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.