Knit Me a Teratoma

Retrospectacle: A Neuroscience Blog

Call me an old-fashioned granny, but I do love knitting. I’m not very good (getting better), and what I can knit is limited to hats, mittens, scarves, and the obligatory pot holder. So I think that knitting this complicated and grotesque teratoma is still a bit beyond my skill level……wait!?! A teratoma…..knitted?! Yes, its true, and if you start now, it may be finished by Halloween.

Is that a teratoma or are you just happy to see me?

The word teratoma roughly means “monstrous tumor,” and is a germ cell tumor which has some mature differentiated tissue types which are usually very out-of-place, and occasionally teeth, jaws, eyeballs and hands. They are an interesting and rare medical oddity. I won’t include any pictures (they’re a bit gross), but you can do an image search on ‘teratoma’ if you’d like to learn more about them.

Comments

#1 Mo
September 21, 2007

Shelley, you’re an old fashioned granny.
#2 J-Dog
September 21, 2007

You need to get out more…

But seriously – cool. Funny, but cool.
#3 Shelley Batts
September 21, 2007

Mo, yes I am, and J-Dog, yes I do.
#4 Warren
September 21, 2007

Wow, so a teratoma is a kind of hideous pinata. Who knew?
#5 Mo
September 21, 2007

Don’t worry – there’s nothing wrong with being old-fashioned.

P.S. Are you ever going to link to my new blog?
#6 Mo
September 21, 2007

I mean the link in your blogroll.
#7 Alvaro
September 21, 2007

Hello Shelley,

Maybe you can write on the cognitive neuroscience of knitting…there must be a reason why so many adult women (plus you) get hooked to it!
#8 Becca
September 21, 2007

Best argument in favor of taking up knitting I’ve ever heard.

Awesome.
#9 knobody
September 23, 2007

wow! i’ve done the now famous dna scarf, and i just finished a baby blanket, but i’ve never done anything that cool or creative. time to start digging through the yarn stash again.
#10 Grace
September 28, 2007

Wow, that’s amazing… and brilliant!
#11 Ambrielle
October 13, 2007

Very cool. A friend mentioned this to me today. Same friend made a knitted DNA (http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-patterns-dna.html) for another friend of ours who was completing his PhD.
#12 Cuttlefish
December 4, 2007

http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2007/12/teratoma-or-knit-me-sister.html
#13 bj�rn
February 13, 2008

Completely amazing. I love teratomas! Them hands and feet are just adorable, sooo cute!
#14 muhabbet
February 23, 2008

Best argument in favor of taking up knitting I’ve ever heard.

Awesome.
#15 filim
November 17, 2008

thank you very very cooll
#16 m�zik dinle
November 17, 2008

thanks beautuful very good
#17 Huaijie W
December 5, 2009

Hello!
Teratoma is intresting!
#18 GleanerGirl
February 16, 2010

Wow…that is the most awesome thing ever! I’ve had a teratoma myself (very large ovarian cysts, had surgery to remove them,lost an ovary in the process, they discovered one of the cysts was a teratoma) …didn’t know they were that rare. I might just have to make this to commemorate the occasion.