Hanging by a thread

The newly-resurgent and skein-besotted Madame L describes her latest yarn find as "Wicked stuff the color of some really potent girly drink guzzled by some slightly older tall brunette with great eyebrows who will tell you the best joke you've ever heard, finish her drink, and will take you home and wreck your life." Brava, Madame L!

Which got me thinking about my own recent thready experiences. I'm just finishing eight weeks of rotations on various surgical specialties, and when it comes time to plunge a needle loaded with suture into living human flesh, a great deal of consideration goes into choosing the right suture material for each of many surgical tasks. Sadly, even the most technologically-advanced suture lacks the romance of Madame L's vivid yarns. Prolene, for example, might best be described as being the color of the pen in the pocket of the slightly-built systems engineer who solves your Ethernet problem, drinks half a Diet Pepsi from the break room fridge, and then goes back to his cubicle.

On the other hand, if it's a question of holding together your surgical incision, that's the guy you'd probably rather hang out with....