October 2006 – The Knitting Doctor

Cruising Along

It’s been over a week since my last post. That must mean I’ve been working. Unfortunately, there’s been little knitting in that time frame.

I liked all the comments on the Rogue wannabee brown yarn. I sense that you people know me well, as you collectively seem to have little faith that I will hold out and not cast on before I’ve finished the other two sweaters currently on the needles. Just for the record, here it is:

Still in its pristine, unknit state. The negotiating process has already begun in my head, though, so who knows how long it will stay that way.

One reason I wasn’t more tempted is that I’ve gotten virtually no knitting done since my last post. It was one of those weeks at work. I don’t talk about work much, but there were a couple of good moments. (Actually more than a couple, but these are the ones I recall.)

I got consulted to take over the care of a patient in the ICU that had been there for a few days, under the care of the critical care specialist. In the process of reviewing the chart, I picked up a diagnosis that had been missed, one that could have had dire consequences if not caught. Sometimes those of us who are more “generalists” occasionally get looked down on as somehow inferior to the fancy specialists, so it always amuses me when I catch something important that they missed. I’ve gotten to that stage in my career (I’ve been in practice for 25 years–how the hell did that happen?) when I look at some of the new young whippersnappers just out of training and just shake my head. They’re smarter than I am, I’ll grant them that, but 25 years of experience is something that you can’t replace with book learning and youth.

Then I had two different patients ask me if I had a private practice and would be their “regular” doctor. I don’t, and I can’t, as I only work in the hospital, but it always does my heart good when they ask. I guess I’m easily amused. One of them even hugged me when I left Monday.

Enough about work. I’m off to pack. Yes, we’re off again. This time it’s a cruise, my 50th birthday present from my husband. We’re flying off this evening to Europe, spend a few days in Nice on the coast of France, then get on a cruise ship that goes to Spain, Morocco, Madeira, then translatlantic to Florida and home again. I have all my knitting packed, as I’m pretty sure there is no yarn shop** on the ship. That is a serious flaw, but I can overlook it since they have several bars and lounges. They do have a computer room, so hopefully I will be able to update the blog here and there. If not I’ll be back mid November!

**And why aren’t there yarn shops on cruise ships? This seems like an idea that would just take off if implemented. Maybe I’ll bring it up with the Captain.

And I Thought It Was Mostly Grey

Normally I think these quizzes are silly, though I still have a compulsion to do them. Some of them are just plain dumb, like “if you were cookware, what metal would you be made out of?” **

This one is right on, though. I’m not sure what the color means, but the quiz is just a miniature Myers Briggs test, and surprisingly accurate for just a few questions. I’m always amazed at how consistent I am on these tests. Lord knows, I’m not consistent in anything else that I do. I always turn out an INTP, every time, even if I try to rig the answers.

This one came via Vera.

What Color is Your Brain?

GREEN:At work or in school: I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.
With friends: I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity.
With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don’t make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests.
Take this quiz!

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On the knitting front, I have a new obsession. Last winter I bought some lovely wool-alpaca yarn from a shop out on Orcas Island, where we had gone for a short vacation.

It looks pretty boring in that picture, but it’s a lovely pile of yarn. I bought enough of it to make a sweater, then went back the next day and bought some more in case I wanted to make a cabled sweater, say, perhaps, something with a hood, and just in case I didn’t want to run out of yarn.

I’ve been looking for the perfect yarn to make another Rogue sweater, as I wear my original one all the time when the weather is cool enough. This is it. My initial swatching matches up with the required gauge, and this might just be the one.

Here’s the deal. I am still knitting that blasted orange thing. I am about a third of the way done with one front piece, have the second front piece to go, then the finishing. I also have that partially done (OK, barely started) Jo Sharp cabled eggplant colored sweater to finish. I can’t deal with having three sweaters in various stages of non-completion. I absolutely WILL finish the other two before starting another Rogue. Having done one Rogue, I know how consuming it can be; you just want to keep knitting to see what those cables do.

“Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.”

This will be difficult. You all have permission to point your fingers at me and laugh if you see even a hint of that brown yarn back here before I have those other two sweaters finished.

**I made that one up, in case you couldn’t tell.

Before The Next Teardrop Falls

Just a quick post. Yesterday one of the great ones passed. Baldemar Huerta, better known as Freddy Fender, died. I was lucky enough to hear him perform live one time, last year. He was a legend, and will be greatly missed.

If all you know of his music is Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, pick up his La Musica de Baldemar Huerta. It’s one of the classics.

Adios, muchacho.

Birthday Update, Knitting Update

First of all, thank you, everybody, for the great birthday wishes! The day was great, even though I had to go to work. I got chocolate cake twice, so not much to complain about, really. We had dinner at the neighbors’ house, and the birthday girl got to wear a crown.

At least they didn’t insist on 50 candles. That’s my own crown by the way. Every girl needs one.

As part of my birthday present we drove up to the big city to the Tractor Tavern Tuesday night for a little music. We heard Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez, and they were fabulous. Those of you not familiar with either might recognize Chip Taylor as the guy who wrote “Angel of the Morning”, way back when. One of the highlights of the evening was that Merrilee Rush, who made that song a hit in the 60’s, did a duet with him on the song. She lives in the Seattle area, and dropped in to listen, and he invited her up on stage. Very cool.

On the knitting front, I have way too many projects going, and really need to finish something. At last count, there were two shawls, two sweaters, and 1 pair of socks, all in various stages of completion. This much unfinished-ness doesn’t sit well with me. I’m quite happy having the yarn and patterns for 900 projects in the stash, but once they’re started, I’m happiest with three. So I’ve been working away at that orange Pippa sweater.

It’s more copper colored, and less marinara sauce colored than that photo would lead you to believe. I think it’s the yellow background that throws it off. I have the sleeves done, and that’s the back, and I’ve started on one of the front pieces. I modified the shoulders to do short row finishing, as I despise stairstep finished shoulders. They are nearly impossible to seam neatly.

I was going to show a few pictures and add an explanation of how to do this, but others have already done so, and better. I used Nancie Wiseman’s Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques, and nonaKnits has a great post on the subject. It turned out pretty well, I think. I had to do a little juggling so I wasn’t wrapping stitches in the middle of those twisted columns, but once I figured out that I could shift the wrapped stitch one way or the other 1 or 2 stitches, I was off and running. I even wrote down where I did the wraps on the back so I can match them on the front.

Now if I just can keep track of where I wrote it down.

It’s cocktail hour, and I’m off. Have a good evening, everybody!

They Say It’s Your Birthday…

Just had to announce publicly. It’s today, I’m 50 years old. Who knows where the time went?

One of my favorite aging stories is when my mom was in her late 70’s. She had severe Parkinsons disease by then and could barely string two words together, and we weren’t always too sure she was with us in the conversation. My sister and I had taken her shopping (her favorite activity, right up to the end!), and stopped for lunch. We were talking about this and that, and the topic of her age came up. My sister said something about her being seventy-something. My mother got this horrified look on her face, snapped to attention, and said very clearly, “NO, not THAT old!”.

My biggest disappointment today? Nobody patted me on the head yesterday and said, “Oh, don’t bother coming in to work tomorrow, just stay home and have a lovely day.”

I guess if that’s all I have to complain about, I’m a lucky woman.

NO, not THAT old, indeed.

Yeah, we’re gonna have a good time.

Ten Songs, Ten Bloggers

Two posts in one day. What’s this world coming to?

Damn, this one was a hard one. I got tagged by Wendy for this, and it’s been sitting in my email “to-do” folder while I was thinking. I’m still thinking.

My music taste generally would be described as psychotic by most of my friends and neighbors. I prefer the term “eclectic”. So these songs are by no means representative of my entire playlist. I’m just going to randomly pick ten songs out of my ITunes list that I’ve listened to recently and hope it gives you an idea.

1. Blue Railroad Train, by Jorma Kaukonen. The album is Blue Country Heart. You know the guy, I know you do. Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna. His solo albums are great acoustic blues.

2. Shenandoah, by Dave Alvin, from his Public Domain album. I love everything that man sings, but this is one my favorite albums of his.

3. OK, I can pick two by the same artist. From Dave’s album Interstate City, the track Jubilee Train/Do Re Mi/Promised Land.

4. Let’s shift gears. Memories Are Made of This, by Dean Martin. Very corny, I know. That’s me. This music comes on, I want to go make myself a martini.

5. Jessica, by the Allman Brothers. This one makes me want to get in the car and drive. Or Blue Sky. Or Statesboro Blues. Anything from their live albums will do (don’t get me started on which one’s the best. Who cares?).

6. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, by you-know-who.

7. Beethoven’s 7th symphony. My favorite version is from Leonard Bernstein’s Final Concert album. This one just makes me happy.

8. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, by the Andrews Sisters. Really. It’s impossible not to tap your toes while this one is on.

9. Smoking Panetelas on the Blue Mediterranean Sea, by the Aqua Velvets. Gotta have some surf guitar, and this is very seductive surf music. And I love the title.

10. Last but not least, what’s a playlist without the Greatest Honky Tonk Singer Of All Time? We’re talking Vern here, Vern Gosdin. Set ‘Em Up Joe gets played around here a lot, especially when the bourbon comes out.

11. OK, it’s my blog, I can do 11 if I want. I realized there is no bluegrass in that list. That lapse is not tolerated around here. Hmmmm, how to pick just one? OK, from Jerry Garcia, the best bluegrass picker and singer there is/was. That Grateful Dead thing was just a side gig. I’m giving you a three-fer. Shady Grove, from the album of the same name he did with David Grisman. Arabia, from an album entitled David Grisman & Jerry Garcia. It’s an incredible over-16-minute jam. And really, last but not least, Teddy Bear Picnic, from the album Not For Kids Only. I had to include that one for Sweetpea.

12. Really, just one more, just because I love the movie it came from, and it just came up on the random ITunes playlist. Belleville Rendez-Vouz, from the movie Triplets of Belleville. If you like animated movies, go rent it. It’s in French, but it doesn’t matter, because there is little dialogue.

The list goes on and on.

OK, to tag ten bloggers. These are again just randomly selected from some of you, just because I want to hear what you listen to.

1. PJ

2. Kris

3. Theresa

4. Deb

5. Lynda

6. Jane

7. Laurie

8. Dorothy

9. Vera

10. Lee Ann

Consider yourself tagged. No go read my other post from today. I wouldn’t want you to miss it just because I got carried away and did two.

The Dog Ate My Blogpost

I have an even better excuse than that one for not posting.

First of all, I didn’t die, or get abducted by aliens, or anything like that. It was worse.

I got a new computer. An IMac, to be exact. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks with my butt in front of the computer, getting everything set up just the way I want it. In the process, I’ve become a Mac evangelist. Mic****ft s*cks, is all I have to say. You pull this thing out of the box, and after that first shock of how astoundingly beautiful it is, and where all the other cables and parts went, you put the thing on the desk, take the ONE cable that hooks to the back and to the wall outlet, plug it in, and you’re off.

One might assume that I haven’t been doing much knitting while I was playing with my new toy. You’d be right. I do have a new sock project to show you, but you’ll have to wait a paragraph or two.

I did pull my head out of the computer long enough to invite friends over for dinner this weekend. I’m lucky enough to live close to a number of knitters, one of whom is Kris. She and her husband, Dana, and their daughter, Anna Grace, and another couple (non-knitters, sorry to say) all came over for an evening of fun and food, and wine, of course. A good time was had by all. One of the best parts? Kris brought a non-traditional but very welcome “hostess gift”. Here it is:

This one shows the color of the yarn better.

How cool is that? Kris can come to my house for dinner anytime.

I also have done a bit of shopping, though that was actually before the computer came. I just had to figure out how to get photos on this thing to post it. This is from KnitPicks. Kris made me buy the chart holder thing, and I couldn’t just order that. Here’s the loot.

I’ve wanted that electronic row counter ever since I saw it. I know I said that I love my little cheap tally counters from the office supply store. I lied. I really love this one better. It appeals to my enthusiasm for new gadgets.

Here’s the chart holder. The magnets are just not pink. I have no idea why the photo came out that way. So if the only reason that you are clicking over to Knitpicks to buy this is for the pink magnets, forget it. They’re sort of lavendar, but not Pepto pink.

And what’s in that little green bag? Why, my current sock project, of course.

Isn’t that just the pinkest pink you’ve ever seen? That yarn really is that pink. It’s called Hot Flash, and is Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It’s not listed on the website, but if you email Tina, she might have some. You never know. That’s how I got mine. I think I told her some sob story about how I’m menopausal and might cry if I didn’t get some of this, and she took pity on me and sent it. I’m not above grovelling for yarn.

I promised Project Specs on that last pair of socks that I did. I’ll get it done, really. I’ll post it in the Finished Projects section when I get a minute. It’s a basic top down sock, 64 stitches, STR in Rainforest Jasper, for me. There you go.

Next post will be the “Ten songs, ten bloggers” meme that’s going around. I got tagged by Wendy. I’m just having a bit of trouble picking only ten of each. I’m working on it.