Anatomical Heart Free Cross Stitch Pattern

 I first designed this pattern over a year ago and got about 50% done with the project before abandoning it (I have learned that I lose interest quick if there are huge swatches of color.).  I have tweaked it a little and put it into a fancy PDF for you. 

Anatomical hearts are cool, right?  As a biologist, I feel that I must present at least one organ pattern.  Though I must admit, my knowledge of anatomy and physiology is pretty basic because I am a Cell Biologist.  So expect some awesome cell patterns!

 Want a PDF of the pattern?  Here it is!  Just, you know, link back and whatnot. :)

The Joys of Majoring in Biology

I am currently in my fourth (and final!) year of biology at a fantastic university.  Most of my classes have centered around Cell and Molecular Biology, which means lots of microscopes, micropipettors, and chemistry.  I love all the lab work! 

This quarter, however, I am taking an Ecology class which actually has field work.  Yes, I actually go out into nature and do things!  This past week, I went to a creek that was at the end of a long dirt road with no seeming end. 

While my classmates grumbled about walking through the water in their tennis shoes, I happily splashed around in my rain boots.  (Unfortunately a portion of the creek was deeper than it looked and my boot filled up.)  The field study included water tests and measurements of pebbles and organic matter.  Totally different than measuring out fractions of drops of ten different solutions and hoping the pipets are calibrated correctly.

It was awesome! 

My only disappointment was finding no frogs to catch. 

Hopefully my future days as a teacher will enable similar field trips.

Double Knit DNA Scarf

I wanted a new knitting project to work on, so I designed my own DNA scarf.  I'm making it with the double knitting technique, which means it will take twice as long as a normal scarf!  I'm usually the type that gets about 6" into a scarf and gets bored, but hopefully I'll power on through this one. 

I made a double-knit scarf before, which had the numbers of Pi on it, so I know I can beat this!  The technique takes some getting used to, however, since you have two strands but they can't wrap around each other.  I've been using one hand for each strand, so a combination of throwing and picking!