When things go bad...

Bad things really do come in groups, don't they?

I have tendinitis in my hands. At least I'm pretty sure it's not carpal, the symptoms lean more towards the tendinitis.. Anyway! Both of my wrists have flared up. I've been doing a bunch of knitting at a small gauge, plus I've been working on my Cross-stitch. So poof.. I'm down for the count. Fingers prickling, hands swollen every time I wake up. Blah.

I put myself on a craft hiatus from last Thursday until yesterday. I let myself cross stitch a bit, but no knitting as of yet. Which sucks because Saturday was my birthday (yay I'm old) and I have an awesome group of girlfriends. I have a gorgeous hank of Mist Alpaca HANDPAINTED Chunky. It's just calling to me. It's in the Delphinium colorway. Here would be a picture of said goodness but remember? Bad things happen in groups..

My wireless curled over and died in my laptop. :P So we had to pack it up and ship it to HP since it was under warranty still (the silver lining I suppose). I'm happy to have my own IT department (DH) and they got me up and running on one of our older desktops. They even ran ethernet into the spare room so I don't have to freeze my toosh off in the basement. But it doesn't have any of my graphics crap on it, so no pictures.

So no knitting/crafting, limiting my typing/surfing online to help the wrist and the fact I don't have my laptop..not much to blog about!

I will have photos up of my birthday goodness soon. OH! And I ordered a set of KnitPicks Options. I can't WAIT to get them. :) That's when I'm going to let myself knit again. My Malabrigo laceweight is sooooo calling to me. I've caked it up and it sits by my chair, calling to me. :)

Hope everyone in the 'heartland' is staying warm. I am beyond sick of winter. I'm no longer mad at the season, just resigned and sad. Ugh 13 degree high today, and 12 for tomorrow and 15 on Thursday. This is ridiculous! Most of the local cities are out of salt. Yes I said OUT of salt. The roads are a rink. :P

A trip, another sock and a tumor...

Well we are getting ready for the haul to Texas. All the laundry is pretty much done, the lists made and now panic is starting to set in. WTF was I thinking? Driving 1200 miles by myself with my 2 girls (age 7 and 3)????

Deep breath.

That's a long way. I haven't really decided on 2 days or 3. It's going to be one of those things that we figure out on the way.

The Solstice Slip continues. I've finished the 1st and turned the heel on the 2nd. I can FEEL the Monkeys in Sherbet coming. Wohoo. I swear that's the only reason I'm so driven with these socks. I like the pattern, but I'm dying to get into that Sherbet skein.


Finally on to the tumor. Yep, I've got one in my wrist. And there's really nothing to be done about it. How cool is that? The doctor said it is a hemangioma on my radial nerve. So it's a bump on the sheath of my nerve. 95% of them are benign. They would have to do carpal tunnel surgery to remove it but since it is on the nerve itself, there would be a loss of feeling. As of right now, I have no loss of feeling, so no surgery. I get to live with it. If it gets worse, then we'll look at the surgery.

Very odd that.

So think of me tomorrow around 5 am as I pack my minivan and careen down the Interstates of America!!!

Amazing

Had a few amazing run-ins today.

1.) My 6 year old daughter is knitting a Chevron Scarf. Dude. And it's nice. I'll put up more picts when it's longer. But damn, she can PURL! K2Tog! Knit in Front and Back!

I need to remember this when she throws knitting needles at me when she's a teenager!


2.) My wrists no longer hurt since I've been working on the Chevron. I apparently needed to take a break from sock knitting. Yay for healing wrists. :)

Other than that the Chevron is growing longer and I'm waiting for my Rockin Sock Club shipment! Woohoo! See? I needed to rest my wrists. :)

OH! And the DD is using my kool-aid dyed yarn along with a skein of bare wool. Too cool. Not only is she knitting, but she's decreasing my stash! Wohoo!

Ok, enough exclamation points....

Knit On Babeeee!

Oh ya. Oh ya.

The wrist resting/ibuprofin/wrist brace did the job and here's the result. And I'll throw instead of pick for now.



Rockin' Socky goodness #1. I do wish I'd gone 1/2 a repeat further, on the cuff, but I know I'll have enough for the second. Unlike others that like to wind their hank into 2 cakes, I'm lazy and just wing it.



I'm really into the cables. The rib is ok, feels very good on, is boring to knit..but the cables are neat. I did the toe and heel on 1's, foot on 0's and cables/cuff on 2's. I also moved to an Addi Turbo and Magic Looped the cuff. I honestly felt like I was wrestling a porcupine when trying to cable at first. Moved to the Magic Loop and all was well. I'm glad I've got an arsenal of sock techniques!

Anyway I hate SSS, so I immediately cast on for the 2nd sock. :)


I use this crochet provisional cast on. The link is to a great video. It's SO much easier to do it this way (crocheting around the knitting needle) rather than crocheting a chain and picking up in the back of the loop. It essentially eliminates a step. Too cool.

I don't think I'll ever make this particular sock pattern again, but I do love watching the short rows do their magic. The toe and heel really make you feel clever, even if all you are doing is following directions!

For those that are curious, the yarn used for the cast on is STR Mediumweight in Cove Light. It's dark and cool.

This Sucks

No other way about it. I don't let my kids use that word. It's not nice, you know.
But I honestly can think of no other way to say this.

This SUCKS.

My wrist hurts and hurts bad. So I've put my knitting projects in the closet, because if I see them I pick them up. I've been knitting for almost 3 years and have never ever had my wrist hurt like this. I have to attribute it to knitting mass amounts of SS continental style. Now my left wrist is killing me. Wheee.

I've got a partial Rockin Sock Club sock staring at me and a lovely baby sweater, as well as a bag full of yarn to make a knit Hedwig. And me, not knitting. So what have I been doing? Reading knitting blogs, books and listening to knitting podcasts as well as stalking hand painted yarns across the internet. (YAY EUNNY!!)

Pathetic, I tell you.

No more knitting for an entire week in hopes that this gets better. And from now on I'm a 'throwin mama' unless I'm doing 2 handed fair-isle.

OH! That reminds me, C and I are going to Stitches Midwest! Dude! I'm taking 2 classes, Russian Style Continental (which will hopefully end this wrist problems) and a Finishing Class. It's this August and should be beyond fun. :)

So all of you enjoy your knitting for me!