Retrospectacle: A Neuroscience Blog

Knit Me a Teratoma

Posted by Shelley Batts on September 21, 2007
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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.

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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.

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Comments

  1. #1 Mo
    September 21, 2007

    Shelley, you’re an old fashioned granny.

  2. #2 J-Dog
    September 21, 2007

    You need to get out more…

    But seriously – cool. Funny, but cool.

  3. #3 Shelley Batts
    September 21, 2007

    Mo, yes I am, and J-Dog, yes I do. :)

  4. #4 Warren
    September 21, 2007

    Wow, so a teratoma is a kind of hideous pinata. Who knew?

  5. #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. #6 Mo
    September 21, 2007

    I mean the link in your blogroll.

  7. #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. #8 Becca
    September 21, 2007

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

    Awesome.

  9. #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. #10 Grace
    September 28, 2007

    Wow, that’s amazing… and brilliant!

  11. #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.

  13. #13 björn
    February 13, 2008

    Completely amazing. I love teratomas! Them hands and feet are just adorable, sooo cute!

  14. #14 muhabbet
    February 23, 2008

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

    Awesome.

  15. #15 filim
    November 17, 2008

    thank you very very cooll

  16. #16 müzik dinle
    November 17, 2008

    thanks beautuful very good

  17. #17 Huaijie W
    December 5, 2009

    Hello!
    Teratoma is intresting!

  18. #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. :P