Quickpost: Loreto College Periodic Table

I waffle on here about craft quite often, but less so (I think) about geekery.

I am a geek, I freely admit to it. Not in a degree in astro-physics sort of way, but enough to appreciate and learn and sneak in the odd lecture.

One of the things that gets me really excited (now now, no rudeness please), is geekery and craft. I’ve heard people comment that the two don’t go together. I disagree. From the computer scientist who has a pile of knitting patterns at home, to the orthopaedic surgeon who knits, the imaging technician, the dermatology PhD, the E-Learning Manager, the Research Associate in Population Health….. I could go on and on. These are real people, who have technical jobs, would consider themselves geeks and who craft.

So I’ve gone from organising and working on the knitted galaxy for Manchester Science Festival in 2010, through to visiting Loreto College to see the unveiling of a cross stitch periodic table.

Yes, you heard me. Cross stitch.

To raise money for CAFOD, packs of aida and thread were painstakingly put together for each symbol, and handed out to volunteers – for a small charity donation. The volunteers, students, staff, parents, then stitched the symbols for each chemical and these were tessellated into the final design.

 

At the unveiling, there were even periodic table cakes. Calcium anyone? Or perhaps a bit of arsenic?

 

Unveiled at the college by Professor Paul O’Brien, Head of the School of Materials at the University of Manchester last week, in front of staff, students and representatives from CAFOD, the local branch of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Oxford Cambridge and RSA examinations board were there to see it.

 

And me with my WI hat on. Sort of.

I’m thrilled to say it looks fantastic and those hours of stitching, placing it together  and fixing it were well worth it.

 

I only wish I’d had the idea first!