I have a science fair project to do, and only have till April to have it completed.
There’s going to be college scout people there, and I figured it would be cool if I could do something extremely awesome and win over the hearts of the scouts by doing a science fair project on…knitting.
Does anyone have an idea that they don’t mind me using?
Any ideas non-knitting related is welcome, too.
Maybe something about the felting and superwash process?
How about how they make acrylic yarn. I saw a picture in a magazine article that showed the containers of plastic matierial that was like a dough that went through various processes to become yarn. it seems cool…
just a thought :shrug: how polimers become unique things like yarn, fabric, etc… perhaps how a pop bottle becomes a mitten? :eyebrow:
My DH is a materials engineer. He talked with a person who is the president of a materials society about the coming trends in research. The big things that are on the horizon have the prefixes eco-, nano-, or bio-. So if you can profess an interest in eco-science, like how they recycle polymers; or bio-science, like how they identify genes; etc. If you’re interested in a particular school, go their website and see what they are trying to develop. Have they started a new center of research, are they constructing a building for some big new project?
If you’re going to make posters, make sure that they aren’t messy or grammatically incorrect. Have fun, be creative!
Heh! I’m a science fair mentor 
I’m so pleased that you’re so keen to make a good impression.
I agree - new fibers is a good place to start. There are all sorts of new things coming out - soy fibers, banana silk and that new SeaCell stuff (check out Handmaiden SeaSilk - it’s supposed to have all sorts of medicinal qualities).
One of the big things in science is the use of biological products for engineering (eg: biofilm adhesives made from marine organisms, etc) so if you’re looking at other non-hair alternatives it will be catchy. Maybe you could look at tencil strengths or measure how quickly they degrade compared to tradional materials (silk, wool, hair, cotton etc)
Also, you could look at novel dying processes. What is cutting edge and how do traditional dying methods match up with these new bio-fibers? Maybe do some dying experimentation with traditional dyes and new ones?
Just some ideas… if i think of any others, i’ll let you know…
=]
Thank you guys for your feedback. It helped. I still don’t know what I’m going to do, but you guys are giving me some ideas.