length: alternately 6.5 and 5.5 inches (could add one inch)
• dimensions excluding fringe: 74 by 5.25 inches

rescued

Two posts back, I implied that I would be mixing two oddly matched colors of Noro Kureyon, namely 164 and 102.

As Dave surmised, stripes it is.

This is clearly another riff on Jared Flood's brain child - the fourth, if you must know.

This particular scarf was made with yarn spree yarn, picked up to celebrate this. For a little while, I really thought it was mine. After it was off the needles, though, my abundant collection of Kureyon odds and ends started giving me fits. Once those bits and pieces started emerging as something equally pleasing if stylistically different, I became inclined to send the above scarf out into the world. So, if you want to get a better look at it, you'll have to ask BlackTabi.

fever

If you donate to the Obama campaign, you are invited to send this email around to a bunch of friends:

I don't usually send these emails, but I just made a donation to Barack Obama's campaign and I want to invite you to join me.

It's clear that Senator Clinton wants to continue an increasingly desperate, increasingly negative -- and increasingly expensive -- campaign to tear us down. That's her decision. But it's not stopping John McCain from going on the offensive.

Right now, it's essential for every single supporter of Barack Obama to step up and help fight this two-front battle. In the face of attacks from Hillary Clinton and John McCain, we need to be ready to take them on.

Join me in supporting the campaign by making a donation now.

Now, I am indeed hoping that Obama refreshes and expands his message a bit, as the pundits suggest he should. On the other hand, the skewed diatribes run out of the Clinton campaign are beginning to grate on me almost as much as the smug or petulant missives of GWB.

rescue

On the web, I stop at Diana's frequently. Recently, she described a particular colorway of Noro Kureyon sock yarn as "the butt-ugliest color of Kureyon sock yarn ever seen." Hmm, didn't I drop a double-sawbuck on exactly the same thing?

Maybe the problem is that 164 is only half a colorway. Here's some of the stuff (different weight, though) unwound and hanked up:

What happens if I mix it with some of this?

The peeps I saw on Sunday already know.

going bold

For some time, I had been conflicted about what to do with my Easter egg palette of Sheep Shop Sheep One. Sweaters for children would be a good option, but honestly, I want to knit this stuff quickly, as this acquisition broke Stash Restraint 2007. How about a blanket in garter stitch?

Thanks, Rebecca, for pointing out that the yarn did not necessarily have to be worn.

Mailbag

• See whither SPA 2008 for responses to Mishka, AntiToast, Dorothy, Claudia, Heather, Brenda, and Julie.
• See picky, picky, picky for responses to AntiToast and Rebecca
• See dawn for responses to AntiToast and Heather
• See essence for some relatively generic responses, and specific responses to Mishka, Emily, Claudia, and Heather.

kinks

About a week ago, I decided what to do with the stupendous amount of Sheep Shop Sheep One that I picked up at 40% off. I frogged the swatches, and quickly realized that a good straightening was in order. Into the bath!

After squeezing the hanks and whacking them on the side of the tub, the fiber relaxed quite a bit. Contrast Wool Ease. I applied the same treatment, and while the frogged fiber did fluff up a bit, the kinks seemed to be unresolved. I didn't think that acrylic blends had memory. I hope tough love (seed stitch) will adjust its attitude.

Regarding my article accepted in Nature, thank you all for sharing in my joy. I did in fact go in search of celebratory yarn. No doubt you will be disappointed when I unveil it.

Mailbag

See the swap for responses to I Hate Toast, Dorothy, Omly, and Rebecca.

she said yes

A little over two years ago, I began blogging as a means of connecting with other knitters. Shortly after that, the Moss and I were invited to join an amazing scientific collaboration, spanning four laboratories and two continents. Collaborations are intricate by nature, and tend to promote self-awareness, ready or not. When engaging in such a collaboration, you give up autonomy and control. You also bet some chunk of your ego that you will reap proportional glory.

The blog, on the other hand, is a very different sort of collaboration. I write, you read, some occasionally comment, and it continues. Some comments provoke subsequent posts, though the core of the blog draws from a solitary creativity. Admittedly, at the outset, I thought I might achieve some popularity or notoriety from the blog. Over time, I realized that I am neither wild enough to become notorious, nor accessible enough to become popular. The best that can be said is that on my bandwidth, I call the shots.

The blog will dissolve when monetary and temporal costs exceed its use. The thing I create with keyboard and server is by its nature fleeting, and the only thing that might endure is miles of privately held code. Contrast scientific publication. When in grad school, I flipped through a fifty year old volume of Nature, found it antique, but at the same time realized that science proceeds lineally from those distant publications. Every once in a while, there are landmark papers that change the direction of science broadly, and that maintains even if the specific papers are no longer read.

Two posts ago, a few of you gathered that I was waiting to hear from a journal editor. Since last Halloween, two manuscripts produced by our vigorous collaboration have been going through the peer review process. The shorter paper features me as a minor author. The longer paper, into which I poured so much of myself, features me as one of three primary authors.

As of today, these papers have been accepted at Nature. I'm glad I took that bet two years ago.

reclamation

Many moons ago, I bought a whole whack of Lion Brand Wool Ease. I was in my final year of grad school, had just learned to knit, and lived a block away from Michael's. I needed a sweater's worth of yarn, and there's no way I would have been able to afford that much pure wool.

I embarked on a sweater for my then betrothed, using a stranded pattern of my own design. I liked the fabric, and was pleased to have managed purling in two colors. The sweater approached vest status last millennium. The bottom edge flips up, though, due to a bad match between the cast on edge and the corrugated ribbing, and the collar contrasts too starkly with the body. I could rework the edging and collar, finish the armholes, and produce a fully fledged vest. Even if I choose this path, I will still end up with rather a lot of Wool Ease.

Predictably, I wrestled with this for some time. In the past couple of years, I've given a good amount of beautiful stuff to friends and even a few strangers, realizing that it would mean more to me in other people's hands. I am not so inclined to give the Wool Ease away, though. I feel a little sentimental about it. When I began to knit, I was almost fully insulated from the knitting world, as I was taught knitting by one close friend. Between her advice and Elizabeth Zimmerman's, my fiber world was for a time as broad as it needed to be. The internet provides a wealth of information and ideas, but at least as often draws energy away from the creative process.

In addition to this Wool Ease reflecting the beginning of my knitting life, it is a practical yarn with a practical palette. Having been fascinated by quilting in college, my inclination is to take the Wool Ease and make something of it, rather than abandon it for dreamier colors and higher-minded fibers. My plan is to make about 120 of these squares:

Even though to some it would seem like an exercise in tedium, I like the idea of making square after square after square. I keep gravitating toward scarves for mindless knitting, but their bulk is not too practical for toting around in the summer. I worked out a simple square recipe, and really enjoy varying the pairings of the smaller band and larger band. Seed stitch gives the fabric loft, and I really enjoy it. My plan is to assemble the squares into a blanket by picking up stitches in black and closing the seams with a three-needle bind-off.

Mailbag

• See seventh and last for responses to Liz, Mishka, Katy Cassidy, Airing, Elk, Dorothy, Liz, Ariel, Claudia, Heather, Jenn C, and Bethe
  
• See overshot for responses to the AntiToast, Rebecca, and Colleen
  

essence

A few years ago, DH and I figured out that dining out on Valentine's Day meant waiting forever to be seated in a crowded restaurant, or opting for mediocre cuisine. These days, we choose an off night for dinner out, and typically the night before Valentine's.

Last night, we ventured out in the pissing rain for sushi. We took PeachPit with us, a choice unfathomable before becoming a parent. She's a girl who relishes her sushi, and a private boat of salmon and tuna nigiri puts her on best behavior.

Yesterday, my mood was piss poor, as has been the recent trend, so it's just as well DH had other company. I drink only occasionally, but last night I ordered sake and embraced it with vigor. I was loopy before the miso soup. When I got home, these were waiting for me:

Now, you might think, "Carnations? Really?" Mike doesn't fancy them himself; he thinks that carnations look like someone took perfectly good flowers and had at them with scissors. I like them because they are robust, and these days, I'll take all the robust I can get.

Posting the "Make My Day" meme today would have been a good move, but with apologies to all of the wonderful peeps in my blogging universe, there's only one person who could make my day right now. She's blogless, and we've never even met.

Now that you mention it ...

Carnation Crew, right ON. Sushi Crew, likewise!

Mishka, so that's how American men get the asian woman fixation!

Dorothy, Allison, Rebecca, and Liz, thank you for your good wishes.

Emily, that totally sounds like PeachPit. She's a natural pedagogue.

Claudia, oooo, the flower code! As a teenager, I was a little slow to realize that fourteen-year-old boys were not going to grok this form of communication.

Heather, I loved your uppity women laundry list.

dawn

So true:

Heather, thanks for the fun!

Mailbag

• See revealed for responses to Mafia, Judy, Rebecca, I Hate Toast, Dorothy, Emily, Liz and Liz.
• See old year, new year for responses to Emily, DaviMack, Claudia, Dava, Dorothy, Heather, Rebecca, Danielle, Ariel, and I Hate Toast

Now that you mention it ...

AntiToast, that link is *totally* me. I spent a good 23 minutes and 19 seconds noodling around on that site. I hope you've taken a break from the harrumphing (reduces your carbon footprint).

Heather, I took the quiz a second time to see the percentage. Survey says 17%.

picky, picky, picky

Last November, my brother Boop gave me a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, and with it I got this:

I've been enjoying it overall, though I am still settling into the rhythm of the analysis. I did identify something that I found irksome. On page 189, there's a pattern for something liberally called a "Butterfly Moebius."

One classic Moebius pattern, which can be seen on page 52 of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around, instructs the knitter to make a rectangle, give the thing half a twist, and graft the short ends together. The Butterfly Moebius, in contrast, is knit from one long edge to the other. (Two edges? That's a problem right there.)

There is no inherent problem in building a Moebius along the long axis. Here's how it's done, and as The Girl From Auntie explains, "The loop begins with a provisional or provisional-style cast-on on a circular needle; the first half of the first round of knitting is worked on that provisional row as usual, but then the second half of the first round is worked in the bottom of the provisional row."

The method that Parkes uses if different, though, giving the cast on stitches precisely one twist before joining the ends of the circle, then proceeding as if for any tube. Therein lies the problem. A Moebius strip requires half a twist, but he Butterfly Moebius involves a whole twist. It may be beautiful, but it ain't a Moebius.

Now that you mention it ...

AntiToast, coffee does *not* ooze; I couldn't agree more. It *might* creep, as creeping does not require a certain viscosity. While I'm not bad in the wrapping department, I've decided looking festive is all that's required.

Rebecca, you're quite right. One night at Circles, Allison investigated the full-twist method out of curiosity. We learned why it doesn't work, so when I read Parkes' description I understood the limits immediately. I did some modest investigation for a mathematical term for the Butterfly Moebius but came up empty.

whither SPA 2008

SPA has never been on my personal calendar because it has always conflicted with my husband's birthday. This year, it's late enough that I may just be able to swing it. So, dear readers, please fill me in.

How many people usually attend?
Is it essential to go with friends?
Do people usually drink and dine at the hotel?
Should one stay the night to enjoy the best parts of SPA?

Now that you mention it ...

Mishka and AntiToast, I had it wrong - it's not "SPA Knit and Spin" but "Spa, Knit, and Spin." As far as I can tell, it's an annual weekend gathering of spinners and knitters with a focus on informality, booze, spinning, and knitting. On Saturday, an intentionally limited number of vendors turn up. I've heard someone say that the bloggers have ruined the event, which probably reflects a shift in ambiance over time.

Dorothy, sometimes forgetting my social awkwardness and jumping right in works, and sometimes it doesn't. Blogger Bingo at Rhinebeck in 2006 reminded me of high school more strongly than anything else in the past 20 years. Geeks are rarely the popular girls. Nuff said.

Heather, glad to be of service.

Claudia, Brenda, and Julie, thank you for all of the information. Up to the last minute, I considered going for the day. I bailed due to a heavy-duty respiratory thing (cold from hell, or worse). I really needed to sleep and to avoid inhaling fibers. Having a confederate in dodging long waits for mediocre food sounds like the approach for me.

the swap

Last weekend, it was my pleasure to see a bunch of old friends, and to swap old yarn for new.

stash brought to swap	grams
Rowan plaid (purple)	- 800
Tessin (orange)	- 400
Bartlett bluky (olive green)	- 410
Dorchester Farms mohair (pink and peach)	- 370
Misti Alpaca Bulky (black, brown)	- 200
Interlacements Peru (orange, purle, green)	- 240
total	- 2420
brought home from swap
Mostly Merino sport (natural)	165
Sheep 3	100
Ritratto	100
Rowan DK or fingering weight (dk green)	50
Ice Yarns (funky tan stuff)	100
Misti Cotton Silk (lavender)	100
Zephyr Admiral (cobalt blue)	130
Barbados (warm multi)	100
looks like a fuzzy parrot	50
total	945
money spent (excluding brunch goodies)	$ 0

Summing up:

previous balance (@ $24)	- 65 grams
yarn out of stash	- 2420 grams
yarn into stash (@ $0)	945 grams
new balance (@ $24)	- 1540 grams

Things queued for accounting, but not yet included:

• sock yarn shawl
• noro scarf the third
• booty from A Good Yarn's Winter Sale

Next weekend: watching paint dry.

Now that you mention it ...

I Hate Toast, please! Let's say peas and carrots - I'm trying to reduce.

Dorothy, you said it, girl!

Omly, well there's an easy post to write! Coming soon.

Rebecca, really, I couldn't believe my luck about the Sheep 3. It would be my pleasure to pass tasty chunks of Sea Colors to you. Perhaps I should wrap up the Zilborgian sweater soon.

overshot

Binding off the lower edge of this fine-gauge shawl would have been downright grueling if not for the company of the Saturday Brunch Knitters. After that, I thought I was home free. When working the edging along the front opening, however, I decided against decreases at the neck edge. I repeated the mistake when working the collar from the provisional cast on.

Result? The unpleasant feeling of being mugged by my shawl. There's only one thing to do: frog the collar, frog the edging, and repeat. While I'm at it, though, I'll change it up. The collar needs to be shorter and better not matched to the opening edge. Now where did I put those purple beads?

Mailbag

See what the hell for responses to I Hate Toast, Claudia, Dorothy, Emily, Rebecca, Nik, Dave, Danielle, Heather

Now that you mention it ...

AntiToast, damn, you're good! Any idea about my binoculars?

Rebecca, frogging and re-knitting now accomplished. I am so sorry to hear that you mistakenly missed the brunch.

Colleen, we all seem to instinctively steer away from the crumbly stuff.

seventh and last

How to survive the State of the Union:

"Tax cut, tax relief" - drink!
"Veto" - drink!
"Terror, terrorists" - drink! oops - that's a double!

I wanted to include "Iran" but Mike vetoed me. (drink!) Just as well, as I'd still be loopy tomorrow morning. At one point, Mike just brought up the whole bottle. Anybody want to join us to watch election returns on November 4, 2008?

Now that you mention it ...

Liz, doubtless your class was a much better use of your time.

Mishka, right you are, friend! I should have brought out the bottle and switched off the tube. The sound of Bush's voice makes my teeth curl.

Katy Cassidy, when I meet someone from another country, I make a point of distancing myself from GWB as early as and as clearly as possible.

Airing, I just hope the country can recover. Give me a meritocracy, please!

Elk, I'm such a lightweight that I can deaden the pain within the first five minutes.

Dorothy, the SOTU broadcast is expected every year, and not a nuisance per se. When you've got a chief of state who is objectionable on almost every level the SOTU can only follow suit.

Liz, I just love some good alliteration.

Ariel, holy crap, did he really say that? Nothing that priceless this year.

Claudia, theoretically it's possible that someone could be worse than GWB. Any of the current contenders - even Huckabee - would each be an improvement.

Heather, good point. I guess you've got to have been born with a silver foot in your mouth (with apologies to Ann Richards) to get away with that.

Jenn C, Agreed. The booze, coupled with the fact that the end is nigh, got me through it - if barely.

Bethe, I can't believe it took me thins long to figure out how to stomach one of W's SOTU addresses.

old year, new year

At the end of 2006, the blogosphere saw a frenzy of radical stash diets, which in turn frustrated a number of yarn store owners. I considered what I'd spent in 2006 and concluded that I needed some stash rules. Posts on the topic:

• full disclosure (2006 purchases)
• boundaries and rewards (stashing rules)
• just knit faster (rules revised)
• balancing act (January report)
  
• out of bounds (February report)
  
• tally ho (March report)
• truth or dare (April and May)
• busted (June and July)

I left things hanging in early August, never quite managing to swing an update. At long last, here's what happened with the rest of 2007.

budget, August through December	$
at the end of July	- 222
getting out of bed ($1 per day)	153
packages mailed ($2 per each)	28
papers submitted ($30 per each)	60
finished objects ($1 per 30 g) small circus (600 g) tomten jacket (420 g) Pine Street Inn squares (100 g) Mafghan squares (150 g) noro striped scarf 1 (220 g) noro striped scarf 2 (240 g)	64
total yarn budget	83

And on the outgoing side of the ledger:

purchased, August through December	$
Trekking Pro Natura (A Good Yarn)	18
Megaboots (A Good Yarn)	16
Tapestry (A Good Yarn)	9
Jasper Copper Silk (Patternworks)	9
Rowan Plaid (Woolcott)	89
Jewell (Mind's Eye)	57
Blackberry Ridge Sock (Circles)	52
Shelridge Farms Sock (Circles)	44
Sheep Two (Circles)	110
Cascade 220 (Tangled Web)	54
Ella Rae (A Good Yarn)	7
Cascade 220 (Knitting Room)	80
Lucente (Knitting Room)	4
Glimmer Print (A Good Yarn)	24
Daria Multi (A Good Yarn)	24
Kureyon (A Good Yarn)	102
Kureyon Sock (A Good Yarn)	19
Kureyon Sock (Woolcott sale)	14
Cashmere Silk (Woolcott sale)	48
Baby Alpaca Grande (Woolcott sale)	32
Beatrice (Webs)	47
total spent	859
net result	- 779

How bad is negative $779? From the beginning, I assumed that purchases made with birthday money would not count, which in turn came to about $460. That means that I was over by $319 for the year. The goal was parity, so the project might be construed a failure. On the other hand, I spent $1130 less in 2007 than in 2006, so that's a move in the right direction. Even so, cubic feet of yarn is most certainly up. I need a better plan. Here it is:

End up with 2000 grams less stash by the end of the year.

• All yarn added to stash counts, even gift yarn.
• All yarn removed from stash counts, and charity projects count double.

Certainly I prefer finishing objects to parting with yarn unknit. In order to limit the temptation of simply purging my stash in favor of shiny new things, here's a second rule:

Spend less that $1200 this year on yarn.

Here's the running total for the year:

departed from stash (215 grams)	grams
alpaca vest for PeachPit	- 215
added to stash (150 grams @ $24)	grams
pink satiny sale bin stuff ($5)	50
Kureyon sock yarn ($19)	100
difference	- 65

Now that you mention it ...

Emily, I can do moderation about 80 percent of the time. I need to push it up to at least 95%.

DaviMack, restaurant receipts - now that requires real intestinal fortitude. I think eating out was how I got into significant credit debt in grad school.

Claudia, oh you temptress - offering me a wonderful rationalization. Without realizing it, I've been building a freeform stash for a couple of years. I must have one hundred single skeins, including all sorts of textures and colors.

Dava, well hello there! The crux of the problem is that my stash is getting in my way. If stash is a net positive, then it's all good. And the Kureyon sock yarn? For socks, it seems that the fiber is pretty unevenly spun. I'm crocheting it, which seems to suit the yarn just fine.

Dorothy, I love your encouraging "glass half full" comments. Regarding yarn for finishing projects this year, there are two considerations - grams and dollars. For grams, I can either add them when I get the yarn and subtract when I finish, or do neither. I get to a zero sum either way, Dollars, though, now I'll have to give that some thought.

Heather, you'll notice that it took me until the twenty-first day of the new year to get "sober." I knew what was coming.

Rebecca, I just love that you're out there musing about my loose ends!

Danielle, most days I think of myself as a total scientist, so that fits. Regarding your success last year, "All hail queen of the stash diet!"

Ariel, it's kind of like throwing up - it seems increasingly unappealing and increasingly inevitable, and when it's all over, one does feel a bit better.

I Hate Toast, oh bills! They've always given me great agida. Six years ago, DH got the bug to set up automated bill-paying, and has been dealing with it ever since. I believe that my yarn habit is not a huge financial problem, or I would have heard something about it. More than anything, it's a space problem, which could be solved with another $200,000 or so for real estate. I'd rather just rein in my materialism.

revealed

Here's a bit of silliness:

Which Dyke to Watch Out For Are You?

You scored as Stuart, partner and co-parent with bi-dyke Sparrow. You believe that values need to be backed up with action, which can make you a bit impulsive at times. Make sure to budget time and money in order to afford the winter-length utili-kilts and Air America Radio shirts you've had your eyes on.

At least I dodged the Sydney bullet! I've been trying to take the edges off my cynicism and pretension.

Now that you mention it ...

Mafia, you might be likewise surprised that this makes sense to me. I think you're a force of nature and have great talent.

Judy, now where did I put those lovely lacy things? On a related topic, it looks like you have your choice of wives, er husbands, er, wives: Rebecca, I Hate Toast, Dorothy and me.

Liz and Liz, my Stuart score was only 10% higher than my Sydney score, if it makes you feel any better.

Emily, perhaps we should lunch again soon.