I'm still alive

Wow, it has been a very long time since I posted on here. A lot has changed in the past year since I posted, and it's going to be very hard to summarise the past few months, but here goes:

• Graduated from medical school
• Spent two months in Malawi, Africa working in a hospital
• Moved back up to Leeds
• Started my years as a junior doctor
• Finished my first of 6 4 month job placements, and moved on to the second

So yes, in a nutshell, very busy. I stopped blogging whilst working towards my medical school finals, which obviously took up an awful lot of my time and energy, and then wasn't really able to blog whilst in Africa, as there wasn't really any reliable internet connection. Hopefully I can do a blog post about my time there, as it was an incredible time, but no promises!

Connor and I then moved to Leeds so I could start my junior doctor training, and rented our first proper house. We've furnished it with freebies and charity shop things, but it is lovely and it really feels like home. In August, I started officially working as a doctor, in gastroenterology, and the first 4 month job just flew by. It was a terrify, exhilarating and confusing time, and I feel like I almost learnt more doing it than my 5 years in medical school. I'm now working in paediatrics, just coming to the end of 2 months in paediatric surgery, before I move on yet again to paediatric medicine.

I am loving work, I have met some amazing people and seen some incredible things. I am now completely sure that I picked the right career for me, and I'm looking forward to many more years doing it.

And now, the knitting. It was not a very productive year for me, what with everything else that was going on, but this is what I made:

At the top on the left are baby projects. We now have two new babies in the family (though one is a toddler now), and I made them a gift each over Christmas. I love the design of the blanket, Sleeping Baby's Castle, I think the knitted castle is incredible.

Bottom left are charity items, three preemie hats and three innocent smoothie bottle hat for the Big Knit in aid of Age UK.

Top right are socks, including what may well be my favourite knitted socks, Sock Strap. It's an amazing construction, the back in knitted, then the sides picked up and knitted outwards from the back, with the top knitted down after that. There is also Hopsox, made as a birthday gift for my best friend, in my hand dyed wool, and the socks I knitted Connor for Christmas 2013, which were written about in my last blog post!

Bottom right is a present I made for my Mum. It's a modified version of Anthemion, in hand spun silk yarn. I only had 68g of yarn, so I turned the wrap into a scarf, and modified the number of middle repeats, using every scrap of yarn.

The latest thing I have knitted is Saioa, in a squishy BFL single bought from a spinner at the Westmoreland County Show. It's really soft and warm, perfect considering the snow we've been having!

I am still knitted. I actually finished one more project in the last year, and wore it a couple of times, before deciding it was just too small. This is Arielle, and my gauge was slightly off, and so I have frogged the whole thing and am now reknitting it on slightly larger needles. Yes, I am crazy, but I love the pattern so much that it was a shame I would never wear it

I've also finished a none knitting project. This is a whole new thing for me, branching out into furniture! I mentioned that we have furnished out house with second hand furniture which was gifts from family or from the charity shop (I should really do a blog tour, you might be surprised at how nice some of it can be). I was given a gift of a set of 1970s nested tables, which were varnished in a hideous dark orange brown. They were practical, but really not very nice. So, on my last week off work, I set about stripping them down, and doing them up

I stripped off the varnish, sanded them down and waxed them. The wood underneath was lovely, and I wanted to show it off. The first two pictures of the rows show off the before and after best, and the biggest table has found a home next to my spinning wheel, where it goes rather nicely.

So there you have it. I will try and blog more regularly, because it would be lovely to get back into blogging a bit more. Hopefully I can do a few more posts to fill in the gaps, because this barely seems to do justice to what has been a whirlwind year!

Third Year of Projects Week 14

I apologise for not getting to everyone's posts last week, it has been a very busy week in terms of real life, which you can read all about later, but I will try to visit them at some point this week.

But in terms of knitting, I started a new pair of socks, which I think will be a birthday gift to my best friend. The pattern is Hopsox and I hand dyed the yarn using Wiltons Icing dyes earlier in the year. I was hoping for a semi-solid, and I think it worked really well

The pattern is interesting because the cables are ribbed, and there is no chart! Also, the stitch pattern is written on a different page to the leg instructions, and is not just repeated across the leg of the sock. It's pretty easy once you have got through a bit of the pattern, because it's simple to remember, but it did confuse me for a while.

I also got some modelled pictures of my Speleology socks

So, real life. I'm currently having to decide where abouts in the country I want to be for the next two years, which involves an awful lot of research and trying to decide what my priorities are for work. I have to visit every separate deanery's website, find the relevant information, synthesise it into a document that means I can compare it with other deaneries, and look at the jobs available in that area. It's a lot of work, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed! In addition, Connor is currently also job hunting, which means that he's trying to find jobs in areas he's interested in (or really any job), but with him being unemployed, it's taken a toll on our finances.

And finally, I spent today packing since I have to move to a small town about 3 hours away for placement, and I will be commuting up there at the end of each weekend, and travelling back home for teaching on a Friday. It's very difficult to know what is best to take if I'm only there for weekdays, and I need bedding and food etc. So, it's been a busy week, and I have a feeling next week will be just as busy! Hopefully we can get it all sorted out soon though!

Third Year of Projects Week 3

This week I've been knitting madly on my handspun Lindisfarne Shawl and I've got it finished.

I'm so incredibly pleased with it. The gradient dyed yarn worked perfectly with the pattern, as it changed from orange to yellow at exactly the point that I needed it to. If there had been any more orange, the fill in sections at the top of the chevrons would have been orange at one side of the shawl, and the gradient wouldn't have moved up the shawl properly. I did a lot of complicated maths to make best use of all my yarn, as I had less than the pattern suggested, and it worked really well, though I did have to do a larger garter border at the top than as written. It's come out the perfect size, and it's perfect for summer evenings, because it's very light but still warm.

I realised that I have spun 1/2 of one of the singles in the shawl, the entire of the other, plied them, dyed them, and knitted them up this month! I think I'm mad, and I think I need to go do some housework now!

I've also been knitting a few hexipuffs for my beekeeper's quilt when at the hospital, as it's a really portable project, but it's still going to take ages! I've just tried to knit one with a celtic knot cable pattern on it, and it seems to have worked, so I might release the chart as a freebie next week.

My plan for this evening is to swatch for Arielle, since I'm making it out of cotton, and I think it'll need soaking because it'll stretch and I want to see how much.

So that's my knitting for the week. I've done rather a lot of shifts this week, as I've been on the emergency surgery ward, including an evening shift which is never fun to do as a student!

Third Year of Projects Week 2

So this is my first update of the new year of projects. I have finished one knitting project (a pair of socks I've literally just bound off), but it's Sooper Secrit for now, so I won't be showing pictures of it today.

I've been doing a lot of non-knitting things though (warning, VERY picture heavy post ahead).

Last Sunday, when it was gloriously sunny, I sat in the back garden with a bottle of cider and a barbeque, watching Andy Murray win the tennis, and spun on my spinning wheel.

This is "Wool" which I got from UK Karma swaps quite a while ago, and which I started spinning into a single in 2012! The second is "Wool and Linen," from the same swap

I finished the Wool single, and spun up the Wool and Linen into a single as well.

And plied them. The larger skein is fingering weight 2ply Wool/Wool and Linen (330 yards), whilst the smaller was the rest of the Wool single, Andean bracelet plied, and is again fingering weight (70 yards). This method of plying is something I haven't done before, and I massively overplied the yarn, and had to run it through the spinning wheel again to take out the twist (although I accidentally added more twist to start with, and now understand more about twist directions and how to tell which way to turn the wheel.)

Then yesterday, I decided it needed dying, using Wilton's Icing Dyes. I was finding it too hot to knit, so clearly it was entirely sensible to stand over a hot stove all day.

I felt like a mad scientist playing with my dyes!

I dyed the small skein red, and the larger one yellow, then dried the yellow and wound it into a tight ball.

I put the balls of yellow into an orange dye bath, and made sure it was all cover in the orange dye.

This led to a gradient effect with the yellow slowly turning to orange

And the finished yarn! The white flex in the yellow/orange are the bits of linen in the yarn, which obviously didn't take up the dye, as it's not an animal fibre.

I also decided (as I had the dying bug), to try a different way of gradient dying yarn. This is some sock yarn that was a gift for Renee at Confessions of a Yarn Addict.

I split each 50g skein into 5 equal 10g mini skeins, which were still joined together.

I then mixed 5 different shade of dye bath (yellow, 50:50 yellow:orange, orange, 50:50 orange:red and red), and microwaved the yarn

Here you can see the gradients really well

And the finished skeins. As you can see, the front skein is lighter than the back, as I don't think I stirred the yarn enough to equally distribute the dye, and it is also more golden rather than yellow, as I accidentally dipped the yellow mini-skein into the orange, and it took up some of the dye, even though I took it out immediately.

Finally, I'd been meaning to dye this yarn blue for ages.

In the dye bath

And the finished yarn. It's hard to see in the picture, but it has subtle variations in colour when you lok closely, as I tried not to stir it much.

So that was my week of fibre arts! I'm now planning to knit the Lindisfarne shawl in my handspun. I forgot to include in my list that I would actually like to knit up the things I spin, as well as spin them! I've entered the dying into the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup on Ravelry as a Not Quite First Year, as I've seen a lot of people being involved in it, and it looked really fun.

Since this post is already super long, I might as well make it longer, and tell you about my life. I'm currently on a placement in Vascular Surgery, which I am really enjoying, although it's very long hours. I've also got involved in a audit, which my consultant is running, and which should be published with my name as one of the authors, which will be amazing, and very helpful for jobs.

I feel like I'm actually helping, rather than getting in the way. On Friday, I scrubbed into surgery and was actually needed to help, rather than just standing there. Only problem was, it was 8 hours of standing with no food, no water and no way to go to the toilet. That wouldn't have been a problem if the air conditioning hadn't gone funny, making it 23 degrees in the operating theatre, and at least 33 under the surgical lights. The nurses were having to mop the surgeon's brow, which they apparently haven't had to do for 20 years.

I've seen loads of interesting stuff, including emergency ruptured aneurysm repair, and the operation I was talking about above, which they apparently only have to do about twice a year, and I got a really good mid course appraisal from my consultant, who has also told one of my friends that I am "very enthusiastic."

So that's my post, well done if you made it this far!

Second Year of Projects Week 52

I have to say, I seem to have gone off list quite a lot recently, but I think that might be because it seems unlikely that I will get another big list project finished before the end of the year. I have been knitting some more preemie items, since they're so quick and easy, but no pictures at the moment.

But I've made a large amount of off list dishcloths. In fact, you could say I've been on a dishcloth spree.

These are all designed by Holynarf, and if you're a big Dr Who geek like me, I'm sure you'll recognise what's on them all. I can highly recommend all her designs, which are very easy to follow, and are only patterned on the right side, making them a very quick knit. I can make one of these in an hour or two.

The last of these is Exfoliate another easy to follow pattern. I couldn't resist the bobbles, which make it the perfect Darlek cloth, since it looks so like them.

I started placement again on Monday, doing a surgery placement, so I don't have a huge amount of time to knit, and mindless dishcloths have been perfect for when I come in of an evening and am tired out, since I'm still settling into the placement and the long drive there and back.

Second Year of Projects Weeks 35 and 36

I don't feel like I've been on here in ages, so sorry for the missing update. There are a lot of reasons, but partly that I have no laptop and partly that I have been staying in a place without internet for the entire of last week and last weekend, and I'm back there tomorrow.

But knitting, that's what you're here for.

I finished my Watermelon socks, and they look and fit great

They aren't perfectly identical, but they're close enough, which I'm pretty proud of. And I can't recommend this yarn enough, it's so soft and cozy, and it knits up really well! I substituted a wrap and turn short row heel for the suggested flap heel, so that I didn't break the striping, and I managed to use on entire stripe repeat on the heel, so that the stripes down the front of the sock stayed continuous.

I've also cast on my next pair of socks, which are a birthday present for my Mum. They actually weren't on the list, but I did have socks for her on the list, so I've just swapped to these.

The pattern is Jera, and I was gifted it at Christmas. It's knitting up quite small, though it does go over my heel, so it should fit, as my Mum has smaller feet than I do. They are taking a very long time though, as there are lots of very intricate cables.

In terms of what is going on in my life, I’m currently on placement at Rampton Hospital, which is a high security forensic psychiatric hospital. I've been working with patients with serious personality disorders, who have committed horrendous crimes, which has been difficult but really interesting. I’m on a pre-discharge ward mostly, and those patients are usually very willing to tell their story. I also got the opportunity to go into the prison and see mental health care there.

It’s actually a bit of a break for me, because it’s a not formally assessed, attendance only, optional module. The only problem is, as we’re in the middle of nowhere, we’re in hospital accommodation, and there is no TV, no internet and not even a sitting room. Along with my broken laptop, my plan to spend the evenings working towards my exams went out the window, since I can’t even access phone internet. There has been a lot of DVD watching on the other student's laptop.

Also, poor Tomcat is ill!

He has the biggest ulcer on his tongue, and his mouth is really swollen. We rushed him to the vet, and had a very worried period when he was having a blood test, because the vet had worried that he'd eaten anti-freeze. Anyway, he's now doped up and looking very derpy.

My other news is that we had the biggest trampoline competition of the year last weekend. It's two days of an inter uni competition, and I missed out on the finals by one place, and 0.1 score difference! I was so gutted, but we did really well as a club, getting about half of our numbers into the finals, and taking a 1st place and a 3rd place.

So yeh, very busy life at the moment, I should really update this blog more often!