I recently received this lovely little award from Alicia. That combined with the fact that I actually finished an object for the first time in...a really long time has prompted me to post.

In order to accept this award I have to answer the following questions with only 1 word answers…

1. Where is your cell phone? Floor
2.Your hair? Brown
3. Your mother? Home
4. Your father? *love*
5. Your favorite food? Peanut Butter
6. Your dream last night? Interview
7. Your favorite drink? Grape
8. Your dream/goal? Surgeon!
9. What room are you in? Office
10. Your hobby? Knitting
11. Your fear? Scrambling
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Fellow
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something you aren’t? MD (yet)
15. Muffins? fattening
16. Wish list item? iPodTouch (I almost said iTouch but that just sounds dirty)
17. Where did you grow up? Massachusetts
18. Last thing you did? Study
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV? on
21. Your pets? none
22. Your friends? Rock
23. Your life? Crazzy
24. Your mood? Prickly
25. Missing someone? Yes
26. Vehicle? Wagon
27. Something you’re not wearing? Glasses
28. Your favorite store? Payless (Shoes of course)
29. Your favorite color? Eeyore (the blue part of him)
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Thursday (pre-interview drama)
32. Your best friend? AEES (combos rock)
33. One place that I go over and over? Hospital
34. One person who emails me regularly? Nobody (I'm a crappy correspondent)
35. Favorite place to eat? Conrad's

I will not tag people due to a lack of motivation...consider yourself tagged if you want to do the meme.

Knitting:

So, I finally finished my Dark Cowl. I started it at the end of May for some mindless knitting while studying...and now many months later I have finally finished it.

I initially planned to knit until I ran out of yarn...but I decided that it was already getting awful tall and thought better of it. I haven't decided if this means that I'm going to cast on for another project or whether I'm going to just work on my WIPs for a while. I'm leaning toward WIPs but I'll be checking out the Ravelry Queue.

Med School:

I have just started the interview process for residency. I'm applying for General Surgery with the plan to do a fellowship in something at the other end. One interview down...14 more to go! The knitting should be allowed to pick up again soon...I have another big test (Step 2) on 12/31 and then after that I should be home free! This is going to be a long year...but totally worth it. Which reminds me...I'm gonna have to change the name of the blog soon :P

Cute:

This was just too cute not to share with all of you...my mom picked it up at Hallmark a while ago. Perfect for when my hands are freezing...which is pretty much all the time :P

Labor and Delivery

So the two weeks of vacation are over...one week of OB/Gyn clinic done and now I'm starting my week of Labor and Delivery. Saw my first delivery today...simultaneously the coolest and most disgusting thing I have every seen. The baby's face as the rest of her body was coming out was about to crack me up. As for the rest of the day...kinda boring...but that had more to do with the fact that there was an ER resident there today to make up his deficit in deliveries so he got all five deliveries on the low-risk service for the day.

As for knitting...there's been some!! Shocking I know. Mind you what I've been doing has been mostly in the realm of simple stockinette...but still. I finished my mom's mitts...which is good because it means she'll have them for when it gets cold again in like November. I also started on a new sock...I'm calling them Show-off socks because I basically picked the pattern to show off the yarn. Yes I am aware that I haven't finished the last pair of socks yet...but I needed something that was simple so that I could knit and read at the same time in the library and the Dorky socks were just way too fiddly for me.

Five weeks left of being a third year...kinda scary...then two weeks off before beginning a string of sub-internships and audition rotations...w00t. On the plus side I don't have to wear anything but scrubs for like the next three weeks! Alright...off to read about fetal heart monitoring so I don't feel like a total idiot tomorrow. Happy knitting folks!

Staycation

What is a "staycation," you ask? Well...it's kinda like a vacation...but instead of going anywhere you just stay home and relax. Staycation's are great for a variety of reasons: they're essentially free, you have time to do all the little things you've been ignoring, and you have access to your entire stash! No more worrying about what yarn/needles to bring! I am currently enjoying the start of my two week break that comes with my elective block. So far I've finished a pair of mittens and started on a scarf, and started reading House of God (everyone's been telling me I have to read it...I got it for Christmas and I'm finally getting the time to read...so far I love it). Another added bonus is that I have time to write a real blog post!

So now that I'm back home I really have no excuse to not give you some FO and WIP shots...well...except for the part where the rechargeable battery on my camera lasts about 30 seconds...but I plan to rectify that by buying a new battery when I'm out later today for my doctor's appointment. In the meantime I will take one picture of each thing...which is more than I've given you in a long long time.

First I give you my first BSJ. I finished this about a month ago (feels like much longer than that sadly) and sent it off to Dorothy for her newest little one. She posted about it here but it's high I time I give you pictures.
Dorothy of course sent me a lovely thank-you-note...which of course made my day when I got it like a week later (hooray for living an hour and a half from home!)
Next up is the hat I made for my aunt. I was looking for something simple enough to be wearable by a non-knitter but still complicated enough that it was still knitterly. I found this pattern (rav link) and went for it. So far I've opted to not make the little band...we'll see when I finish up with everything else for this lovely winter set.
Then there are the mittens. Flip-top mittens with cables and fingers. They are very loosely based on this pattern (rav link)...I think I used it mostly for finger placement and some clues on making the flap more-so than anything else. I still hate fingers...I might hate them less if I had shorter DPNs...if I find myself making lots more of these I may break down and buy some.
And finally there's the scarf. I'm using this pattern (rav link), I think it goes with the hat and the mittens rather well.
So what else am I up to? Well...on the weight loss front I have not been a very good girl. Lots of bad eating choices that resulted mostly from the fact that I was tired and wanted fast and tasty more than healthy. Then the part where I wasn't keeping track of my weight led to a special kind of snowballing that only I am capable of.

While I'm home on staycation there's going to be a lot of working-out and exercising going on...I hope to be back in the negative by the time I start up again.

On the school front things are going well. I've pretty much finalized my schedule for next year. I did manage to get the Radiology rotation I wanted, but still not luck with surgical intensive care. What is my schedule?

• July - General Surgery at Lahey Clinic
• August - Transplant Surgery at Tufts Medical Center
• September - Honors General Surgery at Newton-Wellesley
• October - Family Medicine in Wrentham
• November - Radiology at Caritas Good Samaritan
• December - VACATION!! aka studying for boards and going on interviews
• January - Anesthesia at VA Medical Center
• February - Pediatric Surgery at Tufts Medical Center
• March - Gastroenterology at VA Medical Center
• April - Emergency Med at Caritas Good Samaritan
• May - VACATION!! aka prepping for graduation and getting ready to move to where I matched

I'm going to miss my Neurosurgery rotation. Good people that were lots of fun. They've invited me out to dinner with them when I get back for my OB/Gyn rotation in a couple weeks. Hopefully I won't be on call so I can go. Alright...this post is plenty long. Happy knitting all!!

Update

Yep...lost about 4 lbs since the New Year...hope I can keep it up!

In knitting news...the hat is finished. I have failed you and have not managed to take a picture of it despite the fact that it's been finished for almost a week now. I have started casting on for the first baby sweater. A BSJ of course. This is for a non-knitting friend so I'm using some non-gender-specific acrylic that will survive a bit better (I hope). I plan to make some booties too.

In med school news...I've started my Medicine rotation in outpatient clinic (think like a run-of-the-mill doctor's office). Lots of colds and coughs with a few physicals on middle-aged and elderly men. The physicals are kind of painful in their own way...if I ever have to do a prostate exam again (which I'm sure I will before my 4 weeks on outpatient is over) it'll be too soon.

My parting gift to you? The fortune I got today when I met a friend for lunch in Chinatown: "In order to discover who you are, first learn who everybody else is. You're what's left." It's just too odd to not share with as many people as I can :P

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

I hope you all had good Christmases (or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate this time of year). Mine was pretty good...it's a bit sad watching my Grandfather decline so quickly, but it was good to be home and spending time with family. I managed to get a pretty good knitting haul. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised that my parents got me some yarn (my mom seemingly abhors the concept of a stash). I also got a fair few books and some needles. As far as the yarn, my parents got me some Risata that I have been pining for as well as some Swish DK. More yarn came my way thanks to the lovely Alicia. She saw these and thought of me...I daresay she was right...it's like a colorway made especially for me...and it's even lot 1, I feel special :P She also got me a super cool needle gauge from 7 Yaks Designs. (Sorry for the blurry pic...it didn't look that bad on the camera I swear.)

In other news: I'm so excited words cannot describe. I feel like I'm a real knitter now! Now I'm trying to decide when I want to wear it...out to dinner and the movies with a couple friends on Thursday...or out with more of them on Friday...silly I know. What am I working on now? Well, I struck a bargain with my aunt; she makes quilts (she made the one on my bed here) and the one I have is about 15 years old and is really beginning to show it. She will make me a new quilt if I make her a hat, flip top mittens, and a scarf. So I poked around on Ravelry for a million years and chose this hat, which I have now cast on for. I plan to knit coordinating mittens based on this pattern. And a scarf/neckwarmer using this pattern. All of this using the same yarn I used to make my sweater (I can hardly believe how much I have of this stuff).

Now...New Years. I made some knitting resolutions last year. Let's see how I did.

• Finish my Warm Up America Afghan (including sewing it all together)
• Check. Got this one done some time around the end of September. Only took me a little over two years! :P
  
• Knit my Doctor's Bag
• Check. Finished up in April I think. I know I've used it a lot already this year...although I do want to reinforce part of it with fabric before I start using it regularly again.
  
• Knit for charity
• Not so much. I thought I would knit a lot of things for the Sharewood auction. But the auction came and I had nothing to give them.
  
• Knit primarily from my stash
• I look at the things I've knit this year and I've knit more than half of them from stash...but I bought so much yarn this year I accumulated more that I used...so I feel like I didn't really do this.

What are my resolutions for this year? I plan to include some more personal ones as well...accountability and all that :P

• Knit from stash as much as possible
• Avoid buying more yarn unless absolutely necessary (this yarn diet will also prohibit sock yarn...because I have plenty of that for the time being)
• Knit another sweater (I'd like to do NaKniSweMo again...perhaps with Francis Revisited. This will necessitate buying yarn...because I don't have a sweater's worth of anything anymore)
• Get in better shape/lose weight (I'd like to look at least halfway decent in pants again. I'm thinking a good goal for the year would be to get back to what I weighed at the end of Freshman year of college [about 40lbs less than what I weigh now] but I've love to make it to what I weighed at the end of high school [closer to 60lbs]. I think my high school weight is too ambitious a goal for me short term given how difficult it is for me to find time to eat well and exercise regularly...but it's definitely the goal long term.
• Knit some baby clothes for expecting friends (I've got a couple due around March that I really need to get cracking on)
• Be the best medical student I can be, read as much as I can, take a more active role in caring for my patients, do more procedures (when reasonable of course), and generally get as much as I can out of the experiences given to me.

Alright. I'm off to knit a little bit and relax. Happy knitting to all and to all a good night!

HAT! ...and other ramblings...

I made a hat! And it fits my head!! I apparently have a very large head...too much stuff in my brain I guess. I'm relatively happy with it as an FO. It is reasonably good looking and it will serve its purpose well. I have to admit I'm not much of a hat person so that is kinda affecting my level of excitement about it...but here it is my Meg Griffin Hat:Looking at this picture I'm just now seeing how lopsided my glasses are...I should probably try to fix that a bit before Friday. Although in all honesty I'm not sure how long these glasses will stay on...see...I'm one of the fortunate few who does not have any significant visual acuity problems, my glasses are for reading purposes only. This means that when I'm wearing them I generally can't see things more than 3 feet from my face with any real clarity...which is bothersome because I actually have pretty good vision.

In other news, I'm enjoying my week in the nursery a lot. The babies are adorable...and they do hilarious things like sneeze so hard they send a jet of poop all over myself and my resident...and then the little guy peed on me too. Some of the moms are a little bit militant/crazy but that's to be expected...I mean they just carried these little guys around for 9 months and who the hell am I to want to look at their precious little bundle of joy? I say that with some degree of irony...I mean I get that mom wants to protect her baby from the medical student, but how does she think the doctor learned how to do this...magic? The doctor wouldn't send me in if she didn't think I was fully competent to do the exam and no harm the kiddo. I'm by no means saying that I'm entitled to learn from/on these babies...I'm just saying there's no need to be nasty about it when I introduce myself. Last night I was on call in the NICU...which was interesting. Premature babies with giant nasal cannula attached to their face are quite possibly the cutest/funniest looking things ever.

What will I be knitting next? I think I'll just bide my time until November 1st to start my February Lady. I have a fair amount of studying I can and should be doing so it's not like I'll be lacking for things to do. Happy knitting all!!

Changes

There's been a lot of changes happening around here lately. Not the least of which being that I finished my surgical rotation. I had my oral exam on Thursday which went well I think. I had three relatively simple cases that I knew my way around fairly well. Then on Friday I had my written exam (aka "The Shelf") which was painful but I think I did pretty well. Nothing quite like 100 multiple choice questions to make you feel like you haven't learned anything despite all the studying you've been doing. I spent most of the rest of Friday knitting (OMG!!!), or eating/hanging out with friends I haven't seen in an eternity. Friday was awesome because I knit almost an entire hat (no pictures because I forgot to take them and now the hat and my camera are on opposite sides of the state). Saturday I packed...just about everything I own. Not all my yarn though...much to my mother's chagrin I'm sure. And I finished weaving in all the ends on The Afghan!!! It only took me three months :P And today...I drove across the state and moved in to the awesomeness that is student housing at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Here's a picture of my home-away-from-home for the next three months: As you can see The Afghan is proudly displayed. That little basket between my bed and my nightstand is all the knitting that I've brought with me. I have my current WIPs (Lacy Scarf, Dorky Socks, and Tribbles) as well as yarn for another pair of socks, a Pimlico Shrug and a pair of fingerless mitts. I also have intentions to visit yarn mecca...I even have a gift certificate, but I want to wait a bit until I figure out how much money I'll be spending a week to see how much I can reasonably budget. I should probably do some reading in prep for the wards and such tomorrow. Hope you're all doing well!! Happy knitting!

Happy Birthday, Blog!

Today is my first blogiversary. I started this blog due to a combination of a desire to talk about my knitting and my extreme boredom at my summer job. Over the past year I've found many other blogs that I read on a regular business and made a few friends. In the future I hope to have the time/money to participate in some swaps and get to know more of my fiber-loving comrades.

I got my Pay It Forward Exchange gift from Alicia! They're beautiful aren't they? There hasn't been too too much going on on the knitting front lately. I spent most of my 5 weeks off reading for pleasure and hanging out with people that I never seem to get a chance to see anymore. But I do have a some progress to show you. First of all, I managed to finished sewing The Afghan together. I still have approximately 1 million ends to weave in. Sadly I don't have any knots to tie so I can't practice my surgeon's knot on it. I've made a fair amount of progress on my Dorky Socks...not that far from finishing it but I don't think there's going to be much knitting time on this rotation. I also plugged ahead a fair amount on the Lacy Scarf. I really like the way that it's coming out...and I love all the compliments I keep getting on it, even from people who don't knit!

I'm sorry to say that the likelihood of my updating frequently looks like it's going to be pretty small for the next few months as I will have very little knitting to show you. There's only so much surgery I can talk about before I might start grossing people out :P

Things that I have learned so far on my Surgical rotation:

• The OR is my crack...seriously
• ENT is awesome
• Head and Neck is even more awesome
• Holding retractors can be a lot harder than you might think
• My very asthmatic body doesn't like it when I try to sprint up three floors (each story about 15-20 feet) to get a scope and a light source for a STAT page for ENT to the MICU...the best part of that whole situation being that they ended up not needing us.
• Surgical rotation is the best diet I could have ever asked for, the combination of never getting to sit for more than 3 seconds and rarely getting to opportunity to eat is doing wonders for my weight.
• When they tell you to go home...GO!
  

So much news!!

First, Alicia tagged me for a little meme that's running around:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Be sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

My things:
1) I cut my pasta. Whenever I get spaghetti or anything else that is long and floppy I cut my pasta (using a grid pattern because I'm that OCD) so that the pieces are smaller and I don't get sauce all over myself
2) I always carry a tuning fork in my white coat...I'm pretty sure I haven't ever used it on someone who isn't one of my classmates or a standardized patient
3) I have a lot of stuffed animals on my bed. I make my bed every morning and they go back on the bed the SAME WAY every single day...and it's a very symmetrical arrangement too
4) I color code my class notes by learning objective. This is part OCD, part studying tactic, and part three-year-old being easily entertained by my amazing technicolor syllabi
5) I died my hair black once. I thought it was awesome. My mother was horrified at how pale I looked; but this was probably due tot he fact that I was wearing a black shirt at the time and (unknowingly) mono
6) I eat the food on my dinner plate in the inverse order or how much I like it. For example: Broccoli, Mashed potatoes, chicken, stuffing. No matter what else is on the plate...stuffing always goes last.

I tag Dorothy, KnittingNurse, and LadyLungDoc.

Second: I won the lottery!! Sadly not the money kind but I did pretty awesome in the lottery for my third year rotations. I'm off to Lahey Clinic for Surgery and Medicine and Baystate Medical Center for Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and OB/Gyn. I also got the family medicine rotation I was most interested in...but I think I would rather do a Neurology rotation during that time. The only one open right now is Neurosurgery at Baystate...the irony is killing me...but I think my mother might try to kill me if I went to Baystate for that rotation too (Baystate is really nowhere near my house and I'd be living in glorified dorms across the street from the hospital)

Third: Knitting! I promised more pics of the Doctor's Bag...and I'll show you those shortly. But I also have two socks now...I am so proud of them! I started to make a pair of ankle socks with the remaining yarn, but I'm pretty sure I don't have enough to do it on US2s so I need to rip back and try with something a bit bigger...and fewer stitches. I also made a hat. Stephanie's Unoriginal Hat to be exact. The pattern say it's for a women's small head. Now I realize that I used slightly smaller needles because I live in the US and don't have much choice...but I didn't think my head was that big...apparently I was wrong. Now for the Doctor's Bag. Here is it with just about all my stuff in it (I usually keep my purse and a small textbook to study during downtime in there too). Just in case you don't realize how much stuff is in there...here it is all laid out on the coffee table. I also wanted to show you my general over-achiever-ness: the feet that I put on the bottom. I personally think they're pretty awesome and it just goes to show that deep down inside I really am a gunner (sorry for the profane language :P)And, or course, the arty button shot:

What's on the needles now? Well I've decided to make a concerted effort of crank out the squares for the Warm Up America Afghan. They're not exactly the most exciting knitting which means they aren't terribly great at keeping me awake during class but I need to finish that sucker like it's my job. And for a little bit more exciting knitting I've cast on for the Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf. I haven't even managed a full repeat of the lace pattern yet but I'm already loving the way this yarn is working up in the pattern...I can't wait for it to be done so I can wear it all the time for no good reason.

IT IS FINISHED!!!

More pictures to come...when I find the time to take them...Happy knitting!!!

Spring Break!

Time to take a break from studying for class and...study for the boards. Med school is kinda awesome like that. But I am having some fun this break though, I promise. Friday I traveled to Porter Square and visited Mind's Eye Yarns and picked up some Kureyon and some Amity. Logic here: I got my tax returns back and therefore have some money (for now), I had two GI finals that morning, and well...because Noro is pretty and I didn't own any black yarn (those of you who actually know me will understand how fundamentally wrong that is).

I also finished up my Cashmere Charlie Mitts and Tudora. I really love the buttons I found.I picked up some other buttons that I thought I would use for my Doctor's Bag...until I realized that the straps have some gold-tone metal on them and I'm way to OCD to put pewter buttons anywhere near that. Speaking of my Doctor's Bag, I finished knitting it (again). I had a little problem where the long sides were a good 3 inches longer than the bottom of the bag. So I ripped and re-knitted and ripped and re-knitted some more and now it's all done...DONE!!! Now I just have to go buy some black canvas and a button...and some dowels, a little bit of Plexiglas, some feet (like on the bottom on a suitcase), some cap-nuts...I think I'm gonna take my dad with me to the hardware store. I also need to convince my dad to show me how to use his sewing machine again...or at least get the bobbin threaded since I'll be all set once that's done. As much as the final assembly seems like it's going to be more work than knitting the bag (a couple times :P) I'm really looking forward to the finished product. Now I just need to figure out how to crochet all the pieces together since that much three-needle bind-off seems like it will make me homicidal.

In other news, my buddy Dennis (we go way back...like elementary school way back) is trying to raise some money for the Bike and Build project that he's doing this summer. So if you have a few bucks lying around, click on over to his blog and find out how to donate.

And contests...what would life be without contests. Alicia's having one...you should go enter...don't forget to say I sent you!!

Photo Blogging...

...because it's just been that long.

I won Miss Me's contest. She is awesome. Smarties are almost as awesome as Miss Me.
I finished the first panel of my Doctor's Bag (Knit 2 Together). I'm a decent way into the second panel. I feel like I'm gonna run out of yarn...but I'll deal with that when/if it happens.
I finished the Alpaca Handwarmers (Hand/Wrist Warmers from Last Minute Gifts). They're purty.
I got a Christmas present from Enid and Adam. She addressed it to Dr. Moriah Wright...this was quite possibly the most awesome part of the present simply because I laughed REALLY hard.
Column of Leaves in finally done...all of it. It has been blocked...and worn a fair amount. And I finally got a color accurate picture...shocking!
I succumbed to the lure of a yarn sale...and escaped for less than $10...I was proud of my self-control.
Dorothy told me that I make her day. I will tell you who makes my day when I have more of my wits about me. Happy knitting!

Snow Day!!!

I was very surprised to find that I did not have school today. Not that long ago it had been mentioned by one of the deans that they haven't canceled school in years. Thankfully my Mom thought to check if school was even open because otherwise I would have been in Chinatown with no where to go.

This weekend was very productive, I got all caught up on my schoolwork (which almost never happens...especially with 7 hours of lecture to take notes on almost everyday), and bought Super Stitches Knitting with a 25% off coupon. I love Barnes and Noble for giving me coupons all the time. Not too much has occurred on the knitting front this past weekend, but I do have some stuff to show you from last week. First, I finally finished the Column of Leaves Mittens. I can remember exactly when I finished them but I finished weaving in the ends on the train home one night as I remember. Next up was a Column of Leaves Calorimetry...because I have a lot of yarn and I liked the idea of being all matchy-matchy. I finished this in one day, cast on on my way in on the train in the working and wove in the ends just before the train pulled into the station on the way home. It was kinda impressive. I also tried to start some fingerless mitts of one sort or another with the Inca Alpaca that I got for Christmas, but nothing really seems to be working out for me at the moment. I think I'll keep going a little bit farther on what I'm doing right now (Hand/Wrist Warmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts) and see if it will work out but I'm not all that optimistic.
And because I have have severe knitting ADD at the moment, (I think because I'm a bit sick of the Column of Leaves pattern and as much as I want to make the scarf longer with the remaining yarn I'm sick of knitting the same 8 rows over and over and over again) I cast on for a test swatch for my Doctor's Bag!!!! (Pattern is Doctor's Bag from Knit 2 Together). I'm trying to figure out what size needles I want to use. The pattern is written for US11 and I like the fabric well enough (the whole inch of it :P) but I only have 14" straights in US11 and would not be able to take it around with me. I have some US10.5 circulars but I really want to stay as close to gage as possible...but I'm nervous about running out of yarn (even though I bought more than the pattern says I need)...and I'm generally being wishy-washy about it. My thought is that I will knit a swatch on US11s and another one of the US10.5s and use the fabric I like the best...and if I have to go out and buy some US11 circulrs so that I am not limited to home knitting time to make this bag...because at my current rate it might not be done before I graduate.
Ah well, back to work! Have to work ahead so that I don't want to kill myself when I find out how they rescheduled the classes that we missed today. Happy knitting!!!