Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Got yarn?

My 1:00 today came in with his wife.

She had a strange sweater on. It had the collar and both arms, but only partially (like by 3 inches) covered her shirt below the neck.

As I spoke to her husband, she took out yarn and needles.

She began knitting, working on adding to the semi-sweater she was wearing.

39 comments:

The Plaid Cow said...

Did she take it off before continuing to knit?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Nope. She was wearing it the whole time.

tamara said...

How do you *do* that?! Especially like, the back and stuff.

Not to mention that is just plain odd.

Anonymous said...

. . . seriously, where the hell do you work??!?

s.b. said...

Is she also a patient of yours? What's your secret to stopping yourself from bursting out in laughter?

webhill said...

Heh. Hard core.

webhill said...

Hard core :)

Anonymous said...

As a knitter I can honestly say I have no idea how she's doing that, unless she's only knitting the front & will knit the back later, then seam everything together?? Seems like a crazy way to knit it though.

Devonay said...

I don't care what kind of day I've had (phone triage for an internal med doc), I can always count on you to make me laugh! Seriously...every time I think you can't possibly top the last story, you get some wackadoo like this one!

Anonymous said...

Did she have one needle or two? This sounds more like she was crocheting it than knitting it... If she were knitting, one of the needles would have had to have still been in the sweater. With crocheting, she would just have had one needle.

Anonymous said...

Did she have one needle or two? This sounds more like she was crocheting it than knitting it... If she were knitting, one of the needles would have had to have still been in the sweater. With crocheting, she would just have had one needle.

Li'l Azathoth said...

Wait till you see how she skydives.

vicki said...

ok ... it's official. you have the weirdest patients ever.
what was she being treated for? oops ... her husband was the patient?
i take quilting or needlework in with me but i don't wear it.

Not House said...

Wow. I wish you had a video of that; I'd have loved to see how ridiculous that looks.

101Md said...

this takes "made to fit" to a whole new level!

thatsit said...

Well then. It's not the oddest thing you've ever seen from what I have read on your blog.

I'd go with odd, but not overly worrisome. Hope that helps! LOL

Anonymous said...

I guess she'll be sure it fits....

Grumpy, M.D. said...

She had 2 needles going.

Frantic Pharmacist said...

I know a few knitters who are really hard core too. We go out to lunch and they sit there and damn knit.

Julie said...

definitely weird :)

Katie said...

The first time I read this, I missed the part where she had a complete shirt under the semi-sweater...

merinz said...

Didn't the bystanders knit when Marie Antoinette was facing the guillotine? Maybe she was expecting a similar performance!

terri c said...

Amazing. One of my seminary classmates used to knit lace-pattern shawls. Without using a pattern. During theology classes. It was quite intimidating especially since she could pause momentarily to ask cogent questions and never took a note.

Packer said...

Idle hands are the devil's workshop.

That is an old saying for those of you who were not educated by the Nuns. Which is apparently most of you.

Ben S said...

I swear I saw this on Regretsy a couple weeks ago..

Ahh, it was only one sleeve:

http://www.regretsy.com/2011/03/04/sad-hipster-is-sad/

Ben S said...

No wait, I found it!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66139966/new-luxury-wool-london-shrug

missfishhooks said...

Wow. I'm a knitter, and I'm having a hard time picturing how you would do this. As you knit, the yarn moves off one needle, and on to the other, then you switch the needles to the opposite hands and repeat. How do you do this with the sweater on your body? Never mind why...

The Mother said...

I started knitting in medical school, to keep my hands busy while I studied (better than eating--that was the plan).

So I've been knitting for over 20 years. Never, ever have I knitted something while wearing it. Might be a tad hard when you get to the back.

Anonymous said...

How does she knit socks??

The Nice Lady said...

I'm also a knitter, and hard core as someone else said... I'll knit anywhere and everywhere when I'm able to focus on it or working on something simple.

I am also baffled by this. Even if she has mastered the fine art of knitting backwards (people use it for a fancy kind of knitting called entrelac) the logistics of knitting a garment while you are wearing it are really hard to imagine.

While it may have looked odd, I suspect you may have witnessed a uniquely talented knitter who has developed a technique for assuring that her sweaters actually fit her perfectly when she is done knitting them! Amazingly smart people (ahem... Albert Einstein?) often also look (are) a little insane.

Loren Pechtel said...

I think The Nice Lady nailed it--it ensures it's the right size. Count me amongst those that can't imagine how it was done, though.

watercolordaisy said...

Awesome! lol. I knit all day at a seminar. Is a scarf though. No wearing of the item while knitting. lol

Alessa said...

My mom crochets and knits clothing, (mostly hats, and baby clothes) which she sells, and donates the profits to charity -$2000 now and counting. She has never worn something while making it, unless you count the large blankets she's made. She also would never go to her husband's medical appointments, either; she wouldn't consider it any of her business.

Aleigh said...

How about circular needles? It's quite awkward, but it seems to be the most logical way.

Shalom said...

I hope she was chewing on a thread.

(If you have any Jewish grandparents you probably ran across this at some point. This was my great-grandmother's belief: if someone sews a garment while you're wearing it, you have to chew on a piece of thread. This is to show you're alive, because they sew the shrouds on dead people, so if you're chewing something they won't think you're dead and take you out and bury you. Something like that, anyway. I do it to this day, just to make her happy. Never mind that she's been gone since before I was born, I still do it.)

Eileen said...

But what about the back?

Anonymous said...

I learned how to knit from my Memere at 11 or 12 but keeping track of where I am in a row makes me crazy. Crocheting is something I can do without going nuts, but I have to have the instructions in front of me and do nothing else, not even conversations, so I crochet alone, not even a radio. There are folks like us that require everything we got to focus on repetitive tasks. For the longest time I could not understand how other people could do things like that in the presence of others. It gives me some insight into ADHD.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Grumpy, that would make me awfully nervous if I were you. Have you ever read "A Tale of Two Cities?" The Marie Antoinette comment made me think of it.....

seeherknit said...

So the arms were done, attached to the collar, right?
If she picked up stitches from under one arm across the collar to under the other arm, and knit back and forth for the front of the sweater she could knit the front part down to where she wanted it. Then she could take it off and knit the back down to the bottom and seam up the sides. It would ensure a good fit, but would be a pain in the rear to do, I think.

 
Locations of visitors to this page