I'm sorry, did you say your head's off?

Yeah. I've been kinda busy and distracted. Mostly distracted, except when I'm busy. So, if your head's come off and I didn't notice, I'm terribly sorry. I will get back to Adventures in Peru pretty soon, I hope. In the mean time, I'm on a crochet kick for some bizarre reason. I'm working on a red and purple tacky crocheted something, some crocheted washcloths, and I've finished a tacky crocheted bag in green and red...you know, the kind of red that's blue and not red at all.

geez, I'm fried.

I'm working on the DNA scarf more frequently than I was before. I don't think I'll get it done in time unless I decide to give it to someone else. You see, I had intended to give it to Jill at work because she works with the DNA in mosquito blood meals. Then, I thought I might give it to Josh (her husband) because he was working on the DNA for our big butterfly project. But they are moving to Texas in three weeks. I'm not certain they have winter in Texas and I am certain that Chuck Norris is involved in the weather patterns of Texas.

The problem with a DNA scarf when you are a biologist is that there are so many appropriate people to give it to...

Speaking of Chuck Norris:
Chuck Norris as Hamlet, Cristopher Walken as King Claudius
discuss.

(From a conversation with my dear friend Elflore)

So now I finish my wine and go to bed. I hope tomorrow is more productive than today has been.

Adventures: Day 5

Sept. 6
Iris's Birthday. I tried and tried and tried to call or email today, but with no luck. I finally managed a quick "I'm here and safe" email toward the end of the day, but communication was really dodgy. Today we had the pronopholine talks, but Andy was sick so I didn't understand about 90% of them. By the time we got to the conservation talks and butterfly house talks at the end, I was almost completely lost. Honestly, I don't think any of it really stuck with me. I did manage to do something much more important than sit through talks on pronopholines. I took sock photos of lepidopterists. This first one is Mitsi, who was just facinated by my knitting. I showed her how, which was only a little bit of a challenge considering that she didn't speak any English and my Spanish is quite basic.
No symposium would be complete without an after-party. For this one, the evening began with pisco sours and native dancing. Then on to a buffet, drinking, and more dancing. I skipped the last part since we were meant to go collecting the next day. Sr. Lamas, who was our guide/host in this endeavor did not.
Here we have Carlos Giraldo, from Colombia who studies Ithomiines. His sister, it seems, is quite the artist and painted hats and t-shirts to sell at the conference. I bought a black one with a little orange and yellow Ithomiine on it. He's one of those charming Latino lads that you just want to take home with you.
Next is Tomasz Pyrcz whose last name has no vowels. He's working on the same group I am and also doing morphological work. In fact, with any luck, he'll be sending me some specimens. He's got this stern "I'm a Polish dude" look about him in this picture, but don't let that fool you. He's actually a lot of fun to be around. When I started corresponding with him, I went and learned how to say "hello" in Polish because I thought it would be nice. He thought I'd had contact with Poles, but I had not. In fact, he's the only Polish guy I know, but he thought it funny that I had gone out and learned "hello" in Polish. He speaks Polish, Spanish, and English quite well as well as several other languages. He told me a story about the first time he'd left his home country. He was six years old and on a field trip with his class. They were near the border of Slovakia and crossed a few feet over the border. "Ooh! We're in Slovakia!" they said. It's much funnier when he tells it 'cause he waves his arms about and uses his best little kid voice.
Here's Angel Viloria. He's good friends with Tomasz and another Nymphalid person. He's got a big job as the director of the IVIC, Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Investigations, but he's really a creative and down-to-earth type. He likes bluegrass, so I've invited him to come visit. Maybe one of these days, but the big job does keep him busier than he'd like. He seemed quite impressed with the fact that I knit. We are eccentrics among eccentrics.
Next up is Gerardo Lamas, another Nymphalid person and works at the Museo de Historia Natural in Lima. You wouldn't think from looking at him that he likes to party, but dude likes to party. I'll tell you more about the Museum later. Needless to say, they have a real insect collection that makes ours look amateurish. Okay, so it is amateurish. It's kind of awful, really.
<--Here's Blanca of the Tropical Andean Butterfly Diversity Project, who helped put on this shindig. She also gave a talk on conservation.



And Keith, also with TABD, who was very confused about the Sock. He's an assistant curator at the McGuire Center in the University of Florida.-->



<--Then we have Kayce, my hero from before. She's at UC Davis. We heard of each other by way of Ravelry. She doesn't knit, but one of her labmates does. We were introduced by way of SquidWidget, who was suprised to learn that there were two bug bum-lookers on Ravelry. After I took this picture, she asked, "Does it look like I'm knitting?" Nope, it doesn't. Maybe one of these days you'll join us.

Lastly, we have Jason Hall-->
<--and his wife Alma. He works on Riodinids and gave a talk on mimicry. I don't remember what she studies because she didn't give a talk this time. She was quite pleased, in fact, that she could relax and enjoy the trip for once. Believe me, I understand.
Not pictured is Carlos Peña (how did I miss him?) who is another Pronopholine person (like me).

Adventures: Day 4

Sept. 5th

No pictures today. Having recovered fully, I attended the conference and sat through many many butterfly talks (with my knitting). These kinds of talks are difficult to keep up with in your own language, let alone in a language in which you are not fluent. My Spanish is fairly basic, but passable. Fortunately, there were a couple talks in English and lots of pictures.
I met some native craftswomen of the area who are part of an association to preserve native crafts. She showed me several weaving patterns and their meanings and sold me S/ 60 of stuff. She was good. She was really good. I was really impressed with her English, which was way better than my Spanish, especially considering that her first language was Quechua, followed by Spanish, and then followed by English. I was going to buy some yarn from her, but never managed to hook up with her again.
I finished sock #1 of the Maizy socks, had some Peruvian fried chicken, and missed my baby girl.

Adventures: Day 3

Sept. 4th

The hotel we stayed in was really nice. I mean, I've stayed in some nice hotels, and that is a nice hotel. It was a monastery that was converted into a hotel, but they preserved the chapel. I don't know if anyone worships there, but it was really neat. This picture is from just outside my room into a little courtyard. The tree on the right hand side of the picture is an avocado tree.
We registered for the conference at the other nearby hotel and my poster was tacked up next to all the others. Mine wasn't nearly as slick or shiny as some of the others, but it wasn't a bad poster. I like it. I neglected to trim off the white borders before we left, but that's not a big deal. Most everyone who was interested in looking at it was more concerned with its content. I sat through the welcome speech, but I could tell something was wrong. I didn't feel like knitting.
I had altitude sickness. My stomach was sour, my ears were ringing, my head hurt, and I felt really really tired. Kayce was my hero. Her roommate hadn't arrived yet and her room was closer than mine. She even gave me water and put a vomit bucket nearby. There was no vomit at that time, thank goodness. There will be a picture of her later. I later made my way back to my own room and slept the rest of the day. All day long. I'd get up for a couple minutes, think I was okay, and then I'd go down again.
I had dinner at the hotel with Andy & Josh and did vomit a little afterward into the poor chrysanthemums, but only a little. I went back to sleep and decided I'd think big thoughts the next day.

Sorry, folks

My internet is really really slow lately and Blogger seems to be having some issues. I apologize for any wonky formatting and the slow speed at which I'm posting. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I hope it's resolved soon.

Adventures: Day 2

Sept. 3rd
So, we arrived in Lima, but since it was just a short layover in the airport we weren't really "In Peru" yet. It's on the coast, not that you could tell, but there's an ocean out there somewhere in the grey. It turns out that Lima is always this color. Anyhow, we had a cup of coffee in the airport and then off we went to Cuzco. Yes, that's a Starbucks. They don't have real coffee in Peru (with the exception of the airport Starbucks). If you're lucky, you get a syrup to which you add hot water. If you are unlucky, you get Nescafé. Most of the time, you are unlucky.
The Andes Mts. are mountains like they mean it. The Rockies look up to them and say "We're not worthy." The Appalachians are too old to care and too busy telling stories about "Back in my day, we didn't have people climbing all over us. And we liked it!" Only the Himalayas are like, "Bitch, please."
Once again on terra firma, my first impression was along the lines of "Wow, this is going to be an adventure," followed shortly thereafter by "Oh, God, the sun!" and "There's no air here!" All of these statements turned out to be true. The city is in a valley at over 3400 meters in altitude - that's 11,000+ feet for you gringos. Murfreesboro is at about 200 meters or 656+ feet. We were 3200 meters closer to the sun and farther from where the air is. Forget culture shock, try system shock. We did *not* buy a can of oxygen at the airport. That's just silly. Instead, we tried to take it easy until we got used to the altitude.
Note the word "tried." It turns out that the day we arrived, there was a transportation strike, so the taxis couldn't take us to very many places. There were big rocks in the road and a parade and we had to walk many several blocks with all of our luggage to find the Avis office. In said parade, some people were waving this flag (not my photo). "I bet that means something different here," says I to myself. It does. That's the Cusco city flag. Don't make fun, they're kind of sensitive about it. Anyhow, as we walked around, there were these bike carts all over that descended on us like vultures, but we respectfully declined and eventually found the rental office. They took us to the lot (which you could fit maybe three cars in, if you were a really good driver) where we stuck our luggage in the rental car until the strike officially ended. I searched for yarn, but to no avail. The shop was closed for inventory. We kind of tooled around the city being tourists for awhile, had some lunch, found our way back to the lot, and then left for Urubamba where the conference was to be held.
It was a lovely drive and I got to see the big white Jesus statue. Also, they like to write things on the sides of mountains. I am told that this is a habit that is an extension of the Nazca lines and that you really can see something of them from the ground. They just like to write and draw big things on the Earth. They also seem to compulsively build little walls everywhere. I'm not sure what that's about. The drive was pleasant and pretty and we arrived at the hotel later that evening. There was dinner and beer and all was right with the world. I had a coca beer and a Cusqueña at this little place down the road and I think that was the evening that I had alpaca steak. It tasted like alpaca fiber smells. I didn't order it again.

Adventures: Day 1

Sept. 2nd
All packed and ready to go with my enormous suitcase of doom (you could pack me in there, for goodness sakes), Josh, Andy, and I are chauffeured to BNA by Josh's lovely wife, Jill. She's kind of awesome. She works with mosquitoes and you can't help but dig a chick that smashes up mosquitoes for the DNA of the critters they bite. Having made it through security with my knitting needles (and TSA guidelines in hand, just in case there was an issue - there wasn't), I waited patiently for the plane.
We got on said plane and began to take off when there was a disconcerting kthunk sound. The passengers looked around at each other as though to say, "Is that normal? Should we be concerned?" Turns out that it was not normal and we should have been concerned. One of the cargo doors malfunctioned, so the plane returned to the airport and we had to catch another flight. This was problematic. By the time we'd have gotten to the next airport, we would miss flight #2 and each flight following. On the way back to the airport, I spoke with a Danish pastry chef who was going home after a convention in Nashville. No, danishes were not his specialty, he was from Denmark and made awesome sculptures with chocolate. He was terribly worried that he wouldn't be able to get home. I do hope he got home okay. Fortunately for us, we had Mr. Mullett as our customer service dude. He'd helped us check in before and recognized the three of us. When he got to the counter, I think he must have called almost everyone in the whole airport and at one point had a phone on each ear. It was nothing short of amazing. Not only did he get us a new series of flights, but he got us a really nice flight from Miami to Lima on an airline called LAN. We each had our own personal video screen and could watch one of many movies. There was a little pillow and blanket, real food, and even tiny glasses of wine for no extra charge. Other than the fact that I can't sleep in a moving vehicle, this was a very very pleasant flight. Thank you, Mr. Mullett. You are my customer service hero.

I'm back home!
I haven't had the chance to upload pictures from the trip, but I will soon. I may have to do it in installments 'cause there were lots of adventures. Anyhow, the trip was awesome, but I'm very very glad to be home. I can drink the water from the tap and flush the TP down the toilet. Also, I missed everyone - especially my little one.
More soon! I promise!

Dear friends, strangers, acquaintances, etc.
This will be my last post before Peru. I'm pretty much packed and set to go. My poster is printed and extra knitting and needles are packed (as well as my drop spindle). My travel sock will be the Maizy sock I'm working on. I've got the foot done and since these are going to be tallish socks, I'm knitting the leg 'til I'm almost out of yarn or I get sick of it, whichever comes first. Hopefully, I'll have some wicked cool pictures of Peru when I get back. The camera is coming with, of course.
The good Gods have seen fit to give me the challenge of a head cold before flying, but I'm armed with some Claritin, meds for altitude sickness, immodium, sunscreen, antibiotics (just in case), and tylenol. The altitude meds make me feel weird an tired and sodas taste bad. I don't like them, but I'd rather not have altitude sickness, really. Of all the interesting diseases I could get, that's the one I'm worried about. I'm so weird.

So, tomorrow we jaunt off to chase butterflies in a foreign country! I can't believe I'm getting paid for this shit.

I haven't fallen off the face of the planet just yet. I'm still here, still knitting. I did the Ravelympics to help me regain my focus and I think it worked. After many months of knitting, frogging, knitting again, and not knitting the Bluejaywalkers, I finally finished them. They were done on size 1 dpn's using Opal somethingor'nother in Traumfänger(Dreamcatcher) for a size 9(US) foot. This is not the best picture in the world, but here they are with just the weaving-in to do.

Also, I turned 30 and had my Logan's Run party. It was much fun. We watched the movie, had Carrousel cake (I think mom has a picture) and now I feel refreshed and renewed. The movie was put out in 1976 and the female lead was Jessica 6. The TV series ran from '77-'78 and I can't be certain, but I suspect that this is related to the great number of Jessicas in my age group. Anyhow, mom and Erin did the vast majority of party preparations, including my costume. I just had to show up, really. It's just as well since I haven't had time to do much of anything other than research. All bug butts all the time at the House. Next week is Iris's (early) birthday party before I fall off the face of the planet for a couple weeks. It'll be another morning at the farm, afternoon birthday party, and evening D&D. I was up for 21 1/2 hours last Saturday, and this Saturday is going to be another one of those. Thank goodness for Sundays.

By the way, I absolutely adore my new apartment. I had people over and relatives stay the night and it didn't seem too crowded. I had sufficient floor space to offer said relatives and even a room in which to stick my little nephew and his momma and daddy on a cot and air mattress, respectively. A good time was had by all. Weeboo parties pretty hard.

Right now, I'm working on a pair of toe-up socks in Maizy print, Springtime on size 1 dpn's. These are for me and will probably be my travel socks.

I'm currently taking a break from bug butts to post a couple pictures. Not a whole lot of content, but I've got a quiche made from farm fresh veggies and one and a half finished bluejaywalker socks. Go me! I kind of made up the quiche "recipe" but it was quite tasty and very pretty. We had this a couple nights ago with black beans.

I don't actually like people. I like trees better than people. In fact, if I could replace most people with oaks, maples, hickories, etc., I'd be a happy girl.
What brought this on, you say?
I have nothing in common with the other bus stop moms with the exception that I also have a kid in school and they insist on talking to me. I have nothing in common with the other dance school moms, either, except for one who works for the College of Basic and Applies Sciences and even then...
If this is representative of the greater population, then I'm really...let's say "unique." I forget that I'm on the fringes of society. I forget that I don't fit in. I don't like being reminded of it, either. The way I am is normal for me and it's normal for Iris. I like me, I like how I live, and I won't change just to fit in. But all the same, it's uncomfortable to not fit in.

I know I usually talk about my creative endeavors here, but this is a part of it. I'm an artist and artists are notoriously weird - on the fringes of society, bohemians out to change the world for the better. That's me. I've resisted labeling myself as part of any particular counterculture, but it seems that I can't avoid it. Bohemians will never win, counterculture will never become culture, but we will slowly change the world for the better. Our purpose is to challenge the world in which we live so that society will evolve into something better - we hope.

If I were alone in this, I'd have very little hope, but "I get by with a little help from my friends/ I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends."

Sorry about the lack of knitting content. Here's a picture of the Snakes! sweater all finished. I took the picture at the top last spring when I was taking Flowering Plants. You can see Lamium, Vetch, and Wild pansies. They are members of the Mint, Pea, and Violet families, respectively. Most would call these "weeds" but I think they're lovely.

Look! I'm blogging. I have two entire minutes to sit and blog! Imagine that!
I've been caught up in work plus this plus that with a lot of everything else on the side. It is summer and summer means veggies. This last Sunday we worked on the trail for Delvin Farms a bit and made some good progress on it. I'm really pleased with what we were able to do. Today, we got two heavy boxes of vegetables that we split up amongst the hoards. Oh, the tomatoes. I cannot tell you how happy I am about the tomatoes. I'm planning on going in on a big 20# box of them to can and set back for the winter when there are no tomatoes. $20 for the whole box, which means about $1/lb. This is not to mention the ones that are coming from the garden, which cost very little, really. A can of the organic diced tomatoes is 15 oz. and is usually a little more than a dollar. Also, I don't know where they come from. I'll see your less than a pound of tomatoes from I don't know where and raise you a quart of garden and farm tomatoes. HA!
So, anyway, Colin's baby is the sweetest thing. Baby and wife were both at his thesis defense and both were beautiful and doing well. I haven't heard from them, but it is my understanding that they've moved for purposes of continuing education. College is a disease, I tell you, and some of us are incurable. The snakey sweater was well-received and came with a matching spoot rag that I managed to finish *during* the thesis defense.
I'm doing Ravelympics (which I keep reading "ravelly-impics") as training for the Knitting Olympics. My plan is to finish the Bluejaywalker socks. I've been working on those dang socks entirely too long, and it's time to finish them now. I'll be cultivating focus, speed, and endurance, but mostly focus. I've had a splintered focus and would like to get back into training. I'm supplementing the usual knitting exercises with continued listening to Zencast so hopefully I'll be in much better shape afterward. Hopefully, it won't be terribly long until I blog again, and I'm going to try to add pictures a little later.

Hey, y'all. I'm still here, doing the Tour de Fleece. It seems that I can manage to rub two braincells together to spin, but I haven't been doing much knitting. My goal is to finish up this couple of ounces of bamboo rayon I've got. As for knitting, I'm still working on the Bluejaywalkers and the 1st sock is very almost nearly a sock. Between moving and research, I haven't got time or oomph for much else, but I'm still alive and kicking!

It's all over but the snakeys

Little bit's recital went just beautifully. Things are a bit quieter now, so I've occasionally got a few minutes for blogging, email, and such. I did a bit of updating on Ravelry and uploaded some photos.
Speaking of which, I finally did take some pictures. First we have the bluejaywalkers (Take Two). The first time around, they were a little too small. I sometimes have trouble judging the size of things. Socks and mittens and such for me are tiny, but to me it appears "normal." That means, of course, when I make something for just about anyone else (except for Iris or my mom), it seems too big instead of normal sized. The size I'm making seems just a bit too big to me, so I'm hoping they're about right.
Next we have Snakes! #2 for Colin's baby. You may or may not be able to tell, but the balls of brown I had were in two different dye lots. I can tell. I don't think Colin's little one will care, so that's really all that matter. I've got two of five snakeys knitted and they should go fairly quickly. All I'll have to do then is steam press it and sew on buttons. I was concerned about how the green would look on the collar, but I rather like it. I may do something similar the next time I make this pattern. And there will be a next time. People keep having babies (no more for me, thanks). And babies should have clothing with snakes on.
Then, of course, there's the Man-Sweater, mostly finished just in time for summer. I'm rather pleased with this one. I've got to put in the zipper and do the crochet edging and then I will be done, done, done. It fits like my boyfriend's sweater ought to have fit if either he or I were of a normal size. When my husband was my boyfriend, I could make a tent out of his sweaters and have room for a friend. Still could. He hasn't shrunk and I haven't grown.
The only thing I forgot to get a picture of was the 2x2 ribbed scarf. Perhaps next time, then.
Friday I shaved a butterfly's leg. I want you to know how funny I think that is. It's off to more of the same. Hopefully I'll be able to notice some kind of morphological something that's distinctive and NOT wing patterning. I'm taking measurements of different pieces-parts now that I know how to. Who knows what today holds? Will I take more bug butt pictures, shave butterfly legs, or just spend some quality time at the library?

Just about everyone who reads my blog knows that I'm really busy with school, research, and all the other stuff going on in my life. I hardly have time to knit lately, so everything is just creeping along. This morning I'm being a bit domestic. I'm making bread because we're almost out and I've done some straightening up in the dining room. I vaccumed, but I'm not really up for anything hardcore like laundry or filing. Anyhow, I have my 1970's ugly flower apron on and thought I'd post while the bread is rising.
I've been walking to work most days and took some pictures on my way in one day last week. It's a very pleasant walk and I enjoy having the chance to interact with the world around me more than I would be were I driving in my car. I met my dear friend David's parents after knowing him for rather a long time and I saw one of my former students and his dog. I smile at strangers who usually smile back and I get to listen to podcasts. I'm thinking seriously about purchasing and downloading books to "read" while walk. I don't get much as much time to sit and read text as I'd like and when I do, it's usually work-related. I also took some pictures of some bug butt drawings that I've made. I'm working on getting some digital photos of the actual butts now that I've learned how to use the program, but there's something nice about the hand drawn ones. They're...special to me in a weird kind of way. I think it is because I prefer what hands can do to what machines can do. I do get to play with photoshop and that will be nice, but I've not got the hang of using the mouse with it.
So, I have been knitting some. I finished the collar on my man-sweater, but I haven't got a picture of it yet. Now I just need a zipper and crocheted edging and I'm done. The snakes! sweater is not even inching along. If it were inching along, I'd be done by now. I haven't picked up the bluejaywalker socks since I ripped back from a mistake and just so I can end on a high note, I'm nearly finished with square 3 of my weaving project and the 2x2 ribbed scarf is almost done. I'll post some pictures of knitting and such later. So the blog isn't without visual interest, here's some work-related pictures. The first one is a hawthorn in bloom, the second one a picture of Haynes House on Main St. where I work, the third is a series of drawings I did of some bug butts, and the last is a technical work by a local artist of the life cycle of the butterfly that I posted in my lab for reference.

I kept forgetting to get a picture of my pink and purple hair. I noticed this morning that the purple had started to fade, so I got a few pictures (by way of clever application of bathroom mirrors and a little photo editing). The main color is a kind of pinky color over brown, called "orchid," then there's a bright purple and some PINK that was applied to pre-lightened hair. Theresa did a fantastic job. Next time, I'm going to have her do RED. As in RED-RED-RED.
Butterflies, you see, are attracted to red. If I can attract them with my hair, I can catch them!

No, the fumes from preserved specimens aren't getting to me. Why do you ask?

In knitting news, I'm too stupid to sew up my man-sweater. Miss Kade, however, is practically done. Hers looks just fantastic and is apparently quite comfortable since she didn't wait until it was finished to wear it. Mine is not clothing yet. I've ripped back the bluejaywalkers (hopefully) past some horrid error and haven't picked them up again. I've made good progress on the Snakes! sweater and only lack the sleeves and making-up and I'm working on a 2x2 ribbed scarf that's progressing nicely. The last one is my "stupid knittting" and takes up the least amount of brain power, so gets worked on more than the others. The Snakes! is pretty easy, so it gets worked on a lot, too. Not that the bluejaywalkers are hard, I just haven't thus far managed to pick them up again.

I hope to all that's good and holy that I regain the use of some of my knitting brain cells soon. I've got one more exam on Wednesday and a paper to write, and then I'll be done for the semester. I did fairly well on my Plant Anatomy final and my flowering plants collection is finished and turned in.
*whew*
Forgive me if I seem a little loopy this week.

Ach! Waily!
I am so tired, people. I walked 11.5 miles to and from school last week and walked/biked 3.4 miles today. There was much doing of dishes and drinking of wine on Saturday, followed by not very much sleep. It's finals time again, so I have to say "no" a lot until I've got the semester squared away. My legs are very sore in places I forgot I had muscles and my brain is so full it's not even funny. I was explaining to a non-knitter how I've sworn off lace for a while. After I explained that the brain cells that are responsible for lace-knitting are currently occupied in taxonomy and anatomy, he completely understood. He's a graduate student as well, so understands the level of crazy that can be.
This afternoon, I'll be taking little bit to dance class, then tacos for dinner, then I stagger to bed and pass out. In the morning, it's more butterfly butts! Wooo!

Polemerized Cellulose

Cellulose is the most abundant polymer on the planet. It's followed by lignin, the material that binds with cellulose to make wood hard (stop snickering.) and straw crunchy. Anything with a cell wall has lots and lots of cellulose, grasses, trees, fungus, even the lowliest of weeds is choc full o' cellulose. It's kind of awesome how the plant makes it. We all know that plants make sugar from the sun, right? Well, they take this sugar, make a few minor alterations, and then send it through a nifty little pump that right on the cell membrane. It's like a tiny little cellulose factory. Sugar goes in, cellulose comes out.
Anything nature can do, we can do better, right? Well, not better, but we can sort of do something like what cell walls do. We human folk use a lot of cotton, wood, soy, corn, and other plants. Inevitably, there will be waste and leftovers from the processing of these materials, and most of that will be cellulose of some kind or another. We take these waste products and cook them in lye, Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) being its uptown name. This is the same chemical I use to clear butterfly butts. Carbon disulfide is added to help break down the cellulose. The end result is a viscous liquid goo that is spun into an acid bath which neutralizes the NaOH. This acid bath may contain sulfuric acid, sodium sulfate, glucose, zinc sulfate, and water. Sodium sulfate speeds up the precipitation of filaments, glucose softens the fibers, zinc sulfate strengthens the fibers, and water adds volume. What you end up with is Rayon, which was originally referred to as "artificial silk." Sometimes a dulling agent, such as titanium dioxide, is added if you're looking for something that's not quite so shiny as rayon. You can also add a bit of crimp to the fibers, either mechanically or by reducing the acid concentration. This aids in the spinning process, as anyone who's ever spun wool will know.
All of this information is as of the mid 1960's, so I'm not sure what advances or improvements have been made to the process. Some of those chemicals are pretty nasty in high concentrations, so this kind of processing is probably not the best for the environment. However, it's got to be better than polyester or acrylic. Not only are rayons softer, more absorbent, and wear better, but they're made from the waste of other manufacturing processes rather than petroleum.

Oh - I don't have a copy of the picture I drew for the Harlot. I'll be drawing more and different ones in the future, so perhaps I'll get one up here when I finish a new one. I'm learning how to dissect the reproductive parts out of the rest of the abdomen today, so hopefully I'll be able to get a clearer picture of all the different pieces parts.

I've just finished my presentation on plant fibers. I'll say this again and again, 'cause it's true. I'm pretty sure that I now know more about plant fibers than is reasonable for most humans. I may go into detail in a future blog entry, but here's a little tidbit:
In the 1300's this English fellow, Sir John Mandeville, came across some cotton being grown in India and described it thusly:
"there grew there a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie." Ummm...yeah. I think your rye's gone ergot, Sir John.
Cotton has been grown, spun, and woven in India for about 5,000 years. It soon spread to Egypt and surrounding areas. Our word "cotton" comes from the Arabic, "quoton." Cotton has been used in the Americas for about 4,500 years, according to our best estimates. Columbus was greeted with gifts of cotton when he "discovered America," which had been there the whole time, as those cotton-producing natives could have told him. Today, the US exports the most cotton of all the countries in the world, but China is the largest cotton producer.

Now to put together my list of references and fluff my butt a little.