Drive by crochet projects ....

I've been subbing the past couple of weeks now that I'm a shiny new college graduate (yes, I plan on gloating a wee bit) and haven't really had the time to sit and just take a moment to say "Ahhhhhh." My evenings are full of kids and bubbles and my first attempt at Pho soup and ...and .... and..... all the things I've been missing out on.

However, in the grand tradition of being me and unable to sit and do nothing, I have found a minute or two (during Dr. Who catch-up) to crochet few little projects.

A bit of back story: you might not know this about me. I'm quite obsessed with microbiology and the history of disease. I get oddly and absolutely giddy over the prospect of studying the Black Death or perhaps growing some E. coli in a petri dish. It comes from being a history and science nerd, I suppose.

Anyway, since I spent weeks working on my lesson for the Plague in Europe, and it was all around my students' favorite, I decided to crochet a plague doctor doll as "thank you" present to the teacher I worked with at school.

Why yes, yes he is hanging out on la Guillotine replica made by a student for a project, but that's a whole other post. Ha! I didn't come up with this pattern, but it is available by NeedleNoodles. Super cute and creepy!!! For those of you kind of wondering what the heck a plague doctor is... these were the guys who walked around in slightly terrifying bird-looking masks trying to save those suffering from bubonic plague. Creeptastic!!!! 

I was also able to work with another wonderful teacher who let me take over her biology class. I'm certified for both because I can't make up my mind on a single thing, ever. So of course, nothing would do but that I continued the plushy theme and crocheted her a cute little E. coli! He's my favorite bacteria after all. 

I loved him so much I had to crochet one for myself immediately and then added in a little Rhinovirus (aka the common cold  to you non-nerds) so that he has a friend. This may become a slight addiction as the pattern by TheSoftScientist I found had several viruses and bacteria to play with. Mr. E. coli is not included in her pattern, I worked his little flagella up on my own and added it to her pattern for Tuberculosis. Icky, squishy, adorable microbiology fun!

To step out of the realm of slight gross, but no less weird.... I also crocheted this little guy as a gift for one of my very favorite kiddos. He is in love with all things Toy Story, but he didn't have a lot of the alien toys. Voila! 

Once again, due to time, I purchased a pattern, rather than worked him up on my own. I made changes as I went, but that's mostly because I can't seem to stick straight to patterns. Every time I picked this guy up, I was thinking "The ..... CLAAWWWWWWWWWWW." Hehe.

Since it's the beginning of summer, I've picked up the forever unfinished Ugly Awesome Granny 'Gahn to work on again. It's almost done crochet wise, but may take five million years to weave in ends and put together. I've tried to set a goal for myself to enter it in our state fair to see if I could actually finish it up. If you remember, I had to practically start over as I really didn't know what I was doing when I set out.

Wish me luck! Get out and enjoy the sunshine!!!

Random Roundup: Yarn + Biology = Win.

This version of Random Roundup is brought to you by my ecology textbook. I get the feeling it's going to be quite the carbuncle. Lots and lots of studying for that class. For your mini-science lesson today, ecology is a part of biology. Biology studies life and how organisms are formed. Ecology studies how organisms interact with their environment. In case you weren't aware, I'm kind of a biology geek. I adore learning about all the different types of life we can encounter on our pretty planet. I shoot right past adoration and into delighted tremors and squeaks when yarn and biology are combined. Talk about some "lively" crochet fun!! (Nudge, nudge...get it? Biology is the study of life, so "lively" crochet? Eh? Eh?)

Find the original picture here.

1) This first project isn't crochet (gasp!!!!) which I'm willing to overlook because it. is. so. cool. Fungi is my favorite Kingdom, after all. Leigh at BromeLeighad is knitting a different species of mushroom for each week of the year. Her series, 52 forms of fungi, is full of beautiful pictures and nerdy fun. I will be impatiently awaiting each week's installment. It almost makes me want to learn to knit. Almost.

Find the original picture here!

2) Who loves a virus? I do! I do! What's my favorite? This little guy. He's a bacteriophage. Crocheted by Oh Look, It's a Rabbit!, this idea opens up millions of microscopic crochet plushy possibilities.

You can find this picture here!

3) ELINart's etsy shop is full of fuzzy, moldy goodness. She crochets bacteria, lichen, and mold onto all sorts of fun things. I really love this "Moldy Madness" brooch. She's also done petri dish colonies in crochet. So fun!

Original picture here.

 4) Are you in need of a study buddy for your anatomy lessons? Shanell Papp at Bawdy has created that special someone for you! Her crocheted anatomically correct skeleton is sure to help you learn all of the human body's systems. I love the fuzzy green yarn used for the large intestine. Kind of gross in an awesome way. She's got some great pictures of her skeleton on display as well as the organs in jars. Check it out!

Original photo here

5) Last, but surely not least, is the Crochet Coral Reef by Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring. In honor of the Great Barrier Reef, this project has grown from a coffee table sized reef into several sub-reefs! When I first saw the picture, I didn't realize I was looking at crochet. I would really recommend reading this article if you are a crochet nut, it has some awesome info on hyperbolic crochet, a technique I want to learn more about! You also need to see the rest of the pictures. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.There's information on how to start your own satellite reef...anyone wanna crochet some coral with me????

That's it for this week! I hope this has got your creative brain mojo brewing! How fun would it be to crochet some of these projects? Any biology related items you'd like to see yarn form? I have attempted a human heart before, but for some reason never finished. I may just have to try it again someday! Even though history is my one true love, teaching science would be too much fun because I could fill up my classroom with crocheted fetal pigs and other icky fun. 

(Insert evil genius laughter here.)

School post. You knew it was coming.

Ugh. Not another school post.

I know, but it's already consuming my world. CONSUMING, I tell you.

However, as a status update:

I have a professor with an Irish accent who referenced Fight Club, gave us the history of Guinness (for those of you who know what that is), threatened to yell at us in two languages (Irish and French), and complimented my dreads all on the first (technically, two because I have two classes) day. I think I like this guy. I was worried about tuning out what he was saying because I have a slight obsession with an Irish accent, but so far, he's so damn interesting, I'm scribbling like a mad woman to get all the info down.

I'm also learning anatomy and physiology this semester. Bones, blood, body parts. Yippeee!!!! No... really, it's exciting. I'm a multi-focused geek, don't you know.

I still have one class to have a "first day" in, and that's going to be intense because I have to write a publish-worthy research paper on ....something. Gotta figure that part out. Any ideas? Hey, I can dream, right?

All in all, it sounds like another semester-o-crazy and hard work, but I bet it will be too much fun. Ireland, the French Revolution, naming all the bones in the body... I can do this.

In other news, Sage turns ONE tomorrow.  Sappy, teary eyed mom post to follow. I've got an amazing opportunity to do a cake smash photography session with a local photographer next week, so we'll see if I have some pictures to share.

Back to homework....