It's only Tuesday?

the days after a "break" seem much longer; and thus I can't believe it's only Tuesday. Late in the evening of Tuesday, but still.

Tuesday nights are nights they only allow parking on one side of the street; this is a problem when I have meetings that last longer then 6pm but so far I haven't had to treck from too far away. I finally like where I'm living (that's another story for another day) and looking for parking once or twice a week is a small price to pay!

Knitting: I started the KittyPi with Reynolds Lopi yarn (navy blue), then continued it with a double strand of Lane Borgosesia (Knitaly yarn in a beautiful blue) and now that that's run out I'm working with a strand of another color knitaly (red) and a starnd of Naturespun (blue). It's an odd combo, and I'm sure if I were using the correct sized DPN's I would be using less yarn (I had 10 1/2's and wanted to start knitting - so I did. I don't have anything larger then a 10 in circular needles (in the correct length) and my other double pointeds are all smaller!) If this doesn't work well (read: doesn't felt at all and looks awful) I'll chalk it up to experience and work quickly to make something else for the receipent.

This afternoon, after my lab tutorial ended and before my meeting, I was sitting in a comfy chair knitting by the windows. The undergrads at the institution have chemistry labs in the "Med School" building, and today there were students all over the place working on end of the semester chem calculations. I overheard a few spirited conversations about ionic bonding, acid/base properties and vaporization energy. At one point I considered leaning over and giving them an answer (the biochem major in me) but figured it'd be easier if they just figured it out.

I was glad to be able to recall knowledge from several years ago though; there are some days when my brain feels so full I can't recall where I parked my car.

Pictures are coming - I just need to figure out how to upload them using the "bloggerbot" thing I downloaded.

Tomorrow is a full day of classes and I hope to be able to finish up the KittyPi and then work on/finish the body of the Christmas sweater. I've also got to un-cast-off the edge of a scarf and add a bit more to it; the future owner of it tried it on and said she'd like to be longer. I'm only too happy to oblige (a few more inches and I'll be done and she'll have a warm neck!).

G'night from here!

Weave me the Sunshine (and other fun songs)

I like to knit when I'm watching tv or a movie, but I also enjoy knitting with music on - playing from a cd player, my laptop or the radio. (I admit that my knitting is much tighter when NPR is on...)

Lately I've been searching for kids folk music. This was spurred on by the holiday postal service commercial that has the tune "Mail Myself to You" and after seeing it once or twice I had it stuck in my head for a day or so. Luckily, thanks to google, I was able to download it (for free!) from Amazon.com. The artist is John Mccutcheon and it's on his CD of kids music. My other favorites are Peter, Paul and Mary (Around the Campfire) and Kenny Loggins kids CD. There's something about the optimism that comes with music geared toward the under 8 crowd.

I've been knitting up a storm, but haven't yet figured out how to post pictures. My Noro sweater is almost finished, but I think I'm going to undo a sleeve and line up the stripes. I don't think anyone else would notice, but I think it's why I've been putting off finishing it.

My mom's Christmas sweater is moving right along, and is easy to do in class (it was what I worked on this morning during the pharmacology lecture). I'm not happy with how uneven parts of it look and I'm hoping some blocking will even it out. The ladies at the Central Yarn Shop didn't have any suggestions when I took it up; they suggested that maybe my knitting would even out once I am not so stressed. At the rate I'm going (two and a half years of school left, three to four years of residency, three steps of boards, finding a place to practice and so on....) it's going to be 30 years before my stress level decreases. (the irony of me knitting to relax and reduce stress!)

I finished up a scarf for someone and am working on a scarf for me, and have a kittypi (thanks to WendyKnits) kitten bed on the needles as another Christmas present. I'm hoping to get pictures of everything up because then it'll be easier for me to write about them.

I'm off to do an evening patient encounter and then it's back here to knit and review for class tomorrow!

Starting Small

this is the first entry in what I hope will be a long-running "blog." I've been reading others knitting blogs for awhile, and finally feel like I knit enough to put myself out there.

about me: I'm a second year med student in the northeast United States. I learned to knit when I was younger and didn't really pick it up again full force until last year. Knitting in classes with required attendence helped me get through my first year - and it also meant I was able to give everyone scarves for Christmas last year. This year I've been working on sweaters - a few for me, and a few are gifts. My yarn stash is much larger then I feel it should be, and so my goal for the month of December and maybe January is to thin it out a bit. (this coincides with my living expenses funding running low as well!)