Second year of Projects Week 14

So the socks are well on their way to being done

I know that pictures of black cables don't come out well, but you get the idea! Again I had issues with the pattern, as to get 22 stitches on the heel flap, I had to leave out the decreases on the last row again. Also, the pattern says to follow the instructions for right sock exactly, but use the charts for the left foot. However this doesn’t work as you have to transfer a stitch from those picked up on the right side of the gusset to the top of the foot, but this puts all the charts out, instead you need to transfer one from the left side of the gusset. Yet again I picked up an extra stitch, so the socks match, and I have figured out that it is the only way to get 92 stitches. So although this pattern looks amazing, there are a fair few mistakes in it, which is a bit disappointing, as it's the first pattern I've paid for on Ravelry. I don't understand why other people haven't had this problem, but maybe none of them made the size I did, seems unlikely though...

I can't wait for these socks to be done! I think they look great, but there are so many fiddly little cables, I need to knit something simple on big needles!

In other news, I got to help deliver my first babies on Thursday, and it was amazing! They were both c-sections and I was scrubbed in and assisting in theatre. I got to feel the uterus as it contracted afterwards and feel the bladder, tubes and ovaries. And I got to deliver the placenta for one of them, which was amazing, and much more fun than it sounds. It was just the coolest morning, and I got to hang out with a doctor who graduated from my medical school 2 years ago, and was an amazing teacher who also told me what to expect in my exam. And I have her bleep if I’m ever bored and want to do something interesting.

I'm still looking for pattern suggestions for the lovely yarn I got from Tink, so please recommend your favourite laceweight small shawls or scarves, preferably complicated and with a plant theme!

Yarn Porn and Thank Yous

Oooh look at this, a post on a day that's not a Sunday! I'm sorry about the lack of posts, I'm just useless at doing anything at the moment because I'm getting in the rhythm of my new placement, and along with the hours drive each way, all I want to do when I come home is sit down or sleep. I also owe a lot of blog reading, so hopefully I can do some catching up this weekend. Amazingly, my house has stayed tidy and clean for the past 2 weeks, so I don't need to spend the weekend catching up on washing and tidying, which is nice!

But the point of this post is the yarn porn. I recently won a giveaway from Tink over at Master of a Thousand Things, and my yummy yarn arrived in the post earlier this week:

I am so excited by this. There is 100g of Knit Picks Shadow Tonal, and I need some advice on what to knit with it. I want something I can wear as a scarf, so scarf, stole or shawl that is either thin or can be worn backward with the point at the front of my neck. I want something lacy, intricate or challenging to knit, and that goes well in green (so maybe leafy). I have 880 yards (and it's lace weight). Any suggestions gratefully welcomed!

She also threw in a surprise 30g of baby yarn, for my preemie knitting, which I wasn't expecting, so thank you so much Tink, this was an awesome prize!

You might remember that I gave away some things I didn't want or use on UK Karma swaps recently, and claimed some things in return:

Some lovely baby yarn to make one pink and one blue baby blanket  for the NICU

 And a book of sock patterns, which may mean I need to change up my socks list for YoP, we shall see...

So thank you to the people who kindly offered those up on the board, I'm very pleased to have them, and I've been very lucky lately.

Second Year of Projects Week 13

I've finished the first sock of the pair

As I said last week, I thought there was something a bit funny with the maths, when turning the heel, to get the correct number of stitches there were no decreases on the last row, and then when picking up the gusset stitches,the number it said to pick up did not add up to the number you were supposed to have, but it was definitely my counting that was wrong, because everything went a bit funny and I ended up with one less sole stitch after the decreases. Then I got 64 stitches at row 66 of foot chart, so had to leave off rows 67-70. After all that, when decreasing to 24 stitches at the toe, had 13 for top of foot and 11 for sole, so I decreased 2 stitches on top of foot on last round, going to 22 stitches.

But it fits perfectly despite the issues, and I love it!

Not had much time for knitting this week, as I'm getting settled into Obs & Gynae. I'm really looking forward to Thursday, because I get to assist at an elective caesarian! I have managed to get my house to be immaculate though, let's see how long it stays that way...

Second Year of Projects Week 12

Sorry my post is late, but I had my best friend staying for the weekend, so I wasn't able to post yesterday.

The Staked sock is going really well so far. There was something a bit funny with the maths, when turning the heel, to get the correct number of stitches there were no decreases on the last row, and then when picking up the gusset stitches,the number it said to pick up did not add up to the number you were supposed to have, so I had to fudge it a bit, but it seems to have worked OK.

Sorry, cables and ribbing in glittery black yarn is not easy to take pictures of, but you get the idea!

Life update: (anyone just here for the knitting stop now!)

I finished my exams on Thursday. I wanted a baby with fever, but instead got a six year old boy with a type of cancer I’ve never heard of. Turns out, it has an incidence of 2 in 1,000,000 and normally effects 30-40 year old women, so I’m not surprised. I did OK I think, got the questions right (they didn’t expect me to know about the cancer type, just more general questions) and was told my presentation was very succinct (not sure if that’s a good thing or not). I forgot to check for hepatomegally, but I did get on well with the child,and he was helping me listen to his heart, and in my communication scenario, on head injuries, I was prompted to offer an information leaflet, which I was planning to offer at the end, but all in all it went ok I think. I’ve finished paediatrics now, and I started my Obs and Gynae induction today with pictures of prolapsed (fallen out) uteruses and a real video (on VHS!) from the 90s of births. I think they're just trying to scare us on the first day!

I had a fantastic weekend. I spent Friday clearing up the spare room, which has been an absolute mess since we got burgled, when we just closed the door on it and left it until we had more time. It's a good job that I did, because, on Friday afternoon, my best friend rang and asked if she could come stay. She's having a tough time, so I said sure and she jumped on a train half an hour later!

Before:

After (nothing on the floor!):

I literally threw away  a  four foot square box of junk and I also sorted out a load of stuff which was still nice, but I knew I would never use, to put on the UK Karma Swaps and the UK Jumble and Crafty Swaps on Ravelry, and a lot of it's been snapped up, so it's nice to know the things I won't use are going to a good home!

We spent Saturday in the city centre, and went to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, which is built into the cliffs and is England's oldest pub, dating back to 1189AD. 

 They brew their own beer, so I bought her a taster board!

After a wild night out on Saturday, we sat down on Sunday and I taught her how to knit and purl! She went home today (minus her shoes because Connor locked them in the porch... Oops..) with her own ball of yarn and some knitting needles, cursing me because she's already got a list of things on Ravelry that she wants to knit and she starts a new job next week...

So a successful end of exams celebration :)

Second Year of Projects Week 11

I have to start by apologising to everybody that I didn't get any posts read last week. I've been working hard for my exams on Monday and Thursday, and haven't had any spare time really. In my breaks, I've been doing a bit of knitting so I don't go insane, and I've finished a couple more preemie baby things:

The blanket is Katie's blanket, by Wye Needlecraft, which is from a series of 11 blankets specifically designed for preemie babies. NICUs do not like lacy blankets or crochet, as teeny tiny baby hands and feet get stuck in them, so that rules out a lot of the blankets available on Rav. The blanket used exactly 100g of yarn, and came out at 15 x 19 inches, which is possibly a little bit small, but can still be used for the really tiny babies. I also used my leftover scraps, along with some white, to make some little preemie beanies to match, again from a Wye Needlecraft pattern. I knitted them in the round rather than flat, so only cast on 48 stitches, but that was the only modifications I made.

A close up of the blanket pattern. I actually had the privilege to join the NICU doctors on their ward round this week, to see how they care for the babies, and I was able to examine (and cuddle) some of  the babies that are still on the ward but are no longer in incubators. It was an amazing morning, and I am definitely leaning towards trying to get a foundation post in the NICU so that I can see if I want to work there after I qualify. They do some amazing work, and it's a constantly evolving and improving field of medicine.

Last night, I cast on my Staked socks, using Solstice Yarns Starborn in the colourway Vampire Kisses, which I thought was very appropriate!

It's got a lovely sparkle to the yarn, but because it's a very dark black and red, I'm not entirely sure how well the pattern will show up. I guess I'll just have to knit it and see!

Second Year of Projects Week 10

So, I seem to be doing incredibly well on my list at the moment, although that may all change for the next couple of week because I have exams coming up, and then on the 17t I start a new placement in Obs & Gynae. I get to deliver babies though, so I'm really excited!

But onto the finishes:

I got my Ghostie socks done, and they seems to fit pretty well. They're still a little big, so I can't imagine how unwearable they'd have been if I followed the original pattern

I'm pretty pleased with them, they're super soft and I think they'll be good to wear around the house, but they're knit quite loosely so I'm not sure how long they'll last

I think the ghosts came out really nicely, and look very cute!

I've also finished a long time UFO. This cross stitch has been hanging around for about 2 years waiting for me to finish the backstitching, because it was just so horrible. There were loads of stitches going into the  centre of squares, and it was really hard to keep track of where I was and where each stitch needed to be. I decided to commit an act of sacrilege and switch the embroidery needle for a sharp sewing needle, which made it so much easier to do the stitches, and I got the whole bookmark finished in an evening

I can now stop using scraps of paper as a bookmark, though I do think it's quite funny to have a hand made cross stitch teddy bookmark in the book about feminism that I am currently reading!

And finally, I've cast on something new. I wound the yarn for my next pair of socks, but I wanted to watch a film on Saturday and Dr Who on Sunday, so I decided not to start the socks yet, as they're really complicated and need concentration. So, since I'd been to the NICU at the hospital in currently on placement at, and found out what they need, I decided to cast on a baby blanket, as apparently that's what they really need. I'm using a pattern called Katie's Blanket, from Wye Needlecraft. It's kind of a mystery knit, as there are no pictures on the pattern, and it wasn't listed on Ravelry.

Turns out it's triangles. I really like this pattern, it's simple mindless knitting, and I think with the yarn, which is James C. Brett Baby Marble, this kind of reminds me of the USA flag. The blanket might be slightly small, I'm sure they can still use it, but I would have liked it to be a bit bigger. But since I only have 100g of the yarn, this is the best I can do.

I'm totally knackered tonight, as I've been on call in CED again today, so I'm just going to knit my blanket and watch trashy TV for the evening, which currently sounds like bliss!