My hat was on Wearable Wednesday yesterday!

My reindeer hat was featured on the 1/7/2015 episode of Wearable Wednesday!

Temperature Sensing Hat

In my last post, I shared my first completed eTextile, a hat that plays Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in sync with his flashing nose! After quite a bit of trial and error, I added a temperature sensor and got my hat working the way I want it to! Figuring out the code for this sensor wasn't entirely intuitive.

For example, I wanted the buzzer music to come on when the temperature dipped well below room temperature.  When trying to figure out the code for the temperature sensor, I spent a lot of time writing things like:

if(sensorValue <=155)

and if(sensorValue <=100) 

and if(sensorValue <=50)  

By using the Arduino Serial Monitor, I'd determined that the ambient temperature of my room equated to approximately 157 (I don't yet know how that translates to degrees in Fahrenheit).  I thought that using the <= sign would tell the LilyPad that I wanted it to trigger the music when the temperature went down.   This was NOT the case.

The correct way to achieve the result I was after actually looks like this:

 if(sensorValue >=155)

The >= sign doesn't seem to mean GREATER than in this case, because when the temperature goes DOWN, my music comes on.  I would like to understand this better.

In any case, when I wear my hat indoors the lights flash, but the music doesn't come on unless the ambient temperature is pretty chilly. The beauty of this is that the music should only come on when I'm outside, away from the delicate nerves of my loved ones (or to signal our need to heave another log onto the family hearth).

Here is a link to the code that I wrote (some of which has been modified from an Ugly Christmas Sweater Instructable). 

Leg Warmers

I added LEDs and a Lily Pad Tiny Sparkle to each of these leg warmers, because my daughter wanted me to.

I've since learned that stretchy leg warmers and non-stretchy thread don't work well together.  I broke a thread taking them off and found myself wishing that they sparkled faster.

I am abandoning this idea in search of a more practical one...such as creating a blinking hat like the one that I saw an Essex senior wearing at the mixer! She used LilyPad and Adafruit neopixels that were individually programmable!  My supplies are in the mail!

Wearable Social

We celebrated our hard work and shared our creative breakthroughs at the Generator's social event this evening!

My Reindeer Hat is Ready for the Generator!

 It's finished (with the exception of a few embellishments)!

A post containing my code is linked HERE!

I didn't spend much time on my schematic, because the vision in my head was too hard to draw.

The audio in this video doesn't capture the actual sound!

Rudolph Hat...a work in progress.

Please click on the following link to read the post that I just wrote on my personal blog.  Leah, I'm not sure, but I think I may have accidentally discovered why your speakers aren't loud enough.

LED Headband Project

Today, Leah, Audrey (my daughter), and I attended a fun workshop at the Generator, learning how to create a Rainbow LED Headband.

Although I did not have time to learn much about the actual code of this project (we uploaded John's program), I learned a little about the Arduino Nano, downloading and extracting files, and putting them into the correct libraries on my computer.  This might not sound like a big deal, but it was new to me, just as the soldering was for my daughter.

Another take away:  parts from China can occasionally be defective!

Coding on a Snow Day!

I posted about my day on my personal blog, at this link, but I wanted to share my goofy little video here!  I have lights, music, and a functioning temperature sensor that makes the motor vibrate.  I'm not sure how functional this piece will be in all reality, but I am having fun.

There is a
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           T
                                                                     E
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                                                                          P
                                                                         learning curve and                                                                                                                                            judicious borrowing                                                                                                                                       happening on my end.

My Music and Lights are in Sync!

The video above might not look like much, but I spent nearly all day today getting my Lily Pad to sync up with flashing green and red lights!

Here is a link to the code that I used, which is a combination of the music I coded last week (see previous post) and someone else's code for the lights.

The biggest problem that I am having at the moment is that there is a long pause at the end of the song and a couple of lights are flashing for reasons I cannot figure out.

My next step is to figure out how to get the music to turn on with a temperature sensor. 

Baby, I've Started Coding My LilyPad!

Today, I sat down and started coding the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside," to get myself in the holiday spirit! I matched the notes on the sheet music with those on this frequency chart.  I struggled a bit with the length of the notes and rests, so I'd like to try to find a tool for that as well.

Ideally, I'd like to create a scarf that plays this song and flashes multicolored lights when the temperature dips.

I haven't yet figured out how to program lights to flash in sync with my music, but that is next on my list.  (It looks like Lucie has figured it out, though).

The video is less than thrilling, but you can hear how my song is progressing.

The Journey Officially Begins

Leah and I are excited about the opportunity to be the first recipients of the Ignite a Maker grant! 

Today, we spent the afternoon at the Generator taking the Rapid Prototyping Certification course, learning some basics about the laser cutter, 3D printer, Vinyl cutter, and CNC router. 

As of today, we have both taken the Generator Membership Orientation and we are ready to get started with making!