Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Written? Kitten!


A colleague sent me this link - it is a space in which one can write, and for each 100 words written, a kitten is presented. If pictures of cats are reinforcing for you, this might be helpful as you write your final papers in your classes. You can write the text in the box, and then copy and paste it into your papers.

Link: http://writtenkitten.net/

Here is what I wrote in about 10 minutes this morning, while trying it out:

This is a great idea. I am going to share it with friends who like to write, but have a hard time getting to the number of words that they need. There is automatic feedback on the bottom of the screen, which provides a current count of how many words you have produced. At the end of the last sentence, I was at 53. What this also reveals is that it is possible to really write about nothing, a la Seinfeld, just see what happens when you finally reach the goal of producing a substantial number of words here: 100.

So now that I have attained 100 words, and found that a cute, striped cat was presented along with the words, "wored out, ur turn bees teh cute nao", I just have to write 100 more words. Or, at least attempt to write 100 more words. It's hard for me to figure out why people write things like "bees teh cute nao", since that makes no sense to me. At least "wored out, ur turn" makes some sort of sense. I must be getting too old or something; clearly the use of a semi-colon is evidence of my advancing age.

Okay, the black and white cat laying across the dog's front leg was worth writing for! It makes you wonder if that is natural, or photo-shopped. Either way, you can not help but try for 300 words now just see how it will turn out. In fact, in that last sentence, I changed "can't" to "can not" just so that I would count one more word than I would have otherwise been able to count. This is interesting - it is fun to try to add more words, and I find myself writing the exact number of required words here.

That was a bummer. The fresh kitten was the same as the first. I kind of feel robbed after writing 300 words. Are they trying to recycle the cats? Maybe they should ask people to send in pictures of cats from the world over. I mean, I would support that effort. Cookie is a photogenic cat, and I think that people would write quite a bit to see her in various poses with thought bubbles, or even without thought bubbles. It is interesting that I am now writing faster in an attempt to get to 400 words. Will it work?

Yes! Yes, it did work! A new cat was presented!! Nice pose, and things are "looking up" both figuratively and literally. This cat has very large ears. It strikes me that I am still really only writing about nothing. I could be spending my time working on my latest manuscript, or editing another paper. What am I doing? I am writing about pictures of cats being used to reinforce writing. I have also produced 475 words in doing this. This is equivalent to two double-spaced pages with 1 inch margins. Incredible as it seems, these cats work to reinforce writing.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Riemann Surface Neck Warmer

Dear Reader: Some of you know that I am a knitter. This craft is something that I learned at a young age, and continue when there is time. The best thing about this craft is that it can be used as a model to explain reinforcement, discrete and continuous behavior, shaping, chaining and fading.

Recently, I developed my first design. This was inspired by a question asked on the Ravelry geekcraft discussion group, where a member needed to develop a scarf for her brother, who asked her to base it on the Riemann Surface. Obviously, the Riemann Surface could not easily be worn, but hopefully you will get the idea from this pattern.

Note that this is a new pattern, and has not been tested extensively. Your feedback on it would be appreciated!

Riemann Surface-Inspired Neck Warmer

This pattern was inspired by a quest for a scarf that approximates the Reimann Surface, which you can read about here. The first thing that I did was to make a quick paper model of this form to understand how it might be constructed. If you would like to do this first, here are the instructions for the paper model:

Cut a thin, long piece of paper (approx 1 inch wide, by 11 inches (clearly influenced by the only paper I had available). Next, cut a vertical slit about 1 inch from the one end that is large enough for the other end to slip through.

Once the other end slips through, then staple that end to the end with the slit. Voila!

When you look at the model, you should notice that if you knit it, then it would provide an automatic double layer all the way around, with a cross-through. Here is the pattern:

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn (at least 440 yards)
One set of 4.5 mm (US/British size 7)
Tension: 20 sts to 10 cm (4 inches)

Provisionally cast on 20 stitches, and using stockinette stitch (k 1 row, purl one row), complete 3 inches of fabric, ending with having completed a wrong-side row. Measure how wide your knitting is at this point. Note that if you are knitting to gauge, then it should 4 inches wide; however, if it is not that exact measurement, it does not matter much as long as you are consistent in your knitting.


Next row: Knit 10, and then start another skein of yarn to knit the remaining 10 stitches. You will now work on both sides of the slit, using separate balls of yarn. Knit the separation part until the length of the separation is equal to the width of your scarf, or approximately 4 inches (it can be slightly shorter, but I’ll leave the ratio up to you - the smaller the slit in relation to the width of the scarf, the more it will bunch up when you pass it through). End with having completed a wrong-side row.

When you have knit to the appropriate length, cut the yarn from the second ball, and continue to knit using just one ball at a time (i.e., close the slit now by knitting straight across).

Now, knit until the length is long enough to have the knitting pass through the slit, wrap around as per the diagram found here, and be ready to graft the stitches to the provisional cast on. The shorter the scarf, the closer it will fit around your neck, so the choice about length it up to you. As per the diagram, if you make it too short, you won’t be able to get your head through. (However, it would make a beautiful model for your collection of geek knitting).

Variations: Using different weights of yarn, experimenting with knitting stitches, length, width, and so forth. Enjoy!

© January 25, 2011, Darlene Crone-Todd