My folks left about an hour ago. I'm quickly trying to come up with an "alternative lab" in case it's too cold to catch insects as planned on Wednesday. I decided on a foraging behavior lab where the students "forage" under different conditions for dry beans or pasta in the grass (it is tempting to go out and buy some wrapped candies to be the food items, but I think that would be prohibitively expensive, because you need 100 food items per trial, and I expect about 10 trials for each of 5 - 6 groups). Maybe I can buy the candy for a last "foraging run" at the end of the day....

I hope it's not raining on Wednesday. The two real labs I have remaining before I turn people loose on their independent projects are outdoor labs.

The visit with my parents was good, if too short. I got a meal out at my favoritest barbecue joint in the world (The Bricks, in Sulphur, OK). We went up to Chickasaw National Recreation Area and walked around.

And: I got the next quilt top basted and in the frame, thanks in large part to help from my mom (It's a giant awful job to do by yourself; it's not so bad with another person).

I also started (and got a bit done on) the Trinity Stitch shawl. It's a wonderful pattern for meditating to, but it takes enough mindfulness that I can't work it while reading. Perhaps this will be my "while I think and pray" project.

I have the first of the Rio socks almost done, and I started a piglet from the "World of Knitted Toys" book. It's fast to knit but there are a lot of little bits that will need to be sewn together. I think if I ever design a toy, it's going to be one knitted in the round with a minimal amount of sewing up. You can do a lot with increases and decreases to shape things knit in the round, and it's all knit stitch. And the finishing is faster.

I think this afternoon I'm going to start a new scarf as I read the next few chapters of Biology for the coming weeks. I'm leaning towards the one in last year's Real Simple, a scarf for me. (I have yarn in-stash; pink and green Nature Spun worsted).

I got my new issue of Real Simple yesterday. Say what you will, I like the magazine. I like the layout and the fact that they occassionally have projects. (It seems the end-of-the-year issue typically has a knitting pattern in it). I like some of the recipes - there was a very good one last year for maple walnut bar cookies.

I like the hat in the new issue. Enough that I'm tempted to buy the yarn for it (the yarn is called Baby; it's a super bulky). I suspect that Wool-Ease Thick and Quick would work as well, though, and perhaps even Homespun. (I don't know; Homespun might be a bit thin to get gauge, and as it's 100% acrylic, it wouldn't be as warm).

I might just call Patternworks and order up some.

It's become chill and damp here - good staying-inside weather.