Frogging

So the sporty little numbers vest fit horribly in the back. I took it to Mosaic so the knitting geniuses could rescue it. Well due to it's construction it could not be saved as is. Frogging is really no fun, all that time and hard work ripped out in just a few minutes. I had to take out everything but the front. The entire back was frogged to the ribbing. I think I am just going to rib the entire back so there doesn't have to be an entire reworking of the pattern. I am not sure if the vest will actually ever get done now. My schedule is not going to be real nice for the next year for massive amounts of knitting. I won't be living in the same place for longer than a month starting in August. This is my schedule as of right now. August - Norfolk, September - Farmington Connecticut, October -- Danville PA, November -- Blacksburg, December -- Hershey PA, January -- Florida, February -- Honduras, March -- Florida, April -- Blacksburg, May -- OFF (hopefully moving to my new residency), and then June -- GRADUATION!!! I really hope I actually finish it, i will be super cute when it's done.

I made 3 Hokie squares. One was a maroon and orange stripped square. Here is a picture of the fake cable one. It's really soft alpaca (Blue Sky). It's amazing all the varieties of the squares coming in. I hope we get all the squares we need. I know I'll me making more, especially this month.

Here's a picture of pretty yarn. It's Be Sweet yarn. I think I wrote about it already. I am not sure what I am making with it... but it's just nice to look at. I think I have a yarn obsession.

I will leave you with a Panda picture from the National Zoo... because who doesn't love Pandas?

Washington DC

Greetings and Salutations from our Nation's Capital.

I am here at the Student Osteopathic Medical Association's (SOMA) spring conference. I arrived on Tuesday, I got to spend a few hours knitting in the car. I worked on the Union Square poncho, it's pretty brainless knitting. Just prior to leaving for DC I finished the sporty numbers vest. There are a couple problems with it (I need to bring it to the store for help). It fits in the front but there is just too much fabric in the back. I am really at a loss for how to fix it. I don't know anything about taking it apart once it's together or anything like that. It just doesn't fit they way I'd like it to. So we shall see what I end up doing with it.

Wednesday was my birthday (happy 25th to me). I spent the day at the Zoo. I took a million pictures of the panda bears. They are just so darn cute. I can upload some of the pictures if people want to see them. Again I really bad about bringing the cord for my camera places with me, so you have to wait on pictures. I then spent the rest of the afternoon painting pottery, yes I know it's not yarn but we don't have a pottery place near Blacksburg/Christiansburg. I did knit a little bit on the metro. I felt very cool, even if my stop was only 5 minutes from where I got on, minor details.

Thursday was DO Day on the Hill. Osteopathic medical students and DO from across the country come together and lobby the state representatives and senators on the important medical issues of the year. This year our main objectives are medicare payment for physicians, the SCHIP Act which insures children that don't qualify for medicaid, and the resident physician shortage Act. Did you know that physicians medicare reimbursement is not altered for inflation. Many doctors are refusing to take medicare patients or limit the number they see in their practices. If you know anyone who is a medicare patient this greatly limits their access to good quality medical care. But physicians can't afford to pay their staff if their entire practice is medicare patients. The physician shortage act is dealing with residencies programs. In 1997 Congress said the number of residencies programs we have right now is all that we will fund. The country is very aware that there will be a physician shortage the problem is now we have increased the number of medical students but we have not increases the post graduate programs. Ultimately this also goes back to medicare payments because that is ultimately what limits hospitals on the number of residents they take. But basically I talked about that all day. I did get to actually meet Dr. Dave Weldon who is my Florida representative, so that was cool. I had some free time between my meetings and spent a few hours at the National Museum of Art. And of course I knitted in front of the senate building. Really you think I can go anywhere without my knitting... hahah.. no.

The SOMA conference has been uneventful so far. We spent yesterday afternoon exploring Gerogretown. I found a yarn store because really I need more yarn. I went to DC Stitch. They have three stores, it wasn't quite as big as Mosaic and they had some yarns that I never heard of. I had to buy some yarn, sorry Gina. I still love you more don't worry. I tried to buy stuff that I couldn't get at Mosaic, because well that would just be dumb. I got a ball of Be Sweet Ribbon yarn. It's made in South Africa by women in a job creation program. It's pinky/peach mohair with ribbon randomly tied throughout it. I am not really sure what I'll do with it, but it's pretty and I like it. I also bought a cone of the stainless steel wool. Again not sure what I am doing with it, but who can pass up something so bizarre. I got two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca, one in Black and one in orange to make Hokie Healing squares. I also talked to the manager of the store and gave her the info about the Hokie Healing project. She'd heard about it but didn't have the details. Gina she also knew about Mosaic, just thought you should know.

Tonight we have our banquet dinner at the Watergate Hotel. Then we will be out and about around town. I love how our conferences are planned around social events and then our work. It's a nice change from the usual pace. Well that's my very long update for now. I promise pictures when I get back home.

Saturday night

I just opened a bottle of Williamsburg Winery's Two Shilling Red wine. I am spending the night drinking wine, knitting, watching movies, and doing laundry. Life is just great (minus the laundry)!!

Just a little side note on
Williamsburg Winery in case you've never heard of them. They make some great wines that are decently priced. You can get most of there selection from Kroger. I think last time I was at Kroger the Governor's White was about 7 dollars. I enjoy their Plantation Blush, Governor's White, and Two Shiling Red, just in case anyone wanted a recommendation. I remember the late Vidal Harvest was also tasty. I am a big fan of Virginia Wineries and wine festivals. It's right up there with my love for yarn.

I spent Friday knitting with Mimi at Mosaic. I finished the front half of my sweater, I am working on the back side of the sweater now. I knitted the FSU uterus the other night, I finished it up at the ER. Yes I knit at the hospital even in the ER when I am not busy. I took a couple pictures of it but I forgot to bring my camera cord to Christiansburg with me, so I'll have to upload the pictures later. They are highly amusing.

I might go knit at Mosaic tomorrow depending on how much laundry I get done tonight. I should get a bunch of knitting done next weekend. I am walking in the VT's Relay for Life, so I'll be up for most of the night. I wonder if I can knit and walk at the same time, or if I'll fall over and die. hahaha.

Ok back to knitting, wine, and laundry.

Works in Progress

Here's my Union Square Poncho in progress. The pictures are not the greatest for the color. It's a little darker in real life. And the mock rib doesn't come across well in the pictures, but it's really nice in real life. I promise. :-) It's about 6 inches long right now. I only have 50ish more to go, so it will be done in about 5 years.

Here's my Sublime Little Sporty Numbers Vest. This is my first big people sweater, and I picked a pretty complex pattern so again it will be done in 5 years or so. I really enjoy knitting with Sublime. It's a fabulous yarn. And here's a close up of the cable/bobble section. Cables are one of my new favorite things to knit.


Here's a picture of spring. Meredith and I went walking around downtown historic Wytheville. We should have gone yesterday when everything wasn't closed, but it was still nice to be outside enjoying the sun. There are a bunch of cute little shops in Wytheville, so hopefully we will get to them before June.



I love daffodils.

Knitting Blog

So I caved and decided to start a knitting blog, because really I need to spend MORE time on the Internet. It seems all my favorite Blacksburg/Christiansburg knitters are on here, so why not join them. I already have an account on LJ but I am very good about updating on there. My life doesn't seem all that exciting anymore, but school will do that.

So this will be mainly about knitting maybe a little bit about medicine... we shall see.

I am working on my first sweater (well actually sweater vest). I was deathly afraid of sweaters until recently. I've knitted a couple baby kimonos which are insanely easy, and I've knit a dog sweater. So after that how much harder can an adult sweater be. I am knitting the Little Sporty Number from Sublime. I am using Sublime extra fine merino, which is to die for. It is very soft and just fabulous to knit with. I chose the pinkish/red color redcurrant. When I get back to Wytheville where my camera is I'll try to take a few pictures of it in progress.

I also splurged on some new yarn yesterday. Because when I have the day off from working and Mosaic is having a sale I just can't resist. I bought 12 skeins of Louisa Harding Merino blend in Navy. I plan on making a poncho out of it. I know I shouldn't start it now, but I really want to play with the new yarn.

I also bought Weekend Knitting, which I'd been eyeing for quiet some time. Yay for new patterns and things that I don't have the time to knit. Oh well.

I finished a set of Knitty's fetching last weekend. I made them out Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere. They are just fantabulous to wear. The pattern really needs to be a little longer on the finger part, but other than that it's a quick knit and the cables are an easy first cabling project.

I find it highly amusing that I am known as the girl that knits uteri or uteruses (I believe both are technically correct). My sister keeps asking me to knit a garnet and gold uterus for one of her friends. I have a waiting list of 4 or 5 people that want a knitted uterus, me included on that list. Pennington the cat decided shredding one was a good idea. So maybe this summer when I have a little more free time I'll be a uterus knitting machine.