Christmas Brag Post

I managed an almost exclusive handmade Christmas. That is, all but one of my gift recipients this year got handmade gifts. I'm rather proud of this.

Of course, not every gift was handmade by me. Two gifts I bought via Etsy. But the rest...

For the niece and nephews. The third was finished in time.

An electric blue scarf for my sister-in-law.

I really should remember to take pics after I finish the piece!
This ended up being a long shawl/scarf thing.

The only non-handmade gift? For my father. Because he prefers lottery tickets.

Cheating?

I love the Internet.

Back at the continuation high school (my last gig before the break), the science class had a crossword puzzle on earthquakes. The lesson plan stated: "Feel free to help them. Give them a few of the tougher answers... I don't have a key." After glancing at the crossword, I saw I was out of my depth.

The puzzle had an author on it. I typed that into Google. The puzzle didn't come up, but all the terms and definitions did. About half the terms were words I had never seen before. Realizing that they'd have more difficulty than me, I decided to make them a word bank.

There were 33 terms, things like "Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale" and "Mohorovicic discontinuity". My hand cramped up just thinking about writing those up on the board. But I had a computer hooked up to a projector.

I love technology.

A quick copy/paste into a word processing program, add bullet points, and voila! I had a word bank for the class.

I wonder if their teacher wanted them to find those terms. Terms that weren't in their textbook (I checked). I mean, these are the students that will not do an assignment just because it's too hard. They got to the continuation high school for a reason. So, helping them out this way was the right thing to do.

Right?

(Not all the terms were impossible. The crossword also contained Richter scale, aftershock, foreshock, and other terms that Californians, who have been through many earthquakes, should be familiar with.)

A Random Question

How're everybody's holidays going? Anyone left in the blogosphere? Anyone?

*crickets chirping*

Well, if you're here, then you're looking for a random question, so that's what I'm going to post--a question on randomness.

What if nothing is actually random? What if the stuff we perceive as random actually contains an underlying order that we cannot comprehend? 

And that's my last "what if?" for the year. I'll have a new one next week, er, year.

Crocheting for Peace, With Instructions

A while ago, I came up with a crocheted peace sign patch:

...and since then I've been meaning to do a post with the instructions. This was going to be the week. I was going to sit down and make the parts to construct a photo instruction post.

And yesterday was Christmas.

Not going to happen this week, either.

But, I can just post the instructions. With the promise that the photo essay is coming (eventually...). Okay?

I used worsted weight yarn and a size I hook, although any weight yarn can be used, just use the hook that's recommended for the yarn.

Start with the magic loop, and double crochet 12 dc into that loop. Slip stitch into the first chain 3, then chain 3, and work 2 dc into every dc of the previous round (24 dc around, counting the ch 3 as one dc). Slip stitch into the first chain 3, cut yarn, and draw through that stitch. This is the background.

Then the peace sign will be made with a yarn in the same weight but a contrasting color. Fold the round in half. Start at one end and single crochet down the middle.

Then for the "legs" of the sign, start at the middle and single crochet down to the bottom, starting at the dc that's two over from where the sc down the middle is. Do the same on the other side.

Wind the tails of yarn from the "legs" of the sign through the center sc to connect.

Then reverse single crochet (or crab stitch) around the outside (single crochet would work too, but I'm partial to rev sc). Wind in ends, and you're done.

Yeah, this'll make a lot more sense when you see it with pictures. Feel free to post any questions in the comments, and I'll make clearer anything that I can.

Ever the Optimist

I do this every year. I swear that I'm going to be done with my Christmas knitting early so that I'm not in panic mode days before the holiday. One year, I even managed it. Of course, I started my Christmas knitting in January.

I did start this year's Christmas knitting in January. Okay, maybe it was February. And I had two gifts done by the spring. But then I got sidetracked on other projects...

Ah well. There's nothing quite like the rush of realizing that Christmas is in one week, and I still have two gifts I have yet to start. But start them I did. I even finished one on Saturday. And as of Sunday, my gift knitting for the niece and two nephews looks like:

Two down, one to go

The third one that's still on the needles? Totally will be done by tonight (I'm writing this Sunday afternoon, so by the time you read this, it should be done).

2013. Totally my year. I'll be done early, I swear!

Fifty Shades of Rebellion

Biology class at the continuation high school. After the student took her seat, she pulled out a book from her purse. She explained to her friends that she was going to spend the period reading.

The book: Fifty Shades of Grey.

On the one hand, she's reading. A book. Voluntarily. These students don't do that sort of thing usually, so reading is one thing I try to encourage. But Fifty Shades of Grey? Seriously?

(Do I have to censor this? It's not school appropriate. She's under age. But what if she has parent permission?)

The other students recognized it. "Is it that sex book?"

"Read it out loud to us."

There's the limit. I don't know if I should take the book away from her, but I do know that letting her read it to her fellow classmates is definitely not appropriate for school. Especially when they do have an assignment. So, I gave them my definite no.

"You've heard of this book? Have you read it?"

No, I haven't read the book. However, I don't live under a rock. Knowledge of the title and its subject matter has made its way to my attention.

The student opened the book. (She couldn't have been more than a page or two into it.) She looked at it for about a minute. Then she decided that perhaps she should do the class assignment instead. And she put the book away.

I wonder. Do you think if I had made more of a fuss, might she have continued to read?

Ah well. Problem solved.

Recording a Dream

The other day as I finished sewing a zipper into a sweater (nephew's birthday present)...

...I watched a Through the Wormhole I recorded in June. 

(I used to have stuff on the DVR from November 2011. But, unfortunately, the DVR broke last Friday and had to be replaced. Sigh. So many shows went down with the ship.)  

Anyway, that episode contained a segment where a Japanese scientist discussed the possibility of being able to record people's dreams.  

So, as I stitched and watched, I thought about this. And I didn't like it. Which leads to this week's question:  

What if they could record your dreams? What if they could hook you up to some machine as you slept and make a recording of all the strange things that passed through your brain while you were unconscious? Would you let them? Would you want to see them? Would you let others watch your dreams?