Knitting

I needed a new knitting project like I need a hole in the head, but then I bought Mason Dixon Knitting and was instantly hooked on the idea of the Log Cabin blanket. I hate sewing, so I'm making one BIIIG square, and I'm using up my random Lamb's Pride stash, plus two skeins that I bought to supplement. I don't know how far that will get me, but I'm enjoying the project so far. My boyfriend has given his blessing to me stashing the project in that nice wicker basket in the TV room. He said, "Hey, are you going to keep your yarn there? It looks really nice!"  Awww! 

We are almost all the way moved in, with really just a few boxes of random stuff (his) in the middle upstairs room that need going through.  However, since it is 95 degrees and wicked humid here in Boston, I don't think we'll be getting around to those tonight!  Yeck. 

I'm happily adjusting to my new digs in Beantown, and adjusting to the commute to Worcester every day.  I'm doing a great elective right now, "Health Care For the Homeless."  I am really enjoying my time there, the doctor who is supervising me is wonderful and one of the few people I know who is truly not shocked by anything.  I think this quality is of utmost importance in a population marked by severe drug abuse, poor reliability and lots of mental illness.  Worcester is not a fun place to be homeless and addicted to drugs, let me tell you.  Fortunately, those folks have this doctor as a very powerful advocate.  Right now things are super interesting and very tiring while I'm there, but pretty sweet in terms of total hourage per week. 

This makes the whole commuting thing not bad at all, and coming home to a clean happy house inhabited by the man I love is SOOOOOOO worth it!!!  I am one of those drivers who likes to try out new routes and figure which one is the most time and distance efficient.  It's an inherited condition that I get from my dad.  So far I've come up with a new route home from Worcester that is pretty good. 

Ok, I'm off to try to take a practice board block of 50 questions, but I might chicken out because it is sooooo hot.  Hm. 

So, I've been busy. My boyfriend and I are moving in together, and we have spent the last bazillion weekends or so looking for a place to live that suits us both. FINALLY we found a great one that is hugenormous with almost hilarious ammounts of storage. Good thing, too, because the other night I organized ALL my yarn (even the stuff lurking in corners) and found that I have a LOT. Here is the picture of my closet. The brightly colored buckets (orange, pink, turquoise and purple in the upper right corner) are all yarn. Then there are two small clear ones that are yarn and equipment (needles, etc). Beneath those are two large clear buckets that are yet more yarn. The darker purple and green bins on the right are NOT yarn. The bag that says "thanks" is an almost finished Lace Leaf Sweater that I think I'll finish tonight. I have as much yarn as some small stores that I have been to. Next year, NO NEW YARN. Yeah, right.

Honey, if you are looking at this web page, just remember that our new place has 3 bedrooms and YOU PROMISED I COULD USE ONE FOR YARN.

Another thing that was a big deal around here was the youngest sibling in my family graduating from college! Congratulations Baby Brother. As you can see, Baby Brother is, not unlike my new apartment, hugenormous. He is such a loveable guy, and he got the biggest cheer during graduation of anyone in his class. It was great.

I'm almost done with my 12 week internal medicine rotation, THANK GOD. I'm almost done with Third Year, which is also a nice thing to think about. I'm tired. This has been a long year. Medicine was exhausting and hard, but ultimately very rewarding. I'm ready for fourth year, which everyone says is very, very fun.

Before I started, I was concerned that I actually hated adult medicine and only cared about pregnant ladies and kiddos as patients. But I was wrong. What I've learned about myself is that I really love almost every patient that I've had. Sure, there are some nutcases, like the lady whose husband wanted us to give her all her pain medication in pill form to take home...I think he was selling it on the street. And then there was the middle aged guy who did nothing but lay in bed at his parent's house and drink vodka. Let me tell you, your liver is not happy when that is all you do. But for the most part my patients have been amazing, and I have learned far more than I thought possible simply by showing up every day and talking to the attending physicians. I also did lots of reading, of course, but the learning that has happened has mostly been on the go, which is the kind that really sticks with me.

I'm working on some things, and will update the sidebar with pictures soon. Sorry about my epic absence. I missed the comments that I get, even though I don't really get that many!

I should have put somewhere in that last post that my boyfriend does NOT agree in any way with the ways animals are treated by the meat industry. He's also always been REALLY supportive of my veganish-ism, and when his family takes us out to dinner he always checks the menu before to make sure I'll be able to eat something.

Someone sent me a comment and said that he was wrong about rights being only a human construction. I'm not going to outline the details of our discussion, and besides, he's the philosophy major, not me. But I have to say that I agree with my BF on this one. I believe that humans ought to treat animals well becuase it is the correct thing to do. Anyway.

Here is something I'm working on very sporadically, and this picture was taken before I ripped it out and started over on size 2 instead of size 1. But these are the Northern Lights Mittens, in my own interpretation of the colors. Green, more green, purples and some red. I haven't gotten too far on the new version because I've not had much time for knitting this past week. Tonight I will, and will have to decide what to work on. I am a bit obsessed with colorwork right now.

Edited to add: Go see Laura's perfect new baby and wish her and her family congratulations!  He's soooo cute. 

Before I get too angry, look at this freaking ADORABLE little sweater that I'm knitting. I have two friends in my class who are both pregnant. One is about 12 weeks along, one only 9. The 9 weeker wasn't supposed to leak the information, because as you might know, 9 week pregnancies are not always guaranteed to last, but she was super excited and cracked under the excitement of the other friend's pregnancy. Of course, I was thrilled for both of them, they will make wonderful mommies, and I was thrilled because this meant that I could go to WEBS while home on spring break and buy some cute yarn and a pattern. So I found the ladybuggies. This is a Dale of Norway Pattern, called "Marihone" Number 1005 knit in Baby Ull, which might be my new favorite yarn. The tricky part about this pattern, besides its almost crippling cuteness is the fact that there are rows with 3 colors at once AND long floats. I worked out a system in which I did some fudging of the placement of the dark blue dots and used 2 yarns in my right hand and one in my left. NOT elegant or pretty to watch, but seems to be working ok. The sweater will hopefully smooth out with some blocking action, and I wish I had one of those old-fashioned sweater stretcher boards, but it would need to be in tiny baby size. Funny story: I bought my skinny Addi Turbos in 24" without realizing that a tiny baby might not be 24" around. I returned them, and all is right with the world.

Except for the rage blackouts. I swear, I live with some of the LEAST considerate people that I have ever met in my whole life. If you read a story in the paper about me stabbing someone in the heart with a knitting needle, I promise you that it will have been justifiable homicide. I could go in to details, but it is so exhausting and ridiculous to list it all, that I'd rather not. Just imagine the worst college roomate ever and multiply it by 7.

I've been knitting like mad because I was home for 1 week on spring break, and all I did was knit and watch The West Wing on DVD. That's not quite true, I exercised as well, but still...Here is a sweater. I know this picture blows. Sorry. It will be a cardigan, inspired by the movie Brokeback Mountain. The color is lighter than Michelle Williams' sweater, but it is such terrific yarn (and was in the stash), that I'm really pleased so far. I'm calling it Brokeback Brioche, and it is knit in Peace Fleece "Lena's Meadow." The yarn is pale blue with a darker teal spun with it, with nubs of olive green, dark hot pink and dark teal. It also has a soft mohair halo. I LOVE this yarn. When I said before that Baby Ull is my new favorite, I meant that this yarn really was. I have 6 skeins in an awesome green just waiting for an exciting project...I love Brioche stitch too, and if you would like to try it, Interweave Knits Spring 2005 has a really nice article about the basics, and also it goes in to increasing and decreasing. Very helpful.

Has anyone else seen Brokeback Mountain and found themselves noticing Michelle Williams' knitwear??  I have developed an obsession with the blue cardigan she wears in the scene with the laundry line and while she is washing dishes in the sink.  It is wooly and vintage-y and has a nifty looking rib pattern.  I'm trying to replicate it right now with my Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Vol. 1.  I've found something that I like ok, but I don't think it is the one from the movie.  Anyone have any ideas?  I've tried Googling to get better pictures, because the sweater goes by quite quickly, but have not had much luck.  

Here are my two cute cousins and my uncle Rob (check out his band Boston Blackthorne here and on iTunes!) playing their instruments for us on Christmas day. I adore my family. I adore my boyfriend. Together, they made me so joyful and thankful during this holiday. I had a wonderful vacation, during which I did really nothing except buy yarn and open presents! I also started feeling a little stressed out about my stash, and about my lack of personal exercise motivation. I thought a lot about my goals for this year, and realized that they are analogous. I'm on a food diet and a yarn diet. I need to exercise more and knit more, which should make me happy!

Category 1: FITNESS. Before I started surgery, I was really good about exercising. I wasn't about to run any marathons or win any fittest student awards, but I was in decent shape. Then, surgery hit me like a brick, and I was lucky if I worked out for 30 minutes a week. During OB I was no better, and just a tiny bit better during Pediatrics. Now for 6 weeks I have to report for duty around 9 am. Over Christmas break, I worked out almost every day, and I hope to continue this trend. I'd like to eat a bit better, lose some weight and become toned again. I plan to get up at 6 am and go to the sucky but free school exercise room--hopefully the smelly dude who sometimes is there will still be sleeping! :o)

Category 2: STASH REDUCTION. Seriously, the stash is getting out of control. I knitted a truly heroic number of holiday knits, and somehow managed to give them away without pictures. One mistake rib scarf for my grandfather, a "lacey" pattern scarf for my great-aunt, a ziz-zag scarf from Modular Knits with matching mittens for my sister, Fleece Artist "Favourite Mittens" for my mom, some mittens for my grandmother...you get the idea. It was insane, but all presents were finished more or less in time for the big day. Since then I've made lots of progress on my Eris, and have started two new projects.

Rosedale United:
This pattern and yarn is ADDICTIVE! What you see there is about 1 full day worth of knitting. Most of this was knitted yesterday during a full day of lectures called "Interclerkship." Some more was done today in between orientations for Family Medicine. I forgot how much I LOVE Noro Kureyon. This is color number 162, and even though I can see the ball of yarn and tell which color is coming next, I keep on wanting to knit MORE and more and see what the sweater will look like! I'm almost done with the body and will move to the sleeves soon...Knitting this makes me think about that crazy sweater from Interweave Web patterns knit with Kureyon. Of course, I can't make it until I use up WAY more stash...but I do have the color picked out...maybe.

Lace Leaf Pullover:
From Teva Durham's book, also from Interweave Summer 2005. Ever since I saw this sweater I knew I had to have it. I found the yarn for it at WEBS, it is one of their new lines-Valley Yarns Shelburne. The picture does not do justice to the yarn or pattern, both are lovely. I've finished the lower part of the body and almost both sleeves. Hey, at this rate, I'll have room in my stash in NO TIME.

My room is a MESS. It looks like Santa exploded in here! Yikes. I'm trying to wrap what I've got, pack my clothes and pack the holiday knitting that still needs to be done, plus some other knitting to work on after Christmas. Not going as smoothly as I want it to!

Here is the hat that I made for my boyfriend's sister, using this pattern: Cozy Cabled Toque.

The only thing I did differently was use size 10 needles instead of 10.5, because I'm a little bit of a looser knitter. The pattern is QUICK and looks very cute. I've been seeing lots of cabled hats in the store this season, so it is also in style! I look like an alien in this picture, I think, my eyes look big and googly. Oh well, once a doctor thought I had Graves' disease because of my big eyes. Up until then, they were the thing about me that I liked the most! Now my boyfriend and I joke about my disease a lot, but sometimes I still feel sad...sniffle.

I finished my school stuff on Friday, we were supposed to have a practical exam, but it was such dangerous, icy weather that we were emailed the written part of the exam to do at home.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone! I have some serious knitting to get done before Sunday AM!

Is it wrong to say that I usually hate Sundays? The last month of weekends (not including the last two) I've been spoiled, spending them in Boston with my man, hanging out and watching football together. Then I've usually stayed there, pretending that the weekend isn't quite over yet. At his house we get to order food for Sunday dinner (Sesame Tofu-YUM!), watch the Simpsons and Family Guy and have a nice time...Hey, Sunday isn't so bad! But the past two weekends he's been BUSY, and it is just not as fun watching football alone!  Plus I live with the LOUDEST human being on earth, seriously, so watching TV can be a major frustration while she clomps, stomps and makes more noise that I thought one person could ever make.  Then the worst part is going to sleep alone, here in Worcester, with the lights of the hospital blinking into my room. Sigh.

So what did I do with this angsty feeling? KNIT, of course. Here is my version of the cable hat from the second Stitch n' Bitch book. I like my version better, because it actually fits over my big noggin, which I can't imagine the one in the book ever would! The hat is for my roomate Becca, it is a birthday/Christmas gift that somewhat matches her coat. I knit it in about 2 days of down time, but I don't know how many hours I spent total, and I ripped out some becuase it was too short. I used #7 needles and Cascade Quattro in a really cool red/pink/maroon/tannish blend. The picture does not do this yarn justice, it looks very nice all knitted up! I basically added an extra cable width-wise to compensate for the smaller gauge of Cascade Quatro, and then I added several cable repeats on to the length. I tapered the cables more than they bothered to in the book, and changed the decreases to something that I am more happy with. Hmm, is that 10% of a change in pattern?  Maybe I'll write it all down for anyone who is interested.  I think I might make another one for my mom, I have more Quatro in a blue.

Here is Eris, which I hadn't worked on since the summer, but picked up last wekend on...you guessed it...SUNDAY.  This is a bad, bad picture, but it looks really good so far!  I'm done with the cable collar and am on to the part where you knit in the round for the body, which is good because I hate purling whole rows!  This is also Cascade 220, in a really pretty blue/grey color.  I have to say that right now, Cascade is way up on my list of favorite yarns.  It is so soft, and it really makes crisply defined cable work!  Important when you are making this sweater.  I think this design is very fun and challenging, but Jenna's patterns have really well-written instructions that anyone can read!  Rogue was my second sweater, and I had no problems at all...ok that's a lie, but I finished it! 

Yesterday was better, I got to scrub in on a C-section and got to deliver the placenta.  Now, I read Kristin's blog, and someone commented about how you don't "deliver" the placenta, you help the mom do it.  Normally, I totally agree with that, but C-sections are not the most physiologic things on earth.  In fact, they disrupt the benefits of birth.  NOW, don't get me wrong, my mommy had me by C-section, thank GOD, so I have a deep admiration and appreciation for the women who go through this freaky procedure.  

But, having said all that, I do think it is fair to say that I delivered the placenta yesterday, since I stuck my whole hand inside the lady's uterus and "swept" the placenta out with my hand.  Very weird, very cool.  So far, I'm liking OB a lot.  The one thing that really bums me out is that once the munchkins are born, I don't really get to pay a lot of attention to them.  I wish I could HOLD them, they are SO freaking cute.

one more thing: one of my patients is on bed rest until she delivers, which we hope is NOT soon, her baby needs to cook a little bit more.  I went in yesterday afternoon and she was knitting a pink baby blanket!  After rounding with the attending, I came back to help her figure out her pattern.  She was picking up knitting after 20 years of not knitting, so she didn't know what YO and K2Tog means.  I'm excited to see her progress today. 

Next entry: the Fall line up!!

I'm closing in on the home stretch with my surgery clerkship! I had my oral exam yesterday, which caused me some worry and nightmares (typical for me when I'm stressed), but was pretty straightforward. All the reading and thinking and staying up all night evaluating surgery consults in the Emergency room has paid off--I can think like a doctor now! At least for some things. I know how to make a differential diagnosis (list of what may be wrong), and what tests and studies I need to order for my patient. Of course, I'm best at the surgical cases, and I'm looking forward to learning about the same things from different perspectives.

I was on call last night, which was very busy and exciting, and then this morning I went over to see a surgery on a newborn. I was tired, but it is not something you see every day. I can sleep later...right? Baby is doing well.

So I'm doing Pediatric surgery right now, and it is a lot of work, just like all the other surgery rotations. I'm the only student on a service that usually has two, so I'm there extra early in the morning to write down all my little patients' vitals, med lists, etc. Here's a secret that is not so secret: I LOVE KIDS. I think they are hilarious and awesome most of the time. I'm having a lot of fun talking with these little guys in the clinic either on their way to a surgery, or recovering from a surgery. I also really like checking in on them, making sure things are fine, etc. I tend to worry about them when I'm not around, and I get really happy when they are doing well. Most of the time, their parents pick up on the fact that I'm in love with their kids. Some of the parents we see, however, are so ridiculous that it would horrify you all. Example: a kid came in to clinic after an operation last week. He was looking and feeling rotten, and we were pretty sure he had some kind of infection/abscess going on. He needed to be admitted (for serious antibiotics) and get a CT scan. When I first went into the room, his mom was really annoyed with me, and kept pointing out that he was feeling really bad. I agreed readily, and thought she was just very upset. THEN, when we told her that our plan was to admit him, take him to CT and find out what was wrong, she heaved a big old sigh and said, "You mean we have to wait around here again?!" Um, lady, your kid is SICK! You just TOLD me that! I care that he's sick! I want to fix it and make him feel BETTER!

This weekend I'm off to a wedding 5 hours away!  Sad thing is that I'll probably spend more time driving to it than actually with the bride, one of my best friends who is on a leave of absence from my med school.  My poor boyfriend hates weddings, but he's being a real trooper and coming with me.  I'm planning on sneaking in lots of study time between my bridesmaidenly duties!  Next week we have a big practical exam where we evaluate fake patients, then a written exam that is allegedly insanely hard.  50% is passing grade nationally.  Yikes. 

Finally, socks are sooo close to being done. Can't wait to not be working on them. I like the yarn, I like the pattern, I like the IDEA of making them for someone else, I just don't like that I can't put them down to start something else because they are due...today!!