Knifty

I think this is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while:



Today was my first day back at work. It was lovely and it was so nice to see everyone again. My dad also flew in this afternoon, so the whole clan is in NC now. Hooray.

Y'all, I'm so tired....

Love-ly Thursday

So, today....I had zero patients scheduled, and zero actual inpatient responsibilities (I'm on Neurology this week, so technically I should be shadowing in clinics, but...). Fortunately, in a rare moment of foresight, I noticed this last week, and continued to not schedule patients for today.

I'm trying very hard these days to take advantage of opportunities when they come along.

So I worked remotely today. I did actual work, and frankly got done in three hours more than I probably would've accomplished at the big house all day. And then, you know, I went to the gym, I gave my cousin a knitting lesson (her very first hat - and very first excursion away from scarf knitting - turned out SUPER cute). I went and did the recruitment dinner with Peng and Rene. I hung out with my dog and watched an hour of SVU. All in all, a sunny, balmy, lovely, productive, enjoyable day.

Except I think I ate too much at dinner, and now my tummy hurts. Which adds to the headache that I think I got from the wine.

I'll get over it.

Doggone funny

So, today, I spent the day knitting (I have one blanket done, and the other halfway done, that need to be done Thursday) and fussing and frittering. I got an oil change. I got some groceries. I rearranged the furniture in my room and putzed around in there for a while. While I was doing this, I found a Jumbone, still wrapped and waiting for puppy love. So I offered it to Mags, and she giddily grabbed it and ran downstairs with it. Happy dog.

Fine, okay, so I finished the square I was knitting, and we went out for a walk. We come back in, I give her the obligatory treat, I wander off into the kitchen to reheat some leftovers and load the dishwasher. And after a while I peek in on my doggie, and she's passed out in the middle of the living room floor. But behind her, I see something...peculiar.

It's a very dirty Jumbone.

Now, this makes no sense to me. Because, I know she didn't bring anything in from outside. We no longer have a dog door. How in the world could it have gotten so much dirt on it? I started to worry that the "dirt" was actually ants or something equally icky. So I walk over, and look at it, and I think to myself, hmm, that looks kind of like....potting soil. What in the world...

And then it hits me.

So I walk back into the dining room, where the plants I just brought in from outside are lined up by the window.

Maggie had buried her Jumbone in the potted lemon tree.

I laughed really, really hard.

And then I rinsed it off and gave it back to her. She immediately took it back to her crate and started gnawing on it. She wasn't about to make that mistake again...

Ho, ho, ho (reprise)!!

So, remember last December, when my girls from my knitting group back home and I did a Secret Santa exchange? That went so well, we decided to do it again, with a little Christmas in July twist. They had a little festivizing back home at Lorna's abode, for actual swapping in person. Those of us who are not exactly in distance to drop-in had to settle for the mail-order equivalent.

I? Am a dork who could not get my package together and in the hands of FedEx in time for it to get there for the party today (without paying $60 in shipping costs, which - no). But! Fortunately for me, Valerie is much more organized. Look what I got!!

Everything came wrapped in festive paper (impressive, in the middle of the off-season!). But look what was in it!!

(Val knows my favorite color is red.) There were also Dove dark chocolates in the box, mmmm-mmmmmm.

Heritage sock yarn from Cascade, in a lovely solid red...

...and in a really cool multi.

And a ball of Schoppel Wolle Zauberball self-striping sock yarn.

Wheeeeee, the socks!! The socks I can be knitting!

And...

The best of all accessories, to facilitate knitting of socks. In red. I love it.

Thanks, Valerie!!!!

And in other fiber news, I signed up (officially - I've been unofficially signed up for a couple of days now) for a spinning class next month. The one with the wheel and the spindle, not the one with the stationary bikes and the screaming instructor. I'm excited!!!

I just hope mine never ends up on there...

Click. Read. Laugh. Be forewarned, however, that a couple of them are not entirely safe for work...

Today was my last day going to the coast. I'm definitely not going to miss the commuting, but I'm rather going to miss the people on my ACT team. It was a good experience, and I'm glad I did it. And I'm happy to know my way around our little coastal town, now, because it's a great day trip...or weekend...I just need people who might want to come with. Any takers?

It was a nice time today. I went out with one of the nurses, who is one of my favorite people on the team, and who sadly is leaving before Fritz shows up to take over for me. We saw some people, gave some shots, and talked candidly about the team, mental health in general, politics, and a whole range of things. We got some lunch (Taco Bell, which was a little disappointing, because there's some great restaurants out there, but, alas, also work that needs to be done) and then wandered to the little Asian market next door, which is very fun. And then I went to the yarn shop out there, which is one of my favorite yarn stores, ever. I bought some great sock yarn (non-knitters don't understand about souvenir yarn, but you knitters know what I'm talking about. AND I got a gift for my Christmas in July Secret Santa, so that doesn't count, because it doesn't actually add to the ever-growing stash...). And then I hit the Starbucks near the college, like I always do on my way out of town, and came home. There was a little rain on the way in, but on the whole, it was another gorgeous day at the North Carolina coast.

It was a nice day, but I'm so exhausted. I meant to be in bed an hour ago, but then I got sidetracked, and then I realized I hadn't eaten dinner, and then I had to do that, and then I had to answer some emails, and then I had to write a blog....

Maggie's already asleep, though. Smart girl.

Oh, and PS, my meeting with my program director of course went fine. She gave me some guidance on the issue with which I'd come to her in the first place, and it built nicely on the advice I'd been given by my dynamic supervisor earlier in the day about not letting one person bully me into doing something that wasn't helpful for me. Also smart.

Answers

Oh. And in answer to some recent queries...

1. Carol - I bought yarn at the yarn store. Ha! No, seriously, I bought two colors of this merino/silk blend and a ball of Kidsilk Haze for projects which I will detail later. Maybe this weekend, maybe after Peng's wedding, but probably this weekend because they're not exactly secret, and only one is for her. I just need time to sit and write about it.

2. Maggie only gets to go to daycare when I'm on call, which means, sadly, that she only has one more little visit to daycare left (that's sad for her, not me). I mean, she'll stay there when I go home in July and December and when I go to Hawaii in October and any other times I might choose to leave town without her, but for the day to day, next Monday is it. However, we have a very nice dog walker who comes every day. He's an older, retired military guy and she adores him. He's really very fond of her, too. I like having him come, but I wish I had the funds to maybe put her in daycare one day a week, because I KNOW she loves hanging out with the other dogs. When I'm not post-call, though, I rarely make it home before 6pm when their pickup hours end (which is why the dog walker comes this year, because my days are looong). So maybe when I'm a Child Fellow, on the day I'm at State Hospital all day. We'll see.

3. I have not, I promise, forgotten about the prizes from the lyrics contest. I've just been working too much and moving (Julie moved, too) and now I can't remember where the post office is. Plus, Jenn, I have some finishing touches to put on something that's going in your box. But I need to send that stuff out, soon, because I'm thinking of doing the lyrics contest again. That was fun. But...patience. I promise it'll be worth the wait, and I'll be more expedient next time (that's a lie. I just moved the box of Barb's stuff I was going to mail to her for Christmas. Which is lucky, because we had to add something for the puppy). Hopefully within the next couple of weeks. (Julie, you need to Facebook me your new mailing address!)

4. I had a really, really long day. So long, in fact, that I just typed "That was fun. But...patients." And then looked at it for a good twenty seconds thinking, no...that looks wrong... So I'm going to bed. Oh, but not before I add...

5. Anonymous - NO PANTS!!

I so should make one of these for my dad...

(Pattern here)

Wordless Thursday

Mostly because I just like this picture...

Love it.

I've been trying to pull this off CNN.com for, like, four days now, and finally got it to work (here at work). People have been doing duct tape prom dresses for years, but this kid takes the cake. WHO KNEW you could KNIT with the stuff??



Awesome.

(PS - in case it doesn't load, the link is here.)

No fries, chips...

Claudia sent this to me. Dared me to knit it.

I pointed out that, duh, that's crochet. We knitters wouldn't bother with such weirdness...

....would we?


(Yeah, that's a knitted model of the GI tract. I dunno, y'all...)

Bang bang

Love Thursday, in bullets. Er, bullet points...

bI have the world's best dog.
bAlso a rockstar shrink.
bAnd a very comforting mom.
bAnd I'm done driving to the coast for another week.
bAnd it was an amazingly beautiful day at the coast today. BEAUTIFUL.
bI got to go out with our social worker today. I like her. She feeds me lunch.
bI went to the gym despite my really not wanting to and it was a good idea.
bI met nice people at the gym.
bI actually cooked dinner. Pasta primavera (with broccoli, peppers, and then corn and edamame, which don't quite seem to fit, but, whatever). Yummy.
bMy dog is all cuddly and cute. Love her.
bBones is on. Well, via the DVR.
bI finished one sock yesterday. Except...well...does anyone have a suggestion for a stretchy bind-off to use at the top of the sock??
bIt's time for bed. That's the best news yet.
bYep. Those are tiny little bicycles. They amuse me.

Look! It's a sock!

I know, exciting, right?

I figured out how to link my blog to Flickr. And upload pics from my phone to Flickr. I also wrote my personal statement (well, the first draft. Er, second draft) for my fellowship application, managed to make Netflix work on my computer (instead of having to use Peng's), and even took care of a couple of patients. I just went up to see a guy on the floor who fell in the bathroom. This went much better than my little old lady Sunday night who broke her hip in much the same way. This guy, I said, "Do you have any problems?" He says, "I got kicked out of my apartment."

I was doing really well for a while here, tonight. I stopped on the way in and got a triple grande mocha. Amazingly, that held me until about 4:30. The past hour has been a little, um, less energetic.

I also spent a little time reading my old blog posts from last May, when I was on my Child and Adolescent rotation. It was sort of nice to rehash that....it was a hard time. Really activating, really difficult, really amusing.

Hmm.

Yeah, have I mentioned how bloody tired I suddenly am?

Presidential Precident

In honor of the first week of the Obama administration...



I know, I know, I'm not doing such a good job of being wordless on this Wednesday...

One more for good measure. I'm going to break my "no people on the blog" rule, because no identifying features of Sparrow are actually visible here!! It was cold in DC that day, yo.

So you know what's almost as exciting as having my good friend (actually, several of my friends were there, but Sparrow is by far the coolest, for many reasons, including that she's the only one who remembered to send me pics, and for the reason that's about to become obvious. Aside from her general awesomeness), neighbor, and colleague at the inauguration? Look closely at the outer layer around her neck...


That? That right there? That is a Doctor Kate hand-knit wool scarf. You might remember it from this post. I tried to get her to take the double-knit alpaca one that I originally made for Barb for her first Yankee Christmas (shh!) that I've been wearing for the past two weeks because it's been so freakin' cold in NC (and because I'm not entirely pleased with how the scarf turned out, to be honest...)(Call it quality assurance, Barb. I think I may decide the color pattern on that one is wrong enough anyway that I'll knit you a scarf for your second Yankee Winter instead....), but she ended up with the wool one.

My scarf was at inauguration, y'all!!

All things yarn-y

Guess what I got? No, go on, guess.

It's yarn!

No, wait, it gets even better. It's cochineal yarn. Hand imported, from Mexico, by Peng. Who happened to be in Mexico week before last. And bought a giganamous skein of the stuff, from the weaver in the marketplace who used the yarn in her weavings. She, personally, didn't spin and dye the yarn, but her cousin, you know, up the road, she crushed the little cochineal bugs off the cacti, and dried them, and ground them into powder, and used them to dye her yarn. Or at least, I imagine she did. At the very least, her cousin dyed the yarn, and someone crushed up the little cochineal bugs off the cactus.

And so not only did Peng pick me up after my stupid plane was delayed (stupidly), she shared her yarn with me! It made last night better.

And as long as we're on the subject of awesome people giving me wonderful yarn, remember the yarn that Valerie gave me last week? This is what it looks like now. The first toe and instep of the Ruthie socks.

I'm just getting to the start of the short-row heel. Which, sadly, is still the part I can't do by memory.

I'm making up the pattern, but it's basically a 3x4 mini-cable with a beaded rib border. I showed it to Ruthie today, she was pleased.

All in all, a good week for gifted yarn! Thanks, guys!

Home again.

I'm back in the Windy City. It's sorta chilly here, but not bad, and, at current, not even that windy.

Thus begins another whirlwind week trying to spend quality time with as many people as humanly possible. I flew in this morning....all my friends were either out of town, on call, or (ahem) ignoring their text messages, so I reserved a cab to take me to the airport this morning. The cab was insanely late, and I had to call twice. The fare was close to $50, he said, just give me $30, we made you too late. So I gave him $30 and not a penny more. Tips are for good service. He was 40 minutes late, and went the wrong way down my one way street. Here's a tip - try being on time.

The flight itself was reasonably uneventful. And then my folks picked me up and we ran home and I grabbed my dad's keys and went to knitting.

You know how, with some people, you can not see them for, say, over a year, and you sit down and it's still like you come every week? That's totally what knitting group was today. God, I miss you people!!

Val even gave me a skein of sock yarn. It was from a yarn of the month thing, and really not her color, but you know whose color it totally was? Ruthie's. And the socks I'm currently making for Ruthie are turning out to be very nice (and I love the yarn) but less Ruthie-colored than I was hoping. But I think they're looking to be someone else's color. And then the socks that I was going to make for her can go back to being for the person I was originally making them for, and then...well, then...one of these days I'm going to knit something for myself again. But anyway, I'd forgotten how much I missed seeing what everyone else was making and fondling everyone's fancy yarns and swapping project ideas. I miss these knitting buddies, but I think I also miss having knitting buddies in general.

Okay, mostly I miss these knitting buddies.

See, this is why I don't come home more often. Okay, no it isn't. I don't come home more often because I work 60 to 80 hour weeks and have no disposable income. But coming home also invariably makes me homesick.

Funny, that....

Lazy Sunday

I keep forgetting it isn't actually Sunday....and I still have two whole days off! I think every weekend should be a four day weekend...

Maybe I don't, actually. Because even though it was only three days long, this work week stunk for almost everyone I know.

Today I did next to nothing, which is very different from what I had planned, which was far from nothing. I slept until noon, then finally got out of bed at 1 (well, I was postcall yesterday, and had only slept two hours on Wednesday night, and then was up all day yesterday, and let's face it, I haven't slept well all week...). Maggie and I went to the Petsmart, went for some dog food and a new retractable leash (the old one died. I mean, I've only had it for five years...), and a PediPaws. I think this may be in the same league as the Furminator, y'all. It's a little rotating drum of sandpaper and so it files your dog's nails down, rather than cutting them. Maggie actually tolerated it really well, and she NEVER lets me cut her nails, so they're always like a mile and a half long and she keeps going clickity-clickity-clickity on the wood floors.

We also got a few "wow am I tired oh look isn't that cute!!" purchases....

One was a puppy Kong. Maggie's never been a fan of the Kong, but so many of our friends' dogs swear by them, that I keep trying. And Maggie's been doing some weird things lately when I'm gone, digging through the trash, chewing up non-food things, that kind of stuff, which tells me that she might be getting a little anxious and/or bored. And we already know how guilty I feel leaving her at home at all, much less as much as I do these days. So we're looking at Kongs in the store today, and they have new ones for puppies that have teething rubber. Which, I've long thought that the regular Kongs hurt her teeth, so, I thought, hmm...let me tell you, she loved it. I threw some treats in there, she spent hours playing with that thing. We may have success after all...

We also got...I'm such a bad owner....matching little reindeer coats for her and Little Maxine. With antlers that light up. Ohmigosh if it isn't the cutest thing ever.

We went over to Sparrow's for dinner tonight, and oh, look at the cuteness...



I'm hoping for Christmas card cuteness before the month is out, but neither of them was exactly thrilled with the outfits, so, we didn't quite get the photo op I was hoping for. But, we'll keep trying.

Meanwhile, Little Maxine got back at Maggie for stealing her bed on election night...

Oh, the cuteness...

Anyway. That's about the extent of my productivity today.

I stopped at the Panera on the way home from Petsmart for soup (they were out of bread bowls, I was sad), and then did a whole lot of nothing until we went to Sparrow's. Well, that's not true. Look what I started:


It's two toes. At the same time. On one big ol' Addi Lace. And so far I haven't even knitted them together once. The yarn is this Koigu KPPPM that Jenn sent me for surviving my intern year. Mmm, it's yummy. And I really like the way it's knitting up. I just have to pick a stitch for it - I've gotten really bored with plain old stockinette socks, but, I can't do anything too complicated if I'm going to knit in lecture, which is really my prime knitting time all week...

Presents.

I came home tonight, and had a padded mailer in my mailbox, and a big Express Mail box on my doorstep. I was excited. The mailer, it turns out, was....odd. It was a book of "poetry" from the Center for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (sketch). They, of course, included a handy postcard telling me where I could mail a donation for the lovely gift they had just sent (even more sketch). The other, however, was from my aunt and uncle (the biological ones) in Chicago, and it was awesome. They sent me the 32-page Commemorative Edition of the Sun-Times Sunday magazine from November 9, entitled, "Obama: A Walk Through History."

Sometimes....my family makes me so proud....

It's funny, actually. My aunt and uncle (my mother's brother) have always been staunch Democrats. My cousins are both ardent Republicans (this makes no sense to me...my older cousin plays bass in a metal band....how can he possibly be a Republican? I think those two are mutually exclusive...). My parents are vehement Republicans (my daddy was not allowed to play with Democrats when he was little, because they were not nice people, according to my grandfather). And you ALL know what a flaming liberal tree-hugger I am. So I think my aunt and uncle are just glad one of us kids turned out to have some political sense.

They also sent me a Target gift card and a very nice card regarding the fellowship I was recently awarded through the PECC (it's a scholarship, really. They call it a fellowship because it sounds snootier). And you know how I always love me an excuse to go to Target.

The appearance of gifts made me slightly anxious, though, because I thought one of them might be from my Secret Santa - my knitting buddies back home are doing a holiday gift exchange, and I got to play along, too. Which was all well and good until this morning, when I realized that the socks I'm knitting for said exchange...um...don't match. And, okay, they're supposed to not match, but not in the way that they currently don't match. And apparently they're due next Friday, i.e., they have to be in Illinois by next Friday. Crap.

Also, a few days ago, my cousin (different cousin. Obama supporter) gave me the Aloha Award on her blog. Here are the rules:

"First, answer this question...If you were stuck on an island, what 5 things would you want to have with you? Then, spread the Aloha! Send this award to 5 other people and let them know they've been given The Aloha Award! That's it, easy peasy! Keep the chain going and spread the aloha all over the blogospshere! (be sure to link to the person that sent you the award...so we can keep the linky love going!)"

(Not Danielle's words, I'm guessing)

(PS - there will be no linky love allowed on my island of stuckness. Stop that! Stop that right now!)

Ahem.

Alright, if I were stuck on an island and given my choice of five things, I would take...

1. My dog. Not only would she be an wonderful companion, and enjoy running off leash (I'm assuming it's a relatively small island. Where's she gonna go?), but if I can learn to spin between now and the time I get stuck on this island, she could be an excellent source of yarn fiber.

2. A laptop with a solid satellite wireless connection (hey, it's my island, back off!)

3. Sunscreen. A lot of sunscreen. Don't make me tell you the story of the last sunburn I sustained in Hawaii.

4. A really good set of knives.

5. Phosphorus matches. Because, I am not patient enough to do the whole flint and steel crap.

And I tag....

Barb
Peng
Angie
Jenn
Allison

Pomaika`i, hoapili.
(Good luck, friends)
(I hope that's what it means...)

Night moves

So, here I am again. Floating.

It's 4:30am and I'm waiting for the ER to call me about some dimwit who cut herself because she got into a fight with her boyfriend. She's saying (according to the ER notes) that it was impulsive and silly and she's not suicidal, so I don't really need to see her but $20 says they call me anyway. Technically, they're supposed to consult us on potential admissions; stuff like this they're supposed to be able to handle. And who knows, maybe they will. But they stole all her clothes and dressed her out in those silly blue paper scrubs we give to potentially suicidal people, and that's a very strong indicator that there's going to be a psychiatrist sometime in her near future.

Meanwhile, I blog.

It amazes me sometimes how much people don't want me around. I think I went from the one profession people really don't want to go see to the only one they want to see less. When I was a gyn, I had a woman tell me she'd rather get a root canal than have to see a gynecologist. As the shrink, I think most people would rather have a gynecologic exam. Some, I think, would rather have a gynecologic exam in Times Square than have to talk to me. People get so resentful that their "real" doctor called a psychiatrist to see them. Because my presence clearly indicates the other doctor thinks either, a, they're crazy, or 2, they're making it up. Not so, folks, not so. You wouldn't believe the reasons we get consulted (earlier tonight, Fang fielded a consult on a burn patient because she was crying. What?! Someone who's burned badly enough to end up in the ICU is - gasp! - crying?! Holy cow! Fire up the ECT machine, STAT! Seriously, though, I think "crying patient" is probably #4 or so on the list of reasons we get called by other inpatient services). What always makes me a little nuts, though, is the people who do things like, you know, try to kill themselves, and then get all pissy when someone calls a psychiatrist. Because, you know, they're not crazy.

Please. Like crazy is such a bad thing.

Is it bedtime yet?

So I've actually spent the evening seeing patients (and writing up long-ass interviews with same) and haven't gotten any knitting done. Which is a shame, because all I have left on my one project is the duplicate stitching and then I can felt it, but, I would've SWORN I had yarn needles in my desk, and alas, I do not. So sad. That's about all I can tell you about the projects I'm working on right now, though, because they're super top secret. Because I'm knitting for the CIA. No, okay, because they're gifts. But I promise pictures just as soon as I can post them.

I'm trying to decide what to put on the needles next. More simple socks? A throw for the new intern work area? An afghan? A new scarf? I'd really like to knit a nice thick sweater coat thing, but that seems like a fairly big undertaking, and I might not finish it until it's warm out...

Aaaand there goes my pager. Because they want a full consult on the dimwit. I got news for you, kids, it's not a committable offense to be stupid....

It's always sunny in Chapel Hill

Alright, that's a lie.

But it's a gorgeous sunny Thursday today, at least. Seventies, Carolina Blue skies, lovely.

Today's Tin Can Brigade adventure went well. I flew out and back with this pediatric cardiologist and his echo tech, whom I've flown with before. My doc at the ACT team had decided to take a few days off, so I went out with one of the nurses and had a couple of my very own patients to see at the rest home we went to. I made some minor med changes. I did some quick home visits. It was nice, actually, and we still got done by two so I could hitch a ride back with the Cards guys.

We went to this Mongolian Barbecue place for lunch which was just so-so, but, it was lunch. They had these really interesting things she kept referring to a "Greek rolls", which were sort of like soft sesame crackers. Now, there was absolutely NOTHING Greek about this place, and I'm sure they were probably Korean, but they were the best part of the whole meal and my people are happy to take credit for them.

So I came home and took a nap, because I was sleepy and cranky and I have this bad habit of becoming unconscious every time I get in a plane (seriously. I don't think we'd hit cruising altitude - which, remember, is about a mile - before I was out. And probably snoring, which is one of the problems with this little habit of mine. Although at least on the Anchovy Tin everyone has earplugs in). I was going to go to the screening of the documentary that was done a year or so ago about our gallery of artists with mental illness, but my child therapy supervisor wanted to "meet" by phone at 7 (we talked for 20 minutes and then her phone died. Oh well. More to come). So I decided to start my laundry instead. And, having just decided that whatever I was wearing needed to be washed and dropped it into the washer, no sooner did that happen than someone knocked at the door.

Um. Oh.

I skittered to my bedroom and grabbed my bathrobe, which is of course very thick flannel with snowflakes all over it. In which it makes perfect sense to be answering the door at 4pm on a Thursday in 80 degree weather.

It turned out to be two of my neighbors, who moved in a month or two ago. I met their landlord shortly before, who went on and on about how they were "good Christian kids, boys on one side of the house, girls on the other" (I cringe every time the very first way in which someone describes themselves is as a "good Christian"). Thusfar, I'll concede, they have seemed pretty tame. You know, like the rest of us on this block. They were very pleasant, in a distant, "hey that's a big dog and you're wearing a bathrobe" kind of way. Aryan, plain, wholesome, skinny girls, probably Midwestern. As opposed to, say, the loud, outspoken, brash, swears like a drunken sailor, Zaftig suicide redhead kind of Midwesterner.

But, whatever, they brought cake.

It was dry and needed cinnamon. And maybe a touch more vanilla. But it was pretty. And, chocolate cake.

In other news, I finished the first of my quick-and-dirty plain old socks yesterday.



They're the first in a series, I think, of what I'm calling "leftover socks." Simple, short (I like the anklet-y type better anyway), reasonably quick and easy that I can bang out in a few weeks of lectures and use up some of my leftovers in my stash. These are from a skein of Dream in Color yarn in a color called Spring Tickle that ended up being a second because the blue dye didn't quite dissolve well enough and so, if you were able to look closely, you'd see that the yarn was actually a bit speckled. So we couldn't sell it to real people. So I destocked it and made a hat. For a pumpkin.


Note the little center stem-hole. I liked that hat. I don't think I took it with me when I left, but I should have. In case I ever have a pumpkin down here that has a cold head.

Well, tomorrow is going to be a long day (and night). The interns are off on their retreat tomorrow, so we're all covering their call. Tomorrow night I'm playing intern again with Sparrow as my second year, so we're sure to have two things: a very busy night, and a rockin' good time.

Presents!!

I'm so tired. So tired. Like, whole new levels of tired. Didn't sleep at all last night. Damn night float.

But, I got home tonight, and there were boxes on my front porch. Lots of them. Two, from Amazon, which I assumed carried things I expected (although why they divided my books into two boxes, beats the heck out of me). But then...somebody sent me a faucet?


I read the return address and quickly recognized the package as containing something far more exciting. My sock blockers from Lorna.


Aren't they just fabulous? Lorna's dad, right, he goes out and chops down his own wood, then lathes and cuts and sands and stains it into really freakin' awesome sock blockers. By hand. Amazing.

The Tolerance Socks were in the wash, so I had to make do with the one I've got on the needles.


She also sent me a very cool pattern for felted flip-flops. A nifty Southern alternative to felted clogs.

The other boxes, of course, contained books I'd ordered.


Kinda boring.


There. That's better.

So cool. Thanks, Lorna!! (Just...remind me how much I owe you for them? I'll PayPal it off to you ASAP.)