Oh, and by the way, I DO NOT RECOMMEND GOING TO THE HST PROGRAM OF HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!!! Unless they have some fantastic mentor doing exactly what you are interested in for your required MD thesis, or unless you are damn certain you need no mentoring, and have no desire to offer any constructive feedback, EVER, to the administration -- then, and only then, maybe, you could consider thinking about considering it very verrrrry carefully.
If you came upon this post via some search and you are actually considering the Harvard-MIT HST MD Program -- feel free to send me a message/comment and I'd LOVE to make sure you get another perspective. For the sake of all that is happiness and sanity and a good education, etc etc. And, I'll even connect you with some people who aren't as bitter as I am, in an attempt to be fair and all that.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Misbegotten-Devil-Stitch Almost-Non-Slanting Single Decrease
So today I am occasionally (ha) taking breaks from my evil useless thesis by knitting a hat for a friend. Well, it's not for him anymore, because I think it will end up being small-child sized. So it's practice. Anywho, it's mostly like this Olive Cable-Knit Hat but of course I got obsessive and decided that when it came time to the decrease section where you drop from a k2 rib to a k1 rib, I wanted a non-slanting decrease. But I couldn't find any non-slanting single decreases, so I wasted plenty of time figuring this out -- what I call the Misbegotten-Devil-Stitch Almost-Non-Slanting Single Decrease. I'm sure someone else has already figured it out, or more likely, something much better, but I'm writing it here so I don't forget it, at least until I find the better way that someone else figured out!
So I worked until I arrived at the two stitches that I wished to become one -- that is, the future single decrease. I then temporarily slipped the first of those stitches to the R needle. Then I created the Misbegotten Devil Stitch simply by lifting the bar to the right of the next stitch (which was between the two that were destined to become one), and placed it onto the left needle (either way, front to back or back to front -- one ends up making a little bit of a hole, the other looks a little odd in its own way, and I can't remember which is which). Then I returned the temporarily slipped stitch from the right needle back to the left. Now everything was basically set up to do a non-slanting pretty center stitch double decrease by slipping two sts knitwise at once, then knitting one, then passing the two slipped stitches over. Depending on how tightly you knit and all, the slipping and the passing can be painful. But anyway, you more or less seem to get a non-slanting single decrease out of it all. Or then again, maybe in a few rows I'll notice that it makes my whole hat self-destruct. I'll let you know later. After thesis of useless PITA doom is done. With pictures. (Of the hat, not the thesis of crap).
And, in slightly shorter steps so I never have to read that babble again (I'm sorry if you did):
Step 1) work your pattern until the 2 sts you wish to make into 1.
Step 2) sl 1 st pwise (temporarily, so it doesn't really matter where you hold the yarn, just don't end up wrapping it around like a crazy person)
Step 3) as though you were going to M1 (but without the knitting part!), insert L ndl through horizontal strand between the two stitches destined to become one (that is, between the one on the right ndl and the one on the left).
Step 4) return, via slipping, the temporarily slipped st on the R ndl back to the L ndl
Step 5) Now embark on somewhat standard non-slanting double decrease: sl2tog kwise, k1, p2sso.
Depending on which way you inserted the left needle to make the Misbegotten Devil Stitch, you may have a slight hole beneath your new, relatively non-slanting single stitch, or it may just look a little funky. I forgot which does which. I have now decided that the one with the small hole looks a little better -- more symmetric -- but I imagine that a larger hole could be undesirable, so if you knit loosely it could look untoward.... And I still can't remember which way to put the left needle in. I think it might be front to back. I'll let you know if I ever get around to doing it again! (As for who "you" are, I don't know -- I'm pretty sure no one reads this but me!)
So I worked until I arrived at the two stitches that I wished to become one -- that is, the future single decrease. I then temporarily slipped the first of those stitches to the R needle. Then I created the Misbegotten Devil Stitch simply by lifting the bar to the right of the next stitch (which was between the two that were destined to become one), and placed it onto the left needle (either way, front to back or back to front -- one ends up making a little bit of a hole, the other looks a little odd in its own way, and I can't remember which is which). Then I returned the temporarily slipped stitch from the right needle back to the left. Now everything was basically set up to do a non-slanting pretty center stitch double decrease by slipping two sts knitwise at once, then knitting one, then passing the two slipped stitches over. Depending on how tightly you knit and all, the slipping and the passing can be painful. But anyway, you more or less seem to get a non-slanting single decrease out of it all. Or then again, maybe in a few rows I'll notice that it makes my whole hat self-destruct. I'll let you know later. After thesis of useless PITA doom is done. With pictures. (Of the hat, not the thesis of crap).
And, in slightly shorter steps so I never have to read that babble again (I'm sorry if you did):
Step 1) work your pattern until the 2 sts you wish to make into 1.
Step 2) sl 1 st pwise (temporarily, so it doesn't really matter where you hold the yarn, just don't end up wrapping it around like a crazy person)
Step 3) as though you were going to M1 (but without the knitting part!), insert L ndl through horizontal strand between the two stitches destined to become one (that is, between the one on the right ndl and the one on the left).
Step 4) return, via slipping, the temporarily slipped st on the R ndl back to the L ndl
Step 5) Now embark on somewhat standard non-slanting double decrease: sl2tog kwise, k1, p2sso.
Depending on which way you inserted the left needle to make the Misbegotten Devil Stitch, you may have a slight hole beneath your new, relatively non-slanting single stitch, or it may just look a little funky. I forgot which does which. I have now decided that the one with the small hole looks a little better -- more symmetric -- but I imagine that a larger hole could be undesirable, so if you knit loosely it could look untoward.... And I still can't remember which way to put the left needle in. I think it might be front to back. I'll let you know if I ever get around to doing it again! (As for who "you" are, I don't know -- I'm pretty sure no one reads this but me!)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Ahh look, one of this morning's time-wasting, thesis-fighting breaks:
I confess that at first I was told I as scary, and that I scare even scary people sometimes. I had hammed it up a bit in my answers though, and went back and adjusted them, mostly because I wanted the damn kitten pic. That must take away from my scary-ness score in itself!
| You Are a Little Scary |
 You've got a nice edge to you. Use it. |
And, in the spirit of certain current events, more blog-quiz stupidity that makes me feel like some MySpace-ing idiot teenager:
It seems that I'm somewhere between Dr. Weird and Master Shake, depending on my mood:
I am Dr. Weird from Aqua Teen Hunger Force!!
I am Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force!!
Which Aqua Teen Hunger Force character are you??
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