Knitting Can Really hurt

Remember all that knitting I did before and after Christmas? It finally caught up with me in the form of a repetitive stress injury in my hand.

It started out in my thumb and moved to the rest of my fingers within a day or two. I stopped knitting sometime last week, I tried crocheting because I can hold the working yarn in such a way that it doesn’t hurt… much. And you know it’s bad when I’m desperate enough to start crocheting with non-thread weight yarn. Yuck.

Sewing is an impossibility as well, if you need both hands to knit (and to a lesser extent, crochet) then you need both hands and, why not, both feet to help out.

And now that I’ve thoroughly hurt my hand typing this, I’m going to go take a couple of Advil and stare begrudgingly at my wrist/hand brace.

Running Out of Time

Three hats, half a mitten and a quarter of another hat later and I’m feeling a little burned out. My fingers are stiff and sore, not fun since I have a bit of arthritis in them already (thanks Mom, fab genes!)

I still have to finish three more hats, two pairs of fingerless gloves, three pairs of mittens and if I can manage it two more fingerless gloves. It all depends on how quickly I can get through the rest of it.

And to top it all off I have a few things to sew: headbands, an apron for Grandma, a dog coat and a lot of toys for our pets. Thank goodness for the trusty old Bernina 1630, it lets me zip through seams without a lot of extra thought. Unlike the beast of an old Singer I’m trying to wrangle into submission. That thing is… beastly. I don’t know that much about the other machine, my moms Elna, except that I’m not really allowed to touch it. Hmph.

Two Turn a Square Hats

From the pattern Turn a Square. The orange, brown and green one is my fathers, the blue and green one is my brothers.

The pattern was amazing, it`s my go-to beanie hat.

Christmas Knitting

I’ve been frantically knitting since the end of November to try and finish all of my Christmas knitting. I’m starting to wish I’d started back in July.

What I’m Knitting/Have Knit

  • Two hats for my brother and dad, both knit from the pattern Turn a Square. Amazing pattern by the way.
  • Another hat, this time for my sister. The purple, pink and white yarn above is what I’m using. I found it in the discount section of Walmart unlabeled, I think it might be Satin Sport from Bernat, but I’m not sure. The pattern is All Day Beret. It’s not something I’d pick, lace to me is knitting that looks like something, not just lines of holes, but my sister requested it. I’m actually enjoying the results, the pattern is simple and works nicely with the colours in the yarn. Best of all it’s a relatively quick knit!
  • My mom is getting a pair of wool mittens, knit from the yarn on the right. The pattern I’m using is Tweedy Mittens, I’m barely a few rows in, though.

I’ve spent less than $30 on enough yarn to knit 2 more pairs of fingerless gloves, a headband, a scarf (or gloves, I’m undecided.) Not bad for presents for four people, well maybe five because I’m going to make myself a present, of course. But since I’m the knitter mine comes last.

Gail (aka Nightsongs) First Project in a While

I haven’t knitted anything in a while; I think my last project was 198 Yards of Heaven which I finished in late October last year. I’ve been itching for something to knit for a while now, I like to keep my hands busy, but the right pattern hasn’t shown up yet. I’d always heard that Gail was a great shawl to knit, but I never paid much attention to it.

So I started it. I’m just barely into the pattern, so I’ll update with some thoughts and pictures on it once I’ve knit through the repeat more than once. There really isn’t that much to see yet, plus the weather has been so incredibly gloomy that taking pictures has been impossible.