I'm a day ahead, yet again.
It appears I'm not the only one who can get three socks out of two balls of sock yarn! (why isn't that well known? or is it, and I was just slow to realize it?) A few people mentioned that they have made another pair from combining two "odd" balls - that's one way to get rid of near full balls of sock yarn. This somewhat new realization has me wondering if I should buy two balls of (expensive) sock yarn? The alternative is to keep a supply of solid sock weight yarn in (my) "common" sock colors for heels/toes/stripes. It might not be any cheaper, but I think I'd probably use yarn up on a more regular basis, and it'd be easier to justify adding "fun" colors/stripes to my sock yarn stash if I'm using up what I have. (but can I just buy one ball and assume that it'll get me through a pair and a half, or a pair with different toes? probably not. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it.)
Now that my mom's socks are finished I can work on a pair for myself. I cast on a sock in the LL "Jeans" colorway that Cassie sent up, but frogged it after a few rows of the pattern. In honor of the sender I thought I'd try a "feather and fan" sock. I don't have the book that the sock pattern came from, but found the stitch pattern in a book I checked out of the library (see Liz, I do use the public library! next I need to work on using interlibrary loan...) and thought I'd cast on the right number of stitches for the pattern. According to the book I have, I need 56 stitches for the pattern. I usually make sock with 56 stitches, but in this pattern (on size 2's) the sock looks too small. I frogged it and thought I'd try it on size 3's and see how that looked with the plan that if this looks too big then I'll go back to the 2's. I'd rather have a sock that's a tad bit too big with a little bit of slouch then one that is too tight and feels like it's continually cutting off blood flow to my feet.
I've also had a stream of chemo caps on and off the needles. Using the Lion Boucle is killing my hands, but it's mistake-forgiving in the decreases and the resulting hat is easy to care for and bright and colorful. The dealine I set for myself was this week, because after tomorrow I'll need to mail the finished hats instead of being able to hand them off. I'm seeing a trip to the post office in my future.
My small group met for the last time earlier this week, but I had my last (really this time, on our calendar it says "summer break" from here on out!) "class" this morning. One of our professors sees the benefit of giving us an anatomy/radiology review before we start out in the clinics, and this morning I spent three hours in the anatomy lab. The professors and doctors who told me I'd never be able to forget the smell were right. Our lab is newer then most other schools, and has top of the line ventilation, but it's hard to not smell it when standing over a dissected body that has been preserved with chemicals. The review was helpful, and I'm even more confident that I'll be able to id the basics on a chest x-ray or spiral CT scan. When we couldn't answer the questions that were asked we'd return to the bodies and see how the 3D anatomy fit with the 2d Xray.
The body is really just a bunch of tubes. Some of the tubes carry blood, some carry food, some carry enzymes, etc. The tubes all look the same (at first) on a CT, but once a few key tubes are identified, the rest of it all falls into place. (a CT takes a series of pictures of the anatomy in question (we viewed abdominal ct's this morning) in a plane perpendicular to the body. (I can't think of a good comparison other then to say it's like cutting a roll of sugar cookie dough into thin sections. The pictures we see are like viewing a cookie sheet of slices.) Being able to piece the whole thing together and follow organs through all the pictures is like putting a puzzle together, and, dare I say it, almost fun? That being said it might not be as much fun when I'm under the gun, or the stare of a not-so-happy attending who may not share my enthusiasm.
I spent more then half of today convinced that it was Friday, July 1st. I suppose this means that I've "found" an extra day this week?
Now that my mom's socks are finished I can work on a pair for myself. I cast on a sock in the LL "Jeans" colorway that Cassie sent up, but frogged it after a few rows of the pattern. In honor of the sender I thought I'd try a "feather and fan" sock. I don't have the book that the sock pattern came from, but found the stitch pattern in a book I checked out of the library (see Liz, I do use the public library! next I need to work on using interlibrary loan...) and thought I'd cast on the right number of stitches for the pattern. According to the book I have, I need 56 stitches for the pattern. I usually make sock with 56 stitches, but in this pattern (on size 2's) the sock looks too small. I frogged it and thought I'd try it on size 3's and see how that looked with the plan that if this looks too big then I'll go back to the 2's. I'd rather have a sock that's a tad bit too big with a little bit of slouch then one that is too tight and feels like it's continually cutting off blood flow to my feet.
I've also had a stream of chemo caps on and off the needles. Using the Lion Boucle is killing my hands, but it's mistake-forgiving in the decreases and the resulting hat is easy to care for and bright and colorful. The dealine I set for myself was this week, because after tomorrow I'll need to mail the finished hats instead of being able to hand them off. I'm seeing a trip to the post office in my future.
My small group met for the last time earlier this week, but I had my last (really this time, on our calendar it says "summer break" from here on out!) "class" this morning. One of our professors sees the benefit of giving us an anatomy/radiology review before we start out in the clinics, and this morning I spent three hours in the anatomy lab. The professors and doctors who told me I'd never be able to forget the smell were right. Our lab is newer then most other schools, and has top of the line ventilation, but it's hard to not smell it when standing over a dissected body that has been preserved with chemicals. The review was helpful, and I'm even more confident that I'll be able to id the basics on a chest x-ray or spiral CT scan. When we couldn't answer the questions that were asked we'd return to the bodies and see how the 3D anatomy fit with the 2d Xray.
The body is really just a bunch of tubes. Some of the tubes carry blood, some carry food, some carry enzymes, etc. The tubes all look the same (at first) on a CT, but once a few key tubes are identified, the rest of it all falls into place. (a CT takes a series of pictures of the anatomy in question (we viewed abdominal ct's this morning) in a plane perpendicular to the body. (I can't think of a good comparison other then to say it's like cutting a roll of sugar cookie dough into thin sections. The pictures we see are like viewing a cookie sheet of slices.) Being able to piece the whole thing together and follow organs through all the pictures is like putting a puzzle together, and, dare I say it, almost fun? That being said it might not be as much fun when I'm under the gun, or the stare of a not-so-happy attending who may not share my enthusiasm.
I spent more then half of today convinced that it was Friday, July 1st. I suppose this means that I've "found" an extra day this week?
posted by Kristen at 4:13 PM
4 Comments:
In the past I've got a pair of socks for myself and a pair for DD from 2 balls. Now that her feet are getting bigger I don't know how much longer I'll be able to pull that off. The only reason I've been able to do it I think is because socks made for myself only go to just above the ankle. I hate how they feel on my legs!
The pattern I use is a 64 stitch F&F. Just so you know... there are a few variations out there with different stitch counts.
I've toyed with the idea of buying three balls of the same sock yarn, knitting a pair for myself and one for someone else, but am afraid that I'd get tired of making four identical socks.
I'm using the same pattern as Cassie...email me if you want the details. Have a great weekend!
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on studying a dissected body, etc. Dad was a doctor and took me to the hospital a few times as company. I asked if I could watch an operation but couldn't get hospital approval for that. I thought he was especially cool when Dad got hit with appendicitis while we were camping in the mountains of NH - he packed us up, drove us home in the middle of the night, then drove himself to the hospital, had a spinal and watched his own operation.
Woolybuns
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