I am continuing to work on this shrug but I am not sure I am going to make my self imposed deadline of Thanksgiving- I may be frantically trying to finish it on the plane! I have a long, long way to go but I really needed a break (hence the finishing of the mystery project). I have a few days off in a row coming up so I am sincerely hoping that I can make some progress. Once I get through this last lace section the ribbing and jersey should go much quicker. I got some of this elastic thread to use with the ribbing to help it hold it's shape. It's the first time I have used a thread like this so we'll see how it goes. The thread is opaque but very thin so I am hoping it won't be glaringly obvious. Oh yeah and don't mind the pizza stains on the upper portion. Never leave your kids leftover pizza on the table and your knitting on a nearby chair when you take the kids upstairs for a bath! Please Lord let it wash out.
I finished the mystery project and as I was blocking it this weekend I had a total moment of panic when I realized that somehow in the bind off I dropped a stitch- yikes! And of course it wasn't at the end of the bind off, no it was at the beginning of the bind off 405 stitched ago- double yikes! So I was able to pick it back and weave it back in and not undo the bind off, but that moment of panic I thought I was toast. It's on the way it's new owner so I should be able to post pictures soon.
I finished The Immortal Life of HEnrietta LAcks by Rebecca Skloot. This book is truly disturbing in so many ways. It is a fascinating tale of medical ethics and one woman's part in the history of modern medicine. It is a testament to the Lacks family's faith that they can believe "that God chose Henrietta as an angel who would be reborn as immortal cells... As Jesus told his followers, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never die."" I don't know if I could be so generous in spirit- I hope that I could. The thing that is really frightening to me about this book is the afterword. I remember thinking in the early part of the book that it was somewhat unconscionable of the doctors who took Henrietta's tissues and then used them in medical research without her permission or informed consent. Then I thought thank goodness we've come so far that couldn't happen today... or so I thought.
In 2004 I had to have an emergency appendectomy and I was SO sick before the surgery that I have no idea what I signed for "informed consent." I really thought I was going to die and I probably would have signed anything if the doctor told me he could save my life. I guess I just assumed that my busted up, infected appendix would be incinerated. I guess we know what happens when we assume. I am not really paranoid or concerned that my tissues are hanging around in a lab somewhere and in all honesty if they asked I'd gladly donate them for medical research; but just the thought medical professionals (of which I am one) routinely take and use people's tissues without their true informed consent disturbs me. And it is also disturbing to me that this is the first I have even heard of this issue. So I don't know what to think but if you have any interest in medical ethics or what happens to your tissues after you part with them, I would read at least the afterword of this book.
Once I finished HeLa I went onto to funner reading and plowed through the Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts and am currently working on All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. The Circle Triology is all fantasy so it was just fun and I never thought I would laugh so hard out loud at a book about knitting and knitters. If you love yarn, you should check out any of the Yarn Harlot's books.
16 comments:
Your work is beautiful. Glad you were able to fix the bind off error. Yikes! I also enjoyed HL book. It disturbed me as well. Good thing you have the YH to lighten things up. Do you read her blog?
Well it looks very pretty :)
Beautiful work:)
It looks so pretty and I'm so glad that you were able to pick up the dropped stitch to :)
Wow, I would never have been able to fix that hickup. Regarding the pizza stain try diluting some Greased Lightning. It is the only "cleaner" I purchase and just keep it in the cupboard for berry, tomato or grass stains.
I have never read the book, but i recall hearing about it when it was published. so upsetting.
Glad you managed to fix the dropped stitch without having to redo a lot of stitches!
The book sounds interesting, and disturbing. There was a scandal at a children's hospital in the UK about a similar thing in 2001 I think (google "Alder Hey scandal" if you're interested - but it's pretty upsetting).
what beautiful lace knitting
I love Nora Roberts :-) Such fun reading!
Your knitting looks warm and squishy! Lots of effort.
Oh so pretty! that bind off thing would have killed me!
Oh no! A dropped stitch in a bind off with so many stitches, a nightmare indeed! Hoping you get your shrug finished and the tomato stain out in time for Thanksgiving. Ikes! The taking of tissue without patient consent is disturbing to me as well. We sign many things trusting the 'in a nutshell' summary of the person who hands it to us. Such a time we live in!
goodness, how stunning, loving your knitting xx
The shrug is looking gorgeous. And eek at the dropped stitch, I would have had a mini heart attack for certain. Well done you for recovering so well.
x
oh so beautiful, i hope you do get the stain out. and well done on the dropped stitch.
Wow, that shrug is beautiful, I'm very impressed!
And yes it might still happen that things are taken without proper concent, but the safeguards nowaday are hugly bigger than they were at that time. In the UK, there is no way the your appendix would be hanging around somewhere, you would know if it was =)There are all sorts of ethics committees and specialised consent forms/people trained to explain what happens and get your full and informed consent.(Can you tell I've just been revising this very thing for my exam tomorrow!)
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