Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share (26 page)

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Authors: Ken Denmead,Chris Anderson

Tags: #General, #Family & Relationships, #Games, #Science, #Activities, #Boys, #Experiments & Projects, #Fathers and Sons, #Parenting, #Handicraft for Boys, #Fatherhood, #Crafts & Hobbies, #Amusements

BOOK: Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share
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If you are felting (a process that teases out the fibers of the wool yarn in your crochet to give it a fuller, fabric-y look), don’t worry about weaving in ends; you can snip them off later. If you are not felting, weave in the ends so there’s no loose tails.
To felt: Toss the bag into your washer. If you aren’t worried about specific sizing, just leave it in there, letting it swish around. Make sure the setting is hot and on high agitation. When the cycle’s done, your stitches will be dissolved. To shape, pull the still wet— don’t dry this in the dryer—bag over a mug, cup, or an ice bucket from a drink set (really? An ice bucket?).
Make sure if you are using multiple colors that the skeins are the same brand of yarn, and steer clear of white since it doesn’t felt well. Unless you want to vary felting textures; by all means, work it up however you like.
There are a few options for the tie. You can make a double-tie system, using two laces threaded at either side to pull the top taut. This allows the bag to close tightly without actually tying the laces. But sometimes a simple lace does the job perfectly; just poke right through the felted material to wind the laces. To make a lace, you can simply chain wool or, for a smoother option, nylon.
If you’re feeling funky, you can always embellish with beads. Or, you know, Dremmel through some d8s and use those. . . .
An Even Cooler Idea!
Once you’ve mastered crochet and it’s kissing cousin, knitting, there’s a whole world of geeky craft projects waiting for you. Some other items you can make, as suggested by J. Lynne on the D3blog (
http://jlynne.exit-23.net/2007/12/05/thirteen-geeky-knitting-projects/
), include Jayne Cobb’s hat from firefly, an R2D2 Cap, a Princess Leia Wig-Hat, Tom Baker’s Doctor Who Scarf, a Hogwarts Gryffindor Scarf, or anything else you and your geeklet’s imagination can come up with.
GEEKY KIDS GO GREEN
The Science of Composting
A
s I write this book, my home in the San Jose/San Francisco/ Oakland Bay Area has been experiencing the coolest summer in my memory. One might say “strange things are afoot at the Circle K,” for the logical set where “Circle K” = the environment.
Geeks are into science, and the overwhelming scientific evidence is telling us that the effects of our environment-unfriendly activities, starting with the Industrial Revolution and continuing through today’s manufacturing, motoring, and mining have accumulated to the point where they are having macro-environmental results. As geeky parents, it behooves us to educate our kids about this evidence and the things that need to be done to halt our downward spiral. One very useful way of doing that is by being environmentally conscious at home.
But being environmentally conscious on a personal level can mean many things. For example, our boys don’t receive a regular allowance. Rather, they get to split the redemption money from every can and bottle we accumulate and take to our local recycling center.
Saving energy is also important, though we’re still working hard to get them to turn off their game consoles and lights when they leave the room.
But one more activity can encourage a more environmentally friendly (not to mention healthier) lifestyle and provide some important education—and that’s growing food. While farming may not seem terribly geeky, I assure you that, when you add science into the mix, anyone can be a geeky gardener. Which is why I’ve included, in this chapter and the next, two easy and slightly geeky home-gardening-related projects you and your geeky children can build together.
A Note on Materials
You can pick up a plastic storage tub from your local big-box store. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy—just one of those 20-gallon bins with a lid if you’re starting small, on up to a full-sized garbage can if you are a bit more ambitious. The compost starter is slightly more specialized (though not as rare as it used to be). You should be able to find it at your local garden supply store, or online.
STEP 1:
With your close supervision, have your child drill a series of holes in the top (lid) and bottom of the bin. There’s no hard and fast rule on the size, quantity, or spacing, but assume something like 8 to 12 holes with a ¼-inch bit, evenly spaced, both top and bottom. This should allow an adequate level of aeration and seepage.
 
STEP 2:
Fill the bin about 6 inches up from the bottom with a mix of shredded newspaper and small rocks (the rocks aren’t essential, but they’ll help things along). Then add enough compost starter to get to at least the half-full mark.
 
STEP 3:
Before we get the composting actually going, you need to ask yourself a question: Where is the best location for your composting bin? Consider that it is utilitarian in appearance, it may seep a little, and it will have a tendency to smell a little at times. Plus, you’ll want easy access to it for dumping new material into it on a regular basis, and you’ll need to be able to water it from time to time. You may even want to think toward the future and put it somewhere that has room for expansion in case you really geek out over this composting business.
About Compost Starter
You don’t have to use specific compost starter for this project. You can simply start with good soil instead, but the composting cycle will take a lot longer to really get rolling. You also don’t have to buy it from a store. Check around with your neighbors to see if anyone else is composting, and if they are, ask if you can have some of theirs as a starter for your bin. Most folks cool enough to be composting will probably be cool enough to share.
 
STEP 4:
When you have your bin properly situated, it’s time to start filling it up. There are a number of very useful resources for composting information online (see the links in Appendix A), but here are some guidelines for what you can and can’t compost:
THINGS YOU CAN COMPOST
Apple cores, Aquarium plants, Artichoke leaves, Banana peels, Bird cage cleanings, Bone meal, Bread crusts, Brewing wastes, Brown paper bags, Burlap coffee bags, Burned toast, Cardboard cereal boxes (shredded), Chocolate cookies, Citrus rinds, Coconut hull fiber, Coffee grounds, Cooked rice, Crab, shrimp, and lobster shells, Date pits, Dead bugs, Dried-up and faded herbs, Dust bunnies, Egg shells, Elmer’s glue, Expired floral arrangements (sans ribbons), Feathers, Fish bones, Fish meal, Fish scraps, Flower petals, Freezer-burned fish, Freezer-burned fruit, Freezer-burned vegetables, Fruit salad, Grapefruit rinds, Grass clippings, Greeting card envelopes, Grocery receipts, Guinea pig cage cleanings, Houseplant trimmings, Ivory soap scraps, Jell-O (gelatin), Kleenex tissues, Leather wallets, Leather watchbands, Leaves, Lint from clothes dryer, Liquid from canned fruits and vegetables, Macaroni and cheese, Matches (paper or wood), Melted ice cream, Moldy cheese, Most food waste, Nut shells, Old beer, Old leather gardening gloves, Old or outdated seeds, Old pasta, Old spices, Old yogurt, Olive pits, Onion skins, Paper napkins, Paper towels, Peanut shells, Pencil shavings, Pet hair, Pickles, Pie crust, Pine needles, Unpopped popcorn, Post-it notes, Potato peelings, Produce trimmings, Pumpkin seeds, Q-tips (cardboard, not plastic), Sawdust (too much may slow the process), Shredded cardboard, Shredded newspapers (avoid the glossy circulars), Spoiled fruits and vegetables, Stale bread and baked goods, Stale breakfast cereal, Stale potato chips, Tea bags and grounds, Tofu, Weeds, Wool clothing.
 
THINGS YOU CAN’T COMPOST
Animal wastes, Chemically treated wood products, Diseased plants, Fatty foods, Meats, Meat bones, Nonorganic materials, Pernicious weeds, Plastics (unless explicitly labeled as biodegradable).

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