Spain and Morocco

Well seeing as no-one else has, and don't deny you all had the opportunity, I'm going to kickstart the blogging on our holiday. However, as has been well-documented, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to blogging big life-changing events (such as becoming a doctor) so I'm sure someone out there will improve on my account anyway.

Spain was amazing, although we thought we weren't going to get there at first, with an interminable flight delay at Liverpool airport. I had booked an apartment, but in the end we abandoned it and poor old Francisco Romero, who by all accounts was up half the night waiting for us. We stayed with Erika, and it worked out far far better in the end, I freely admit! She has a beautiful apartment in the heart of Barcelona which is crammed with fascinating trinkets from all her travels. I will let the Cow tell everyone about the barefaced act of criminality she and Pink witnessed. We visited La Pedrera, the Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia..the thing I remember most though is the walking! Just be warned that the route to Park Guell is all uphill, and don't let those cutesy open-air escalators fool you, they don't ease the pain much.

Seville was fun, we saw the Cathedral and the Alcazar. Somehow, probably because we visited it at night, nothing impressed us again as much as the Alcazar did. It was truly stunning, with incredibly detailed mosaicwork and carving on the walls. It was especially atmospheric as there were far fewer people there than during the day, and they were playing Ottoman-style music in the background. There was an exhibition on Ibn Khaldun going on at the time as well, which brought the whole experience to life. Seville was also where I found out that Alhamdulillah I graduated (after all the knitting, I was fairly concerned)..and as a result of this we had a scary incident, which Pink will talk about. Fudge joined us in Seville which was loads of fun, she brought a real party atmosphere with her (also English rain)!

I will let someone else carry on, or add to this account (Pink where are the pictures???). By the way, can I apologise to poor Pink, Cow, Jug and Fudge for suffering my sergeant-major routine for a week - I'm sorry I was such a nightmare!

Word into Art

There's an excellent exhibition on at the British Museum at the moment, which is all about contemporary art in the Arab world which uses calligraphy and the written word as a form of expression. Some of the pieces are incredibly striking and beautiful. They also displayed calligraphy by Haji Nour al Deen, a Chinese calligrapher. Mr C bought me and Jug some of his art work last time he was in town, so am feeling very privileged. I am now determined to become a patron of Islamic art in the future :)

Ammu and Ray were in town so spent some time with them the last couple of days, and otherwise have been spending time at the hospital, getting plans finalised for Spain and Morocco, and knitting, of course. I am very proud of my latest accomplishment (some would say only accomplishment) which is one of a pair of fingerless gloves. It only took two days, and the flowers are easier then they look! The other one will be made in due course, but I think my hands need a bit of a break. The design comes from this scrumptious book by Louisa Harding.

My beautiful present

Ah my family. What wonderful human beings they are. They sent me a lovely 23rd birthday parcel filled with knitting goodies, which I only received today due to an unfortunate concatenation of circumstances. The Post Office, where I collected it from, is quite far, so I had to open it on Maple Road, which is quite a feat if you know how many bits and bobs the present was comprised of.

My favourite is the Stitch'n'b**** Handbook I have been eyeing up for quite a while (you will note in the picture I have covered up the cowgirl, out of natural modesty). I will figure out how to blog pictures on this site so you can see all the stuff! It's very frustrating, it keeps saying the page cannot be displayed when I upload pics.

Am looking forward to going home next weekend, am missing everyone. When are you coming to see me? That goes for everyone in Manchester, but especially Ray and the Cow. Get your skates on, kids.

Edit: Am reading the book, and have come across 'A Field Guide to Knitters'. This sounds a little too much like me - but I'm gonna prove them wrong! Yeah!

Dilettante knitters: They just learned to knit last week, but already they've spent more on luxurious yarns than you did in the past year. Dilettante knitters throw themselves and their money at the craft of knitting for a short while and maybe manage to complete two thirds of a sweater before they get bored with the whole thing. The good news is that they'll probably sell you their leftover yarn for next to nothing.

lol..Mr C is shouting at the TV. More specifically, he is shouting 'Use water you dirty people!' at the Lotus Freshness bathroom tissues advert.

I'm eating tinned sweetcorn with instant gravy. So please dispel all myths of perfect housewifeliness.

Big Brother is awful. All the people on it are nasty. They talk about disgusting things. Why is it always on?

I have uploaded a picture of my knitting, but it might not show up as I'm not sure how it works. If you like it, and would like a woolen scarf (in the height of summer), please let me know. It gives me an excuse to buy wool.

For those who are the least bit interested, this is knitted using Noro Kureyon in plain ol' stockinette stitch. It's nicer than it looks in the picture though, and I finished the whole ball of wool and am waiting for another one so it's a proper scarf length.

Let me explain

ok, this woolen box thing. I seem to be getting stick about it from all angles so I might as well clarify - it was just a whim that I had (during finals), in which I was considering the alternative uses of knitting. If you put something in the sides (like a thick wire) it would support the wool and therefore be a box shape. Nothing mysterious about the thing at all!

I thought it would be cool to have a chicks-with-sticks group at the riad in Morocco. On doing some canvassing, I found that Jug and Cow were up for it, but Fudge scorned the plan. Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait..you'll be sorry but your tears will be too late!
I am amassing large amounts of knitting paraphernalia, but am uncomfortably aware that I am not progressing or displaying vast amounts of talent in the field.

Best foot forward, spit-spot!

Many a month has passed since I last blogged, and I thought I may as well do the thing properly and just start anew. After all, a much-married girl like myself can't talk about bouquets forever (see my last blog for more information). So in the hiatus (my finals-frazzled brain wants to add 'hernia' at this point) I have done my medical finals, and on a whim, took up knitting.
Finals were interesting. The first exam, was an exercise in willpower..question after question, long paragraphs followed by five impossible-to-choose-between answers. The practical exam, which I was scared stiff about, ended up being not as bad as I had expected, but then the last one was hard again, so I can't say whether I passed or failed. There was a time during the exam when it was touch and go whether I would manage to stay awake or not, but I battledvaliantly against the temptation. I hope inshallah all will go well and I'll pass, but if not, I have planned an exciting fun-packed year of "medical student tourism", working in the hospitals of the world - so I can find a bright side to failure if I need to.
In the midst of this, I finally I found a book I had first looked at in Cambridge last year, called Fast Knits Fat Needles and got very sucked into the whole knitting world. Fortunately, we had a useless internet connection at home (dial-up 44k and only after 10pm) so I wasn't able to indulge the whim as much as I would have done otherwise..possibly the only thing which may save me from finals catastrophe.
I've just started a placement in the same department that I'd be working in from August if I pass. It seems cushy as house officer jobs go - two house officers share two wards and cover for each other so they can each take the afternoon off on alternate days! The consultant is also pretty chilled out - a post-take ward round took an hour and 15 minutes (compared to the last nightmare one I did at MRI - 7.30am until 6pm) and then he took us all for a coffee afterwards. When he found out that, far from being a keeno student who was raring to go again straight after finals, I was being forced by my medical school to do this placement, he said it would be fine for me to skive off as much as I wanted, which suits me just fine. Gives me a chance to sneek off to Loop one of these days..
Anyway, will continue later, and will possibly even treat you all to pictures of my knitting!