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It's Like Christmas!

Now I know many people cringe when others start talking about Christmas.  Yes, it is 4 months and 7 days away, but for the knitter, this is very important.  We must start knitting soon, or risk not finishing all of our presents.  I will not have a repeat of last year when my brother's scarf was still damp when I wrapped it for him. So, I've ordered some of my "Christmas Yarn" and it arrived Friday.

I also received my replacement needles.

I was able to start again on the "Project That Shall Not Be Named" which is excellent!

Plus, my other yarn order was delivered Frinday evening, as well...

It really is like Christmas!  I love getting things in the mail.  It's so much fun!  That green yarn is Caron Simply Soft worsted weight yarn, and the white is a beautiful sequined lace weight from Patons.

I love them all, and I've already gotten started on one of the projects.

This is the first repeat of the pattern Tea Time Afghan by Carole Prior in the Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans.  It's a lovely pattern and very quick to knit up.  I like all of the patterns in the book and this is actually the first pattern.  I would very much like to work my way through all 24 of them.

So far, I'm on track, how about you?

Happy Knitting!

Happy Birthday To...

Me!  That's right, it's my birthday today.  What are my plans, you ask?  (Though I'm sure you really aren't asking that.)  Well, I'll tell ya.  I plan to make another batch of Pumpkin Treats for my Sierra, have lunch with Mum, maybe do a little shopping and I'm thinking about watching some of my favorite movies.  Then to finish out the day, go to karaoke and have fun with some of my friends and family.  I think that sounds like a pretty awesome day.

May everyone have a "Super-Fantastic-Awesome" Day!

My Favorite Harlot

I just wanted to give a shout out to Stephanie, my favorite Harlot.  She has gone above and beyond with her "Very Long Bike Ride."  And though we've never met, I know for a fact that she is a wonderful and kind person.  Way to go Stephanie, I'm glad you made it home and that you didn't fall off your bike. :)

Multiple Projects...

I have recently found the benefit of working on multiple projects at one time.  I love the "Project That Shall Not Be Named", but when it starts taking a half hour to finish one row because it's so long, it does begin to get boring.  *Gasp!* you say?  "Knitting should never be boring!"  I know!  But sometimes, there's just nothing that can be done about it.  It also feels like you're not really accomplishing anything.  I mean a whole freaking hour of knitting and you only have 2 rows to show for it.  What can you do about it?  At least with multiple projects, I can continue knitting, while switching them around to help alleviate the boredom.  So here's to multiple projects in the works!

Also...I was a productive knitter this morning.  I finished ten rows on a shawl that I started last night and enjoyed a nice cup of tea before heading in to the office.

I have the most awesome Mum!

My mum just gave me an early birthday present tonight!  She gave me Lion Brand stress relief gloves and the Early Fall 2012 Vogue Knitting Magazine!  Isn't she the best?  I love you Mom!

Side project

So yesterday, I mentioned beginning a side project while I waited for my hand to heal and for my new needles to arrive.  Well, here it is...

It seems to be turning out ok.  We'll have to see how it goes.

Bubba

Occasionally, I give Thor (AKA Bubba) some scrap yarn to play with to keep him out of my stash.

He does like to play with the yarn.  It's one of the few things, aside from food, that will get him excited. 

Poor fat Bubba, a few minutes of play and he's out for the count.

Snoring away...any minute now, his tongue will fall out...

If it isn't one thing, it's another

Two weeks ago I started to have a little bit of random pain in my left (non-dominant) hand.  I had no idea what was causing it, but I thought it might be the fact that I had been working on this latest project for so long-and it is starting to get heavy and a bit hard to move along on my circulars-so I set it down for most of that week, not picking it up again until last Saturday.  I don't even get two and a half rows in when my cord breaks.  WTF!  I mean, really, I was hoping to get it done by this weekend so that I could get it washed, blocked and ready to go.  I still have plenty of time, but I didn't what to have to wait until the last minute like I did with my brother's scarf. If that wasn't enough, by that evening, I couldn't put any weight on my left hand.  It hurt so much that I could not do anything with it.  I couldn't knit, wash dishes (big loss there, right?), I even had trouble typing, and I have an office job.  I decided it might be a good idea to immobilize it for a few days with an old brace we had and switch knitting projects.  Well, it's not like I could work on my "secret" project anyway, my circulars broke.  Anyway, the reason I'm sharing this with you I figured out how I hurt myself and I want to post it as a sort of warning.  My stitches never did move easily along on my circulars and as the project got bigger and heavier, it became more and more difficult to move them along as I knit.  The force I was having to use to move the stitches caused me to strain either a muscle or tendon in my hand.  Then add in the repetitive motion, and it became a much bigger problem than it needed to be.  So please, to anyone who reads this, be careful.  Pay attention to your body language, if it hurts, stop.  This applies to most everything we do.  Even exercise, though yes, there is supposed to be a certain amount of pain with that, but always, always, always, pay attention to what your body is telling you.

Oh, and as a side note, this is the project I switched to while waiting for my new circulars to be delivered.  It is from Staci at verypink.com.  As it is so small, it hasn't added to any of the pain in my hand and I think it is helping me to work my left hand without causing any new damage.