What's in your pocket?

Stitches

I found some t-shirts at Goodwill and cut them into loops with moderate success. Anything less than 1/4 inch falls apart when you stretch it, but crocheting with 1/4 inch or bigger loops (so you're really crocheting with 2 strands at a time) requires a pretty big hook. I suppose it would work for a rug or maybe a pillow.

I see some people are selling t-shirt yarn on Etsy.com. Apparently they have cut a t-shirt in spiral to get one long strand. I'm not sure I have the patience for that. However, I did cut a couple of my loops apart and made a macrame bracelet out of them. Only problem with that is figuring out what type of closure will work. I just tied a knot in the end and slipped the beginning loop over. It fell off at work, and I found it later in my smock pocket.

Stripts

Speaking of pockets.... those of you not in the biz may have noticed that we seem to have a lot of stuff in our smock pockets. Here's a list of what's in mine and why:

Ballpoint pens - pharmacists are completely lost without pens. I have 3 at all times because I have found over the years that 1 backup just isn't sufficient. I buy my own so that I know which ones are mine. Otherwise, I steal everyone else's and have a pocketful of pens at the end of the day.

Highlighter - there's always something to call attention to; a change in directions, a note that the patient needs to see the doctor, a note that the insurance company, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to stop paying for a drug, etc. There are usually highlighters around, but they always seem to be yellow which doesn't show up well on our receipts.

Pastel permanent marker - to make a big X on the open stock bottles. I'm generally pretty easy-going, but it does bother me when other staff members can't take a second to mark an open stock bottle and we end up with a bunch on the shelf. Everyone knows when I've been working because the shelves turn into a lovely rainbow of pastel shades.

Black permanent marker - mostly for writing notes on faxes to doctors. Regular pen either doesn't show up well enough or the doctor's staff just ignores it.

Small note book - I feel naked without my little cheat book. It's mostly phone numbers. But it also has lots of notes about fixing insurance rejections (override PA codes, DUR rejection codes, group numbers or processor control numbers that aren't on the patient's insurance card but we have to enter anyway.) The days when all I needed to know was drug info are long gone.

Colored lip balm - Hey, I still wanna look good!