Buckeye Hat Knitting Pattern

Buckeye Hat

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This hat uses intarsia and makes a skull cap that fits snugly on the top of the head. The k2p2 edging can be made longer and flipped up if you like.

The size given (80 stitches in sport weight on size 8 needles) fits both my 2 year old nephew and my 20 year old brother-in-law equally well, so it should be a one-size-fits-most pattern.

Cast on 80 stitches in gray, join ends without twisting and k2p2 for about two inches.
Knit two rows of gray.

Join red yarn and knit chart. Note that the chart height is correct, but the width is shortened to only show 20 stitches across. The pattern continues around the hat.

Be careful to not pull the floated yarn too tightly or it will pucker.

After knitting the 20 rows of the chart, cut the red yarn and continue knitting with the gray for about 6 more rows.
To decrease for the crown of the head:
1) k5, k2tog, repeat
2) knit every even numbered row
3) k4, k2tog, repeat
5) k3, k2tog, repeat
7) k2, k2tog, repeat
9) k1, k2tog, repeat
11) k2tog, repeat
13) cut the end of the working yarn leaving a generous tail and use a yarn needle to sew through the live stitches to bind off. I usually go around the small circle at least twice, alternating over and under the stitches. You want the hole to be small, but not pulled so tight that it puckers in a weird way. Then pull the needle through the small hole in the center and weave in the ends.

Now you are ready for your next OSU celebration.

Go Bucks!

Written by Heather Miller, OSU class of 2015 (PhD)

Published on Ravelry dot com

Death-A Poem

It is purely coincidental that my last post and this one focus on death. Actually, that's probably a lie. When someone you love dies, you will feel that loss for the rest of your life. Obviously the first few hours, days, months... will be horrible. The deepest pain you have ever felt and lived through. But it fades with time. Although you may not believe you will ever wake up and not hurt, you will. It may be years later and out of the blue, you want to cry because you ache so badly for them to be there with you. Just break down in tears in the middle of the grocery store because a little girl that looks like yours is shopping with her mom, and you think, "Why me?, and "What if...?" But the everyday sharp pain, the constant unceasing hurt, there will come a day when it won't hurt quite so much. But it never completely goes away, it just lies dormant, pushed to the back of your mind in the daily struggle to keep going. Because that's what your loved one would want you to do.

Sometimes the reminder that others have shared your pain can come from unexpected sources, like in an assignment for a research class. Today I was trying to find a qualitative research article that reported findings in a nontraditional way. I'm not ready to share with this class the story of my loss, and so I wrote my paper on another topic, but I found a poem that spoke to me.

Lapum, J. (2011). Death-a poem. Qualitative Inquiry. 17(8) 723-724.

the cognitive functioning of a brain Grinds,

to a halt—

like a bronze antique lamp with a dangling chain

gently,

pulled.

everything’s Dark.—

later you’re told

the sun’s rays were glistening, Bouncing

off the snow so bright

it was blinding

and the unmediated way your body

used to move without delay

Interrupted, violently

the habitual

becomes artificially coerced

the way a 15th-century force may try to convert the irreligious and you,

at a standstill.

dormancy,

plagues you

Forcefully

throws you,

to the ground.—

words linger,

lacerate deep

into your spirit

words you felt

—as—so—trite, insipid

because you imagined the day they would come for years

because of the diseased way your mind works

because something locks you into an incessant Waiting,

awaiting

waiting

and then,

its Presence,

brought forth, Absence,

crawls in,

the body

just goes, knowing

what to do, without

conscious neural impulses Telling

eyes what to see

tears to be fleetingly

detained in the presence

of certain people, numbers

to dial, the pine.---

box to choose

hands to shake

people to hug

smiles to fabricate

they stand in front of you speaking and You,

have no idea what they are saying, and you

don't think, of everything

you have lost.

you reserve that,

for days to come when you won't be able to draw your body out from Under

the sheets, no matter how many neural impulses are telling it to move

"get UP!--"

logic's dead.

I lie there

with a stillness that Tares

through me pulverizing everything I've know

October 10

Today is the seventh anniversary of my daughter, Ginny's, birth. Instead of waking her up with a special breakfast and a celebration, I think about the family whose child is alive because of my daughter's organ donation.

Today I also attend the funeral and mourn the passing of a good friend who died at the age of 37. Just a few years older than I am right now.

I really hate it when people tell me things like "Everything happens for a reason". I think that's one of the worst things you can tell the grieving, mostly because it's a crock of shit. Whoever said that there has to be a reason for everything was lying. Sometimes truly horrible things happen to really good people, while other people are pure evil and continue to live and spread their hate.

So please think about what you say to those who have lost a loved one or had a tragedy befall them. Instead of spouting some nonsensical words, tell them something from your heart. Share a memory of the deceased or tell them that you don't know what to say but you are thinking of them. Bring them food, or just sit and listen to them and be a friend, or put on your work boots and help them in a tangible way.

"Personally, I've never been a big believe in karma. When the distraught woman on the evening news thanks God for saving her, her family, and her home from the terrible tornado, I always wonder about the family next door who lost everything. So was God, like, really pissed of at them? The whole what-goes-around-comes-around thing is simply our way of trying to make sense of things that make no sense. Great stuff happens to bad people. Bad shit happens to good people. This is just the way it is."

-"How to teach filthy rich girls" by Zoey Dean

"Most of the time I don't believe in God, though I'm fascinated by the idea of intelligent design. Because if what we see all around us are the fruits of God's college sketch pad, what designs did this guy have that weren't worth saving? If degenerative illness, mommies who eat their young, religious wars, and homeless children all made it past the rough outline stage, wasn't it possible that we, by offering unequivocal gratitude and thanks, instead of constructive criticism, were simply helping reinforce all his worst instincts? Weren't we what AA would call his "enablers"?"

-"Nose down, eyes up" by Merrill Markoe

Cafe Mocha Brownies Recipe

Z and I went to a housewarming party last night, and I adapted a recipe for brownies and made chocolate coffee-flavored brownies. Here's the recipe, originally from Betty Crocker's Cookbook: Bridal Edition.

Cafe Mocha Brownies

Prep: 25 minutes Bake: 45 minutes Cool: 2 hrs Makes: 16 brownies

2/3 cup butter or stick margarine (I always use butter)

15 Tablespoons cocoa powder and 5 Tablespoons oil (or 5 ounces baking chocolate, cut into pieces)

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3 large eggs

1 cup flour (NOT self-rising)

5 packets instant espresso powder *only use the quick-dissolve kind that makes one cup of coffee when dissolved into hot water

1. Heat oven to 350. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit into an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish, so that two ends come up higher than the sides of the pan. You are making a "sling" so the brownies can be lifted out of the pan immediately after baking. Lightly spray the bottom of the baking dish with pan spray, and press the parchment into the pan.

2. Melt butter and chocolate in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly (if using solid squares), then cool 5 minutes. OR Melt butter and add cocoa powder and oil, mixing well.

3. Beat sugar, vanilla, eggs and espresso powder in medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture on low speed, scraping bowl occasionally.

4. Beat in flour just until blended, scraping sides of bowl well. Spread into pan.

5. Bake 40-45 minutes or just until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Carefully lift brownies out of pan with parchment "sling" and cut into squares with a sharp knife. Let cool on wire rack, about 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Exciting news! And a rant...

I found out last week that I was accepted into the PhD program at Ohio State University!! My program is called Rethinking Early Childhood and Elementary Education (RECEE), and I am focusing on Science Education. I'm especially interested in integrating food and cooking skills into the curriculum to increase student interest and help children learn how to feed themselves healthfully and (hopefully) decrease the prevalence of obesity and other health problems.

I was able to meet my advisor, who is fantastic, and she is already introducing me to people and wants to get started writing a paper for publication! Very exciting that she is so knowledgeable and supportive!

Somewhat related to my exciting news, I unpacked my lunch today at work and one of the Research Assistants (undergraduate or newly graduated students who work on our project) commented that my lunch looked delicious. I thought that was funny, as I had been thinking that I put it together in a rush this morning and it wasn't as good as usual. I started talking to two of our RA's, and they mentioned that they didn't know how to grocery shop and plan meals and/or cook for the week on a tight budget. Well, since I practically have a PhD in that subject, I offered to give them some tips.

This got me thinking about the need for a real-life budgeting, grocery shopping, meal planning, cooking class for college students. I'm talking about hands-on skills where we plan what we want to eat and can afford, go to the store, then cook. How can we expect them to figure out how to do all of these "grown up" things if we don't teach them how to do it? I have 12 years of cooking classes through 4-H, a bachelor of science degree in agriculture, and decades of interest in cooking (and eating good food) to help me navigate this tricky subject. Yet we don't teach our young people cooking or homemaking skills any more (not academic enough-and who has the funding for that!) and then wonder why they eat at Taco Bell every night? Gee, I don't know why everyone in America is overweight, has diabetes and/or high blood pressure!

So, my plan is to talk to the RA's tomorrow and offer to teach them how to grocery shop and cook on a budget. Something informal, like once a month at my house. I'm also talking to my advisor about the possibility of putting together a General Studies class for college credit, and maybe conducting some research with college students. We have a Human Nutrition program through our Extension Education Office-maybe they have some extra money?