May: I Knit

Yarn Crawl 2013

Who knew there were so many yarn stores out here? I think the total Crawl was 32 shops. That is awesome! Of course, not the one by my house.

(more later, crabby tonight = sassy post, not fun)

Warm Neck Report

The cowl is complete!

Pattern is A Noble Cowl. I made it quite small, but it does the job in keeping my neck toasty warm on cool mornings.

Stitch & Pitch

I made it out to see the San Bernardino 66ers!

Easter Spaniel

My Holly!  She joined the family 8 months ago and is still a joy.

Captain Tinyarn

600 yards, 32 grams, superfine cormo.

Red Lantern, Part 2

I finished my scarf!

 The gray color of the "in progress" picture is more accurate.  The sun was setting when I took the "finished" picture.

Red Lantern

The last musher to finish the Iditarod gets the title of the "red lantern" and I am going to be one of the last in my knitting group to finish.

I had to bail out on the Mush! socks as they are just too small. However, I have been diligently working on the change ringing scarf for most of the "race" as a backup project and if I turn the damn computer off and pick up the needles I think I can finish today.

I would really rather play WoW all day but I am going to a party in the afternoon and won't have knitting time.

WIP Wonderland

Everywhere I turn I see a partially completed knitting project.  Today I stuck to working on the cowl at work as the pattern was the simplest one.  The scarf got stuck on a cable and the socks are at the ankle / heel and very tricky just now.  In addition, the sock pattern has not been printed out so I can work on them only when I am actually sitting at the computer.

However, the mushers are still mushing on the Iditarod trail so I will work for a couple hours on the socks tonight.  I am at that place where I think they are too small, so hate to "waste" the effort in proceeding, but don't want to rip back to the toe.  At least it isn't snowing.

Staying on the Trail...

I am knitting my Mush! socks tonight and watching YouTube videos of sleds & sled dogs. Progress is being made!

I had an equipment malfunction; my single 24" needle came apart at the join and I can't find my superglue.  I tried a few rows with DPNs and that worked fine, but the pattern is really designed for circulars.  Instead of buying one long one, I am trying it with two 9" needles. It is a bit fiddly but I think it is working fine.

Oh, cowls.

I am procrastinating on my myriad knitting projects that have deadlines and happily zipping along on a cowl.

















Oops.

It's a Wrap

My friend Martha is writing a book.  I want to read this book.  How else to convince your favorite budding author to spend more time editing?  Knit her a wrap to keep the chill away!

I began in December, finished in January and then promptly waited almost two months to do the finishing work and sew on buttons.  Par for the course here at Chez Picky, but today I was able to give her the wrap and it was a big hit.

Project: An Author's Friend

closeup of borders and cute ducky buttons

Full size, about 25 x 50 inches

Mush!

Today is the start day for the Iditarod and I am in a Ravelry knitting group to participate in the Iknitarod so we get to start our projects as well!  I haven't knit along with this event before but have been looking forward to it for months. You pick a project that you want to work hard to finish before the end of the race (when the last musher crosses the finish line).  I learned that this is a variable time / date, not a set time, and that adds to the challenge.

The chatter on the thread has been focusing on blue / white / gray yarns and fibers to represent the ice and snow and sky of the Alaskan countryside and there has also been a bit of chatter about the Northern Lights. I want my project to combine these things and found a great sock pattern to try. The gloves are in the same color family, but I can finish one glove in far less than 2 weeks, so I wanted a loftier goal.

The pattern is Skew and is free from Knitty.com.   Perfect!  The yarn is a skein I just couldn't resist and am really, really looking forward to knitting. It is soft, springy and drop dead gorgeous.

Finn McMisile from Woolen Mill St yarns

The start of the race is in less than an hour; time to get my materials together, make sure I can live stream the race and make some more coffee! 

Not knitting

An action shot of the gloves I am supposed to be knitting, except I put them down for a scarf, then I put that down for a pair of socks...

The socks will be done tonight, then it will be time to finish the scarf, then I can go back to the gloves.

Just in time for spring.

Alpacalooza

Last weekend I demonstrated spinning at an alpaca show in Norco.  It was really fun.

 There were alpacas

 There were inquiring minds

 There were spinners!

 Even more alpacas

 And there was  yarn!  Above, some alpaca /merino I spun.  Below, some llama.

A New Hope

Peerie, 2/21

A few weeks ago I had a really difficult week. I was missing Dozer, I had just lost Kiwi, I gave away two cockatiels, work was stressful, the sky was still dark all the time and I was just really sad.  I had the other birds, the cats, Holly the new dog, but it was not a good situation.

I saw someone with a pet rat over at the Dickens Festival (we were sitting in the spinning booth) and got the idea that it was finally, finally time to become a rat owner again.  After Dixie passed away in 2002 it was just too painful to think about replacing her.  But now the idea of a little warm furball on my shoulder seemed right. 

Enter Peerie, a young rat from the feeder tank at the pet store.  He joined the family on 2/9 and was about a month old.

Peerie, 2/16

He is handsome, friendly, curious and (as of Friday) clean and good smelling.  Yesterday we graduated to him riding on my shoulder while I walked Holly around the block. 

I have been much happier in the last few weeks, work has been a little better, the pets are still bad but that is nothing new.  I still snuggle the cats & dog all the time, but this little rat has really filled an empty place in my heart.  I hope we have a good future together. 

Fab-ruary

I'm still knitting the gray scarf, but started some gray socks today and earlier in the week swatched some gray yarn & brown yarn for a shawl.

I'm trying to get a little bit of tidying done each day.

I went to both days of a spinning demo this weekend.

I am reading a little each day.

The cat went to the vet for a checkup and the dog got her new license.

So far February has been productive and satisfying.

Ringing in February

My Change Ringing (Plain Bob Minor) Scarf is about half done. I feel like I have been knitting forever!  But it has only been about 3 weeks.

Empty Nesting

I sold two cockatiels today.  I know they are going to a good home, I know I had too many and it was getting overwhelming, but I miss them already.  It was very hard to unload their cage to a stranger in a parking lot and drive off.  They went to a friend of a friend, so updates might be forthcoming, but it was still sad to hear them calling out for me as we drove away.

Good luck, little birds. 

Vacation

I took last week off and did a lot of relaxing.

I finally hit level 90 in World of Warcraft (4 months after release) and am quite excited. Now I am raising a cloud serpent to be a flying mount. He is so cute.

I crocheted a potholder which sees use daily - no more grabbing the teakettle with an old sock.  I also crocheted a spinning wheel bobbin for my Quidditch project for the Harry Potter themed knitting group. I have also been knitting on a cabled scarf and a glove # 1 of a pair.  I have finger and the thumb to go.

Holly (the new dog) went to the vet and got shots, spayed, dental cleaning and a microchip.  Her recovery has been smooth and we are taking walks again.  This morning I stopped by the car to grab a hat and she took a running leap right into the passenger seat!  Before, she was shy about getting in the car and had to be forcibly removed from the driver's seat. I guess going to the "spa" (vet) for the day really agreed with her.

Fritti (the 15 1/2 year old cat) also went to the vet and got a new prescription for some antibiotics; they must be working because his sneezing seems much reduced.  Kiwi the parrot passed away, I miss her a lot but we had a great last month together and her passing was very quiet and peaceful.

Yesterday afternoon I finally made it back to archery and had a really great time.  No one else came out, so I was able to look dumb & practice & get good tips from the hosts.  I left feeling much more confident and will be back again soon.

Last night I found all the equipment and materials for my OWL and BROOM projects (HP knitting group again) and swatched so I could submit my proposals by the deadline. I  am making laceweight yarn from some cormo roving that is wonderful and soft.  I found three bags of it, but when I got them together, they are clearly all different shades of white (see below).  However, I made my swatch and I think that I have plenty of fiber in each color, so I think I will use the one in the front (bright white) for the project. Overdyeing would also be an option, but I have my heart set on a white shawl.

Holly photobombing my spinning picture

Closet Clean Out

Closet stash diving day 2: found 3 bobbins for my Majacraft wheel, although the yarn on them was an almost total loss. I think I can salvage some of the pure angora, though.  Underneath the brown romney on one bobbin was some wool / soy silk that I had been sampling. Pleasantly, I found the matching roving over the weekend. Good to know I have a bobbin already started.

Found the bag of cormo I was looking for, it has some moth damage but should be about 80% salvageable.  When I put it with the bag I have set aside, there should be plenty for my winter OWL.  I think there is another bag of it somewhere... I will leave that stash dive until tomorrow.

Big surprise, found four missing skeins of finished yarn in perfect condition. Two are matching yellow ingeo. One is a dove colored merino & silk blend and one is a graduated gray to purple 3 ply in blue faced leicester that I designed, dyed, spun & plied. That one I had been thinking of recently; I think it will look well as the center of a circular shawl.  I just need to find one where I can bind off when I run out of yarn without any buckling. There is no skein tag, but I think there is about 400 yards.

Also found a crap ton of red heart acrylic and 6 cents as well as the pink silk sliver I was looking for and some green & yellow dyed merino top I had forgotten about. The pink silk was an experiment in dyeing from a workshop many years ago.  I had relegated it to "purely ornamental status" but I think I can use it in a class this term.  It will be interesting to spin and see what I get anyway.  The green / yellow / blue merino is actually from a different dyeing class (with Nancy Finn) and my inspiration was Kiwi, my indian ringneck parrot. She is still with me and the top isn't getting any younger; I may have to spin that up too.  Maybe into a parrot hat.

And I found *another* half pound of cotton sliver.  Will it ever end?  I am trying to get it all into one location, but continue to find so much I will need a bigger box quite soon.

New Year's Beach Party

I love my new WoW guild (I love my old guild as well).  I plowed forward in the face of apathy and we had a really fun beach party.  Not everyone came, but those who did were really into it. Thank you, Midnight Forerunners!

Pictures are blurry because, well, my character was drunk.

The End Already?

Wow, time really got away from me. After Dozer passed away I then lost the African Grey parrot (Stormy) to a seizure and the next week one of the parakeets died (Skye).  What a crappy month.

Right now everyone is hale.  The indian ringneck (Kiwi) has been moved out to the computer desk & the play cage and I am trying to stuff her with food as she is thinner than I would like.  It is fun to visit with her, although I miss Stormy calling me "HEY! Girl! HEY!" all the time.   I also moved Wavey the parakeet in with Opal the parakeet and they seem to have come to a room mate agreement.  It is too early to say if they like each other, but the nitpicking has lessened. 

This year I read some books, knit some things and played some World of Warcraft.  I went to gardening every week I was supposed to.  I watched some movies, took an online class and adopted a dog that was pound-bound.

Next year?  Maybe finally apply for a new job, maybe go back to making soap, maybe get serious about honing my German language skills, maybe knit some things, read some books & play some more WoW.  Walk the dog more and do the dishes more as well. 

And blog more.

Moving Forward

I'm making it through each day, getting up, going to work, checking FaceBook & Ravelry and finding things to smile about. 

I'm taking pleasure in showing more attention to some of the other pets (Kiwi parrot particularly) to remind them that I love them and to remind myself all is not lost.  Kiwi is looking thin, but I am making mixed veggies and keeping the dish extra full and hope to see a positive improvement soon.  She has been a good bird for almost 10 years now and deserves to be spoiled.

Finished reading "The Hobbit" during a lazy Sunday in bed this morning; soon I plan to go see the new movie. 

The new term of the Harry Potter knitting group (soar, Ravenclaw!) starts on Jan 1 and I have spent a lot of time on the forums visiting, reminiscing and planning projects for the next term.  I have some lofty goals and a lot of yarn at my disposal.

Hope you are all well out there in internet land.

Sad

I just got back from the vet. I put my darling Dozer to sleep today.  I am so sad. I loved this dog so much. In addition, this is the third dog I had to euthanize this year and it does not get any easier. He has been my companion for more than 10 years and we went on so many adventures together.  He got his tooth stuck in a chainlink fence, he tried to get kicked by horses, sheep, donkeys and goats, he was a dog friendly dog who liked walks, overnight visits and the dogpark.  He was my rock through some difficult times these last few years and I would not have made it without his calm presence.

I do have some dog overlap; I got Holly a couple months ago so Dozer could teach her all his bad habits. She was a quick study.  Of course, I haven't told anyone about her so it is another whole issue to figure out how to present her to everyone. 

But none will ever replace Dozer; he was a gem of a dog and the last thing the vet said to him was "well Dozer there sure wasn't anything wrong with your heart" while he was listening at the end.  True words. I miss you, buddy.

Precocious

... and semiprecious.

Presenting the semiprecious scarf.

Very Cordial

The spinning wheel is fixed and I am finishing up some merino tencel roving in my own "cherry cordial" colorway.  It is smooth, shiny and gorgeous.  No in progress photos yet (Beaker chewed my camera cord), but here is the fiber I started with. 

I don't usually use colors this bright, so I have no idea what it will become (maybe socks), but it sure is pretty. 

Up & Running

Monday I finally had the motivation to get my spinning wheel up and running.  It has been a dustcatcher ever since the drive band snapped 3 years ago.  I bought a new one last November, but progress did not... progress. 

Monday was a lovely warm day - one of the last of the season, I suspect - and I collected a rag, the drive band, a screwdriver and gave it a good going over.  It took only about 30 minutes, including repairing the scotch tension which I didn't even know was broken! 

Now it is good as new and I have been spinning some lovely pink / red / purple merino/tencel blend at a laceweight.  I am thinking of using it just as a singles yarn & not plying, but might have to do some experiments first. 

I forgot how much I enjoy spinning.  While I did do some spinning on a drop spindle in the intermission, it was not the same.  I love the treadling, the drafting, watching the bobbin fill up with lovely fine yarn. 

It feels good to have it fixed. I may have to fix some other stuff soon. 

Tired Hand, Warm Neck

The Ophelia scarf is all done and is extremely soft. 

New scarf in the same pattern cast on and knitting away.

Soapy Monday

Making soap.  Eucalyptus and pumpkin tonight, and maybe some vanilla sheep for variety.  Then it will be time to work on my scarf - it must be done, photographed & posted before midnight on the 31st. 

Off to stir the pot!

There is Pansies, That's for Thoughts

I am knitting away on the Ophelia yarn - can it really be 4 years since I spun it?  The time has flown.  The scarf is The Prismatic Scarf and is going well. I fear it will be too short, but if it worse comes to worst, I can add buttons & I cord and call it a cowl. 

Morning Mumbles

I've had a good couple of weeks. Work has become fun again, now that we have a couple more people trained up on problem files (my specialty) and because it is a slower time of the month.  It will pick up again at month end later this week, but I am enjoying the respite.

I am still knitting for my Harry Potter / Ravenclaw house knitting group on Ravelry.  I finished some fingerless mittens, some crocheted butterflies, a couple washcloths and am working on a scarf.  There is more I want to finish this month, but am pretty satisfied so far.

The pets are still falling apart: Fritti is sneezing again, Galen has a gross toe, Dozer's lump isn't getting better, Carrie has escaped & I haven't seen her in days and the dogs think Lizzie is a chase & bark toy, which is the most obnoxious problem.

Hopefully I will catch up with picture taking and make some more visual posts later in the week.  

Stash Thursday

Some beautiful blue merino roving / top I picked up at Lambtown last year.  Not a fantastic picture, but the fiber is really lovely. 

Hopefully at some point I will stop posting about stash fiber & start working with stash fiber!

Stash Monday

Today is the last day of vacation. Maybe I will finally  take an hour and get the spinning wheel back in working order.  There is stash to be spun! 

This is some yak roving that I got at Lambtown last fall.  It is grey-brown and amazingly soft.   I suspect I was thinking I could spin it on my charka, but a featherweight spindle would work well too. 

Vacation: Day 1

Yesterday had a definite knitting & TV theme to it, as most everything I did was knit and watch Hulu plus. I found a great show called Circus and watched the first few episodes.  It is heartwarming, fascinating, funny and poignant in turns.

I knit an Acorn for Quidditch. It was a fast and easy knit and I think I will make a bunch of them.  The pattern is so easy I can memorize it and make acorns every time I need to fill a little time with knitting or have a small amount of yarn.  I bet they would make great cat toys.

I also knit a Corgi washcloth for Muggle Studies class.  It is a washcloth for people which sports a corgi, not a washcloth for washing  your corgi.  Sorry.  It went surprisingly quickly (although not as quickly as my regular diamond shaped ones) and I bet I can finish the coordinating one (for Potions) today.

In the morning I finished Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire and it was a fun read.  Starting book 5 on Sunday!

Having a day where I didn't have to go anywhere was wonderful; I can't remember the last one.   I haven't had a Monday off in a while and I work on Sundays so it seems like I have to be "up and at ' em" every single day.  Today I think a dogwalk is in order if it stays cool. 

Stash Thursday - Quidditch Hat

Pictures are here!

Stash Thursday

I love naturally colored wool and I love superfine fleece. Cormo  wool is the best of both worlds. This is 5 oz white & 2.5 oz natural grey roving from Cormo Sheep & Wool Farm (blog here)  It is certainly not enough for sweater, but would make a nice vest or hats or shawls or mittens.

Gamification - Project 2

[The prompt: Create a gamified system for a city government to increase fitness & decrease insurance costs]

Most people realize that exercise and fitness are important to good health and quality of life.  No one likes to be sick or unwell, but sometimes the choices people make contribute to an unhealthful lifestyle and they need the structure of a program to make changes.  Creating a gamified system to provide extrinsic motivation and rewards is a way to encourage healthful habits, and when people start to feel the physical improvements in their lives, they will continue the behaviors for the intrinsic value.

For the employees of the city of Werbachia, I propose adding an activity reporting feature to the automated timeclock that the city uses to track attendance and hours.  This will be a low-cost, uncomplicated way for employees to report their daily physical activity and this data will be reported back to users in a weekly progress update that tracks their progress against themselves & against an average of the other city employees.

The game elements of this program include:

• checking in
• points for the different categories of activity (more for strenuous activity or muscle strengthening, fewer for light activity or cardio)
• badges for completing activity goals
• feedback (in the weekly report to track & compare progress)
• quests (a monthly newsletter will give activity suggestions and directions for completion of goals)

At the outset, primary motivation to record activity and encourage increased exercise will be extrinsic. By linking the activity report to the automated timeclock, every employee will have 4 opportunites per day to log their exercise (clocking in & out for the day and in & out for lunch). Because the city uses the same system for all employees, this will relatively simple & cost efficient to implement and maintain.

Every week the employees will receive a progress report which will give them feedback.  They will be able to see their own progress over time and compare their progress to that of the group of city employees as a whole.  The individual employee can choose to share this information with their peers, and this gives the user flexibility and control over the "game". This feeling of engagement is critical to a successful gamified system.  Those who are motivated by self-improvement will be pleased and those who are motivated by cometition with peers and the main group will be pleased as well.

Physical fitness is, well, physical and the more the city employees utilize the system and work to increase their activity levels to progress in the "game", the more they will become fit and feel more healthy and energized.  This good feeling becomes an intrinsic motivator for the user to continue to progress.  What was once a requirement becomes a good and rewarding habit.  In this way, using a gamified system to initiate & encourage increased physical fitness using external motivation leads to the creation of a desire to continue the habit for the intrinsic reward of health and happiness.

Stash Thursday

Amazingly, I am actually knitting a project with this stash yarn.  It is a skein of hand dyed, local grown, local processed alpaca.  I am making Celestine for my Ravenclaw knitting house.  It is a very fiddly project, but interesting, and I am practicing some techniques I don't usually use, like picking up & knitting to add a section.

Gamification - project 1

The prompt: Provide reasons why gamification could be a useful technique [to sell breakfast pastry].

My submission: Gamification can be a useful technique to reach the goal of increasing the market share of Cereals Inc in the breakfast ready-to-eat market. Incorporating game elements to our product can make the experience more fun for our customers and can increase consumption and brand loyalty.

A primary goal of gamification is to engage people in everyday activities (customer engagement). By adding the right game-like components to our marketing plan, users will begin to associate our pastry with a fun and engaging experience they will want to repeat (easy fun).  We also want them to share with their friends and family, which will encourage more people to try our product in addition to the positive feeling that customers will get from sharing the information (people fun).

Games appeal to men and women equally, and the majority of people in the young adult demographic are comfortable with gaming (broad appeal).  Finding game elements and techniques that will catch and hold the interest of the consumer is becoming the new normal and the product that is fun to use will have an advantage.

It is also possible to use gamification to recognize and reward good habits. This could be as simple as eating breakfast every day or a more complex idea such as enabling users to track thier eating, nutrition and exercise patterns.  A sense of satisfaction from posting progress or meeting goals is another element of fun that gamification can provide.

The applications of gamification are many, but our goal is a simple one: for our customers to feel that choosing a breakfast pastry from Cereals Inc is more than just a meal, but rather a fun and rewarding experience they would like to repeat.

Juggling Goslings

My plate is full, full, full here at Chez Pickyknitter. I'm trying to pretend it is not far too much for one woman to handle.

Work - We've been on full schedules (8 hours x 5 days, minimum) for a few months now and I am starting to miss the slow weeks when we had 6 hour days. It was a nice break after the week of 14-18 hour days during month-end.  However, I like the paycheck and won't complain too loudly.

Reading - I have several books partially started & then set aside (Don Quixote, The Awakening, & Bleak House all spring to mind) but my current pusher book is An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon.  It is a weighty tome, but good for dipping in and out of, unlike the classics which require my full attention (and often, my notebook).  In addition, I am re reading the Harry Potter series and finished book 1 this week.  I will exchange it for book 2 tomorrow.

SciFi & Fantasy class (online) - I am behind in my reading for this unit... I'm not even entirely sure who the authors are.  I need to "get a move on" as the next essay is due by Tuesday. I should at least watch the introductory video for the unit tonight before I go to bed.

Gamification class (online) - I am caught up in the videos and the quizzes, but need to prepare the exercise / essay for the first class which is due in, uh, 19.75 hours. Yikes.

Knitting - I am almost done with the Springy socks but mislaid the contrasting color yarn at the last minute and now they are on hold. I picked up a scarf in progress to keep my hands busy, but am quite miffed about the socks.  I am in a Harry Potter themed knitting team on Ravelry (Soar, Ravenclaw!) and am planning 6 small projects to be complete before the month is out, plus trying to keep up with all the chatter on the forums.  Chatter is my favorite part; my Gamification instructor would nod sagely and approve of the social aspect of Ravelry being a huge part of the fun I have there.

Things being squeezed out - Soap. I have got to make soap.  Washcloths. I have got to knit washcloths.  Pets. I have got to walk / wash / snuggle / groom the pets.  House. I have got to clean the house. World of Warcraft. I have got to catch up and get ready for the new expansion.

All righty, enough procrastinating. Time to do some reading for class! 

Stash Thursday

I photographed part of the stash yesterday and organized it on my Ravelry page.  The idea is that if it is taring me in the face, maybe I will use it!

Today's selection is some of the fiber I have acquired from Red Fish Dye Works.  They have beautiful, reliable fiber & color. I just realized that two skeins of sock yarn escaped the camera, I will have to add them later.  One is blue and one is orange... I sense a pattern emerging.

Merino / Silk handspun 4 oz

80 Merino / 20 silk 4 oz

50 Merino / 50 silk 4 oz

Silk yarn, 2 ply 120/2

Silk yarn, 2 ply 120/2

Thurs - no, Wednesday

It's a day, for the sun is up. Beyond that I am not making any claims.

It is cool & gray out.  Apparently our "June Gloom" has finally arrived. It has been burning off hot, but I like it right now.

I'm having a busy month, what with online classes, work, knitting for a class on Ravelry, fun knitting, guilt knitting, fun reading and generally being alive. 

The plan for today needs to involve some pictures, methinks.

The Invisible Man: Clearly Curious

People are naturally curious, and in Wells' "The Invisible Man", he explores the different kinds of curiosity that we have.  He shows that the answers we get are not always what we expect.

The townsfolk of Iping are immediately curious about the stranger in their midst.  His dress, his manner and his overbearing tone all excite their interest and there are multiple attempts to discover his story. They seem to be curious purely for the sake of entertainment, but as the story progresses we see that had they known what the stranger was, they could have been prepared for his behavior.  However, they had little warning of his anger and desperation, or of the risk he posed. In their situation, curiosity is a method of self defense.

This story behind the stranger is eventually revealed when the Invisible Man retells his experiments & adventures to Kemp. We learn at last that Griffin had been curious about the idea of invisibility and this alone drove his research.  Like Shelley's Victor Frankenstein, Griffin became obsessed with the process leading up to his goal, and did not stop to reflect on the moral or practical implications until after the experiments were complete.

The townsfolk of Iping (and, later, other regions) continue to be curious about the events surrounding the Invisible Man and to discuss it amongst themselves. They are able to share information and work together to attempt a defense against his rampage.  However, the wages of Griffin's curiosity are death; his lack of forethought and the absence of any trusted confidante end in tragedy when he is killed.  His pure scientific curiosity is very real, but ultimately unsustainable.

Peer response: form

student1 → In general the grammar is adequate. The sentence structure is very basic. Simple and clear sentences are not wrong, but they are also not outstandingly crisp. I scored this a two.

student2 → Clear writing style; easy to follow.

student3 → good essay with good use of words and paragraphs

student4 → The presence of a man in a small town where is his a stranger is a curious matter. People are bound to be a little anxious about a bandaged stranger. However the theme of curiosity seems a little weak. People are alarmed by the unexplained occurrences. The invisible man before invisibility has suffered a kind of derangement of mind brought on by the use of drugs. His odd behaviors his course unnatural reactions to the death of his father are examples of who his behavior progresses in such a bizarre manner. Curiosity explains much of the behavior in Ipling but further abroad when the invisible man is perceived as a threat fear and hatred are the moving forces. More importantly they should be afraid. The grammar in this is good and you stick to the point. Every occurrence can be explained by curiosity if you want it to be. In fact you might say it is the quality of being observant and practical that makes people suspect and then fear the invisible man.

 

peer review: content

student1 → This essay feels very much like a retelling of a portion of the story. I do not believe you addressed different types of curiosity or its importance in the story. I scored this a one for content.

student2 → Suggestion for next time: the point you are making here ("several forms of curiosity are depicted and not all of them end well") is understandable, but - to me - not very original in content. What I'm saying: next time you might go beyond the general reflection upon a theme ("curiosity") and make a bold statement that surprises the reader and makes him or her ponder on it afterwards.

student3 → is a good way to see this story and how you do the comparison between this and the work of frankenstain

student4 → . The content seems a little light. I would have liked to see more examples of curiosity and the quality of observant skepticism. I like the idea that these qualities might be found in a number of key characters. I would have to re read the story looking for it which might be a good idea for the essayist.

 

Laboring Day

Well, it is a day off for me today, although technically it is my regular day off and I will still be entitled to a holiday day at some point.

It is beautiful out, sunny and clear and not too hot.  I should pack up a dog and go for an adventure, but many  fun options are here at home as well.

Will she clean the house?  Read for her class?  Knit like the wind?  Take a nap?  Weave that blanket? Make some soap?

Stay tuned!