Biofilm Knit Hat

I am thrilled to finally share this biofilm knit hat that I designed and knit last December! The pattern for this hat can be found here on Ravelry or directly here. 

I was excited to be asked if I could design a biofilm hat as I study bacterial biofilms at Stanford University. Click here for more about my research.

Bacteria are single cell organisms. The bacteria that I study, Bacillus subtilis is a soil-dwelling bacterium that is ~3-5 micrometers long. These bacteria can live on their own or they can "settle down" on a surface and form a biofilm. A biofilm is a group of cells that are held together by a substance that the cells produce and excrete. This substance (also known as slime) is a sticky substance that keeps the cells together. Once the cells are in a biofilm, they can adapt to take on different roles within the biofilm. For instance, the cells on the interior of the biofilm usually assume a more dormant role while the bacteria that are closer to nutrients and oxygen remain more metabolically active and can grow and divide. Biofilms are very important to study as several pathogenic bacteria can form biofilm infections in the body that are hard to treat. Bacillus subtilis, the strain that I study, is typically a soil-dwelling bacteria. However, the knowledge that I can gain through studying its biofilm formation can be applied to all types of biofilms including those that cause disease.

This hat is my version of a classical figure illustrating the developmental stages of a biofilm. This one represents a bacterial biofilm that forms on a surface in a liquid environment such as the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Check out the movie I made below where I demonstrate how this knit hat illustrates biofilm development. If you want to learn more about biofilms, I'd recommend checking out the wikipedia page here.

Doctor Who inspired knit hat

Sometimes I try experiments with my knitting outreach activities. This one worked out better than even I expected. I ran a "Design your own knit hat" contest as part of my Science Knits display at the California Academy of Science's Maker's night last Spring. I provided graph paper and let the attendees fill in the boxes to design their own patterns. This design was the winner. It was a team effort between two very dedicated Whovians. I wonder if they could tell I also love Doctor Who, because how could I not pick this awesome design! With a few tweaks it became this hat that features the TARDIS, Daleks, cybermen, and K-9. Isn't it so cool!! I sent this original hat to the designers as their reward for winning, but I may have to make another one for myself in the future!

The pattern is listed here on Ravelry and here on Craftsy [link broken until I get time to upload pattern to Craftsy...]. You can also purchase it directly here. 

Evil Eye Gloves

This week, Krista Suh (the Pussyhat Project creator) launched her next craftivism project. Just like she created a "sea of pink" for the Women's March, she wants to create a "sea of eyes" at the 2018 March for our Lives. She enlisted Kat Coyle (Pussyhat original designer) to design knit fingerless gloves with eyes embroidered into the palm. These eyes will show those in power that we are watching them and we will hold them accountable for their actions. Krista is leading the effort to have gloves sent to DC to support the students that will be marching. Her initial goal is 438 pairs of gloves - one pair to represent each person killed or injured in school shootings from 2014-present. I like to imagine these gloves giving representation to the victims, a symbolic gesture that the victims are present and watching in spirit. Please take the time to check out Krista's webpage for the original evil eye glove pattern and more details about the project and where to send gloves in DC (http://kristasuh.com/evil-eye-glove/).

Click here to get a pdf of my pattern. I designed my gloves in the round version of the Evil Eye Mitts using stranded colorwork to add the eye design.  If you have any questions about the pattern or find a mistake, please let me know!

Per Krista's request please share your projects using these hashtags on social media: #evileyegloves #marchforourlives

I had a request for a chart with the thumb gusset directions included. Here it is with the thumb gusset directions in words to the right for the 32 stitch cast on. The thick lines indicate where I would place stitch markers if using magic loop:

Here it is without lashes - (for the 32 stitch cast on):

Ant Knit Hat

I designed this hat to feature Dr. Deborah Gordon's work with harvester ants. To see a synopsis of her work and Dr. Gordon modeling the hat herself, check out my blog post here. This hat features two pairs of harvester ants that are interacting through their antennae. Dr. Gordon provided a lot of help with the design, insuring that the ants would be interacting through their antennae, just like they do in the environment. 

The pattern for this knit hat is available here on Ravelry or can be purchased directly here.

Harvester ants interact with each other by briefly touching antennae  

Scientists in Stitches - Dr. Deborah Gordon

This "Scientists in Stitches" post features Dr. Deborah Gordon, a professor at Stanford in the Department of Biology. Dr. Gordon studies the collective behavior of biological systems using harvester ant colonies. 

Ants are social insects that operate without central control. This means that there are not 'boss' ants to direct the behavior of underling ants. Harvester ants gather seeds from the environment. They leave their protected colony and enter harsh desert conditions in search of scattered seeds. Once an ant finds a seed, it returns to the colony. As the ant returns to the colony, it will briefly touch antennae with another ant and that ant will go foraging. 

In particular, Dr. Gordon investigates how harvester ants use these interactions to regulate behavior and how these small local interactions direct the dynamics of the entire colony. Ants use these interactions as a proxy for how much food is available. If there are a lot of seeds near the colony, ants will find seeds and return more frequently, thus sending more ants out to collect all the seeds. When there are fewer seeds, the ants meander longer and cover the area more thoroughly before they find a seed and return, reducing rate of ants leaving the nest.

Dr. Gordon's work is relevant to studying other networks without central control such as other biological systems and, perhaps even networks such as the internet. To learn more about Dr. Gordon's work, check out her lab's website here, her TED talks in 2003 and 2014, and her article in Scientific American. 

If you would like to see more photos of the hat and get a link to the pattern, check out this blog post.

Dr. Gordon showing off some of her ant paraphernalia while wearing
her hat that features ants interacting 

Swimming Bacteria Knit Hat

My latest science knit shows rod shaped bacteria swimming around the brim of the hat. The pattern for this hat can be found here on Ravelry or purchased directly here. 

These bacteria could be Escherichia coli or Bacillus subtilis or any other rod-shaped bacteria that have flagella over their body. 

Flagella behavior during tumbling and swimming

The flagella on these bacteria are peritrichous, which mean they surround the cell. The flagella are controlled by a molecular motor and the motor can either spin clockwise or counterclockwise. When all of the flagella on the cell spin counterclockwise, the flagella can propel the cell, as shown on this hat. When the flagella spin clockwise, they spread out and thus have no net force so cannot propel the cell anywhere. Instead of going in a direction, these cells “tumble” and basically somersault in the same place to change direction so when the flagella spin the other way again, they can set out in a different direction. These periods of “running and tumbling” allow the bacterium to explore its environment. During this exploration, when a bacterium is swimming toward nutrients, it can adjust the durations of running and tumbling so it is running for longer periods and tumbling less, thus biasing the movement toward the nutrients, in a process that is called “chemotaxis.” The bacteria on my hat are all swimming, although I considered making a version of the hat with tumbling cells as well. 

See the movie below for a video that I took of my favorite bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Some cells are stationary as they are stuck between an agar pad and a glass coverslip while others are in an area that is a bit wetter and they can swim around. This is best viewed fullscreen to better see the little organisms. It is a very short video, so you may have to hit replay to catch the action.

Full disclosure: this video was the result of an experiment that did not work. I didn't let the microscope slide dry enough before imaging and my bacteria were still swimming around. I made the most of the situation and filmed my swimming bacteria for this blog post (and I repeated the experiment to get the information I was looking for). Experiments often do not work or give inconclusive results - we as researchers learn to deal with failure very well and just keep plugging along and listening to the data to learn about the world around us. It is fascinating!

P*ssyHat by Craftimism

My friend Lala modeling her hat

Okay, okay, so I know I am about a year late to the game posting about the Pussyhat Project. I had heard of the movement before the Women's March last year, but I did not contribute any hats in time for the march. Instead, I made this awesome knit uterus hat for my friend Erin and liked it so much I made one for myself! In February, my uncle requested a "Pussy Hat" for my aunt and I finally made my first Pink Pussyhat! I used the dimensions from the "official" pattern but adjusted it to be knit in the round and my looser gauge. After that, I made another Pussyhat for my friend Lala and I made a few variations of pussy hats for people going to the science march. A printer-friendly version of my pattern can be found here.

#selfie photo shoot of my #pussyhat before sending it off to my aunt. My version of the pattern will be on the blog soon #handknit #craftimism #pussyhatproject #knitting

A post shared by Heidi (@craftimism) on Feb 12, 2017 at 7:33am PST

Shark Knit Hat

I designed this Shark Knit hat pattern for a friend of a friend who really loves sharks.

As a backstory, the friend (who did not know how to knit at the time) paid for a ridiculously difficult shark sock knitting pattern. He learned that I knit and showed the pattern to me. After laughing and saying I would never make those socks, I said that instead I would design a shark knit hat - as that is more of my thing. I have since taught this friend how to knit. We will see if he ever decides to tackle those socks!

Thus, this pattern was born. You can get it here on Ravelry, here on Craftsy, or buy it directly here. Enjoy!

Poop Emoji Inspired Knit Hat

Dr. Katharine Ng studies the bacteria in our gut (aka poop)

I was inspired to knit this #knityourPhD hat for Dr. Katharine Ng who got her PhD studying how bacteria that live in the intestines respond to antibiotic treatment.

In work published in Nature, Dr. Ng and colleagues found that some pathogens in the gut can gain an advantage by eating sugars from the host. In the gut, there are sugars present but tied up in the mucus that is made to line the gut. Some non-pathogenic ("good") bacteria cut some of the sugars off of the mucus molecules. After antibiotic treatment, two pathogenic (bad) bacteria, Clostridium difficile and Salmonella typhimurium, are able to gain a foothold in the gut by eating the sugars that the good bacteria had liberated from the mucus. Her work provides insights for developing therapeutic treatments to prevent the bad bacteria from taking hold during antibiotic treatments. Read more about her PhD work here.

To study the gut bacteria, Dr. Ng collected a LOT of mouse poop for analysis and sequencing before, during, and after antibiotic treatment. To honor all of the poop collected, I used the poop emoji as inspiration to design this hat with 6 poops around the hat. I added a pom pom on the top for some extra character. You can get the pattern here on Ravelry, on Craftsy here or directly here. Happy stitching!

Wonder Woman Inspired Knit Hat

I designed this hat to show my excitement over the Wonder Woman movie. I very rarely go to movies in the theatre but I made an exception for this one and it did not disappoint me. It was such a great story! I particularly loved the development of Diana's character and how she went from seeing the world in "right" and "wrong" to viewing it in complicated shades of gray.

I designed this hat to use a colorwork pattern that was inspired by the original Wonder Woman's costume. The pattern for the hat can be found here on Ravelry, here on Craftsy, or purchased directly here.

Solar eclipse knit hat

Y'all, I am so excited to see the solar eclipse tomorrow! I extended a trip to visit my family for a few days so that I could swing back through St. Louis first just so I could witness my first ever total solar eclipse. I designed this knit hat to mark the occasion. The hat features the path of the moon as it covers the sun. I even embroidered on the corona of the sun onto the hat. If only the solar eclipse was during the winter! Unfortunately, I'll only be wearing this when I am in air conditioned places on Monday, but it is awesome anyways.

You can get the hat here on Ravelry or purchase directly here. It will be free up until the eclipse with the promotion code "Eclipse2017".

Here are some interesting facts I have learned about the eclipse:

1) It is only safe to look at the sun when the eclipse is in totality. It is never safe to look at the sun, but it is even more dangerous during the eclipse because the decrease in ambient light will make your pupils dilate and expose more of the retina. Bottom line: DON'T LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN UNTIL TOTALITY! If you are not lucky enough to be in the path of totality, DON'T LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN!

2) Safe ways to view the sun include special approved solar glasses (my rad ones complement my knit hat perfectly), pinhole camera obscura viewing boxes that project an image of the sun onto the inside of the box, and even using binoculars to direct an image of the sun onto a screen and focus on it. Find instructions for 6 safe ways to view the eclipse here. 

3) Some animals will begin their nighttime behavior during totality even though it is in the middle of the day. I am particularly excited to witness this occurring.

4) Many people will be participating in citizen science efforts by using apps on their smart phones to record observations during the eclipse. In particular, one project by NASA will be monitoring temperature before, during, and after the eclipse (more information here) and another project from the California Academy of Sciences will record plants and animal behavior during the eclipse (more information here). 

Enjoy the eclipse and the knitting pattern!

Black Lives Matter Knit Hat (#BLM)

There was a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last night. I was disgusted when I heard about it this morning. This cannot and should not be allowed and we need to stand against hate and stand for the equality of all people.

I designed a Black Lives Matter hat a while back and have been wearing it in public for the last few weeks. The events of last night gave me the spur of energy needed to finish writing the pattern.

Also, I included instructions for altering the hat to fit afros. I have very flat hair and my hat designs typically fit those with flatter hair perfectly, but I have not done a good job altering my designs to be inclusive for those with different hair styles. Here are my suggestions for altering this hat as well as any of my other designs to be suitable with afros. Please contact me if you have any other suggestions or guidelines for designing hats for people of color as I had a hard time finding resources for this online and had to consult some friends for advice.

Notes for altering beanie hat designs to accomodate afros: To make a hat that can accomodate an afro where all the hair is shoved into the hat, as a general rule, add 1 inch to the hat (before decreasing) for every 3 inches of afro. The ribbing will need to be tight enough to stay on and you may consider sewing some stretchy satin to the brim. If the wearer intends to wear the hat over an afro with the hair down, the hat should be made wider rather than taller and 1-2 black stitches could be added to one side of each repeat.

Click here to get a printer-friendly pdf of this Black Lives Matter Knit Hat pattern.

Cafe Zoë fundraiser for Willow Oaks Elementary School

Kathleen Daly and her daughter Zoë Sharkey
Source: Cafe Zoë's facebook page

Today I would like to showcase a fundraiser that is ongoing through the end of August at Cafe Zoë, my local cafe.

Cafe Zoë regularly runs fundraisers to provide Willow Oaks Elementary with needed items. Willow Oaks is part of the Ravenswood School District, which, from what I can gather, was the victim of some unfortunate rezoning over 25 years ago after the completion of Highway 101. It appears that some of the more middle class neighborhoods "opted" to join the Menlo Park City School Disctrict (source). Willow Oaks Elementary in particular, was pretty much abandoned by the neighboring communities, whose members must send their kids to schools that are farther away than the elementary school nestled in their neighborhood.

Cafe Zoë is a neighborhood cafe run by Kathleen Daly and it's my regular blogging and knitting pattern writing hangout. Daly has a huge heart and has, along with the patrons of her cafe, adopted Willow Oaks to raise money for items the school needs. In the past, the successful fundraising campaigns have purchased spare school uniforms and choral risers for the children. The current fundraiser is providing art tables to the school. Daly says some of the students are rewarded for good behavior by being able to make artistic creations on posterboard. Currently, the art teacher must push together small desks to make do as the school does not have art tables.

A map showing the communities that "opted" out
of the Ravenswood school district (source)

Daly's daughter, Zoë Sharkey, who manages events took the lead on this fundraiser and recruited local artists (including myself) to donate items to the fundraiser. The artists are displaying their art in the cafe through the end of August and a portion of any art sold will be donated to Willow Oaks. The artworks can be viewed in an album here. If anyone would like to help out with the fundraiser or purchase art, they can contact Cafe Zoë directly here. Cafe Zoë is almost halfway to its goal for the fundraiser and hopes to purchase four art tables for the school.

Craftimism's "Politiknits" items for sale at the Cafe Zoë fundraiser - earrings, pins/magnets, and coffee sleeves

To learn more about Cafe Zoë, check out their website here: http://www.cafezoehub.com/contact/

Here are a subset of the donated works of art: (click here to view all donated art in an album)