One of the benefits of my current “between jobs” status is that I’ve been knitting seriously again. Since being in Australia I’ve finished a scarf that I started while I was in Japan,
started and finished a cardigan for myself,
and started a cardigan for a friend’s baby.
It’s been nice to pick up the needles properly again!
I had a “real world” (ie. not in academia) job interview last week, and can report back that the real world is scary. I think the interview itself went OK – my first of this kind, so it was a learning experience, if nothing else – but they kept asking questions about things I just don’t normally think about: my career path, my mobility, health care plans, 401(k) plans. By the end of the day, I was happy to collapse in a restaurant, enjoy dinner with a friend, and catch at movie.
The movie we watched was Happy-Go-Lucky, which I have to admit to feeling a little ambivalent about. It’s a British movie (this isn’t why I feel ambivalent about it, though), and not a great deal happens in it. And, at least if you’re me, the lead character grates on you in the beginning, although she does grow on you as the movie progresses. Perhaps this is the point? In any case, I felt much better about the movie at the end than I did in the middle of it.
I finally have got around to down loading photos from my camera that I took while I was in Adelaide (at the end of August). I really only had half a day or so to explore, before the conference started, but I actually really liked what I saw (and I really had very low expectations before I got there). I spent my half day walking along the River Torrens and through the botanic gardens, both of which were very pleasant. On my last day, I had a bit of time between my conference ending and needing to be at the airport, so I explored the central market, which is truly amazing – lots of delicious food.
Palm House at Adelaide Botanic Garden
More interesting (to me) stuff, in bullet points:
This week at knitting group I related a story (or, really, a pair of stories) that I read in the New Yorker some time ago. In summary, the story is this:
Ukrainian brothers who are mathematicians living in New York build a super-computer from mail-order parts. It isn’t the fastest super-computer in the world, but they are the exclusive users of it, so they can do some pretty impressive things with it.
Meanwhile, at The Cloisters, they take down and clean a series of tapestries called “The Hunt of the Unicorn“. The backing was removed from the tapestries, and the backs proved to be a mirror image of the front, with much, much richer colors – the back has never been exposed to light, and the colors have not faded. The conservators at the museum document this with a series of digital photographs.
However, when it comes time to “stitch” the photographs together it becomes apparent that the individual photographs are rotated very slightly with respect to each other. The photos are huge, and the processing required to rotate them into their correct orientations is beyond the capabilities of the computers available to the museum conservators. So they contact the Ukrainian mathematicians, who loan them their super-computer, perform vector field analysis on the photos, and stitch them together!
The Unicorn in Captivity: The last and most famous panel in “The Hunt of the Unicorn”
When I related this story, Ben and Caroline both told me they knew of the tapestries that I was talking about, but insisted that they were on display in Paris at Musée de Cluny. After a little internet research, I now know that there are two famous series of unicorn tapestries: “The Hunt of the Unicorn”, which I knew about, and which is housed in New York, and “The Unicorn and the Lady”, which Ben and Caroline knew about, and which is housed in Paris. They’re both incredibly beautiful. Next time I find myself in Paris or New York (and there had better be a “next time”), I’ll make a point of trying to find some time to see the tapestries.
The Lady and the Unicorn: À mon seul désir
I really do wish I had time to do things like this:
The sad truth is, I really haven’t had time to think recently – much less knit, garden, read, write, or build a knitting machine from lego. I guess I won’t be making a lamp that knits its own shade, either.
My first pair of On-Your-Toes socks are done!
I really do love them, although I have to admit that the apparent high difference in the photo is real. This what happens when you don’t measure things properly. Luckily, it doesn’t matter so much as the tops are generally hidden under my jeans. I don’t think I’ve ever knit anything yellow before – it certainly won’t be the last time though. I love the mustardy color.
I’ve cast on for another pair – these are blue-green, and I have actually already made my way through the first sock. These socks have become my knitting group and movie knitting – I’ve discovered that, providing I’m not doing anything tricky like starting or turning the heel, I can knit these socks in complete darkness.
And, because it won’t be so long until the blue-green socks are finished, I’ve ordered yarn for the next pair:
Lightweight Socks that Rock in Amber. Delicious!
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