Things Tendonitis Has Taught Me:

1. When the Doctor says no knitting, he says it for a reason.
2. Knitting while wearing the brace still counts as knitting, and will hurt you.
3. Just because you weren't specifically advised not to crochet doesn't mean you can.
4. Same goes for spinning.
5. And tatting.
6. And cross-stitch.
7. Even if you're wearing the brace while you do it.
8. Even if you only do it a little.
9. Doing laundry hurts.
10. That means it's your partner's turn to do it.
11. Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt to do the dishes.
12. Telling your partner this means it's your turn to do the dishes.
13. Playing with clay does not hurt you. (As long as someone else softens it up first)
14. When you bring special "humor the injured lady" tea to work, don't keep it in the break room. Other people will take it home.
15. Making a special glass jar decorated with clay that says the contents are specifically your tea may or may not stop people from stealing your tea. It will, however, make them assholes if they do.

Crap in a Hat!

Well, it's official. I knit my wrist off. Or rather, I knit myself into a fine case of tendonitis. I'm now having to maneuver the strange world of the right-handed, while my left is lovingly enclosed ina stiff brace (which, incidentally, gives me karate-chop action). The doc told me not to knit for at least a week, and to take it easy after that. I figure that "taking it easy" will mean only knitting heavy things (like the bobble top, which I only need to do the front from the armpits up to finish) while sitting down, and leaving those light, lacey scarves as my walking-to-class projects.

Basically, flexing my wrist? Hurts like a bitch, for three days now. Heat makes me feel better, cold makes the injury get better while I live all ache-y and irritable. No knitting for a week!

I Like Tea

It's true! I've always had a great love for the tea. When I was little, I made my dad a pot of tea every night for a summer in exchange for a new bike :) Now that I'm older, my tastes are getting more complex, and I know there's more to tea than I am aware of.

So basically, I'm trying to find out what different kinds of teas there are, and yes, I'm including herbal tisanes, infusions and whatnot in my definition of tea. I'd really like to try some rooibos and honeybush, they've got a nice-looking rooibos/rosebud tea over a World Market that I'd love to try. Better yet, what I'd like to do is get all of these crazy ingredients that people put in their tea blends (vanilla beans, rose petals, bits-o-orange) so I can try a little mix-and-match myself. I imagine myself five, ten years down the road, older and wiser, with not only a spice rack that would make buddah blush, but this crazy assortment of note-cards detailing failed and successful tea experiments, with the winners bound in tiny bundles, perfect for dropping into a single cup when company comes over. Yeah, I have weird daydreams, but wouldn't it be pretty? Tiny sachets of honeybush and rosehips with a hint of orange, or a strong pu-erh black and ginger. I also imagine a tiny, tiny window garden, teas and mints and herbs and maaaaaybe avocado and henna trees.

I'm horrible at keeping plants alive, you know. That's how I know this is all dreaming.

Zoom!

Oh man, working with all these lace and fingering weight yarns, I had forgotten how quickly Worsted can go! I've decided to do this hat (must think of a name) in the lavender Peace Fleece on 7s, and the beige Baby Silk on 3s (going a size down for the ribbings, of course). I can't decide for the finer one whether I want to do more zigzaggy lines between the cables, or more open space, or what. I'll swatch it and see what I like better. Swatching fixes everything.

Things are Going Well

They are! My yarn from handpaintedyarn.com arrived, lovely lovely cadmium yellow, so as soon as I finish this blasted be-bobbled (enbobbled?) top, I can get to work on that. Also, I've had a few ideas for hats, which, hopefully, YarnMonkey will find pleasing. If not, I'll still have new hats :) This may not sound like much to those of you (i.e. everyone but me and the cat) without a working knowledge of my stash, but this idea? Wonderful enough that I pulled out the Peace Fleece skeins in lavender and harvest orange - you know, the ones I was saving until the perfect pattern leapt into my hands and said "KNIT ME, WOMAN!" Yes, those skeins are a-talkin' now. I figure I'll write up the pattern for two different weights, worsted and fingering, to fit most of my stash. Also, this means that I'll not only get an awesome hat in both lavender and harvst orange, I'll also get one in sandy beige Baby Silk :) And it'll rock exactly that hard.

Ode to Sheep

You may or may not have seen the newest Spin-Off magazine already, and seeing it you may or may not have bought it. Perhaps you looked on the cover and said 'What the hell, sheep puppets? I don't need no stinkin' sheep puppets.'

Why, I bet you didn't even look inside, did you?

If you had, you would have seen that the Sheepies are at least twenty times cuter on the inside (and in person!) than they appear on the cover. Plus, fun colorwork! Even if (like me) you'd never done stranded colorwork before! And if it looks a little like a dyspeptic llama (what with the not doing stranded colorwork before), who cares? It's a puppet! It can as easily be a dyspeptic llama puppet as a sheepie.

So far it's been three days since I cast on for Pilvie (the grey and brown one on the cover) and he's done except for the face. Not 'done except for embroidering on features', but 'the knitting of the face is all that's left'. Ergo, he runs around all faceless, asking people if he can have their faces. So far, no takers. Ergo, I'll have to find him one myself :)

Gratuitous Cat Photos

It Is Done!

And it is GLORIOUS.


Which is to say, rather, that it will be glorious, once it's done. It has potential gloriousness? And knitting converts it into kinetic gloriosity? But then, you could knit from it multiple times - an infinite amount of times, if you wanted. Does that mean it has infinite potential glory?

See, this is the kind of shit that keeps me up at night.

Regardless, click for the full image if you like. The blue squares are stitches that will be done a la short-row, and the yellow is the border of plain knit stitches (actually garter, now that I think about it) to give the turning some extra stability. Obviously, this is the first time I've done something like this, but I'm feeling pretty hopefull. What do you think?

Have I Mentioned...

the super-awesome treat I'm getting for myself when I finish this top? It's yellow. It's gloriously, gloriously yellow.

Good Times

Well, the vacation has come and gone, and it was wonderful. Sweetie and I had a great time, his little cousins that went with us are awesome, and of course I love the rest of his family. We rode many a ride, got stuck on a few (one for half an hour, we had to walk down - I shit you not - 14 flights of stairs to get down), and all in all it was about as perfect a vacation as you could wish.

During much of the car trip (it's a good 13 hour drive either way) I had intended to work on my newest project - see, the owner of our LYS wants me to knit her a small top, and is paying me in twice the top's amount of yarn, a lovely 10 balls of SWTC's Pure, 100% soysilk - like I'm going to pass that up? Anyway, I had planned to get at least a quarter done on the drive, packed the yarn and needles and gague swatch, and what did I forget? The pattern, obviously XD It's coming along well now that I'm home, I only have to do an inch and a half a day to finish on time. It'll go faster, of course, once this 6.5" of 3x3 rib with absolutely pointless tiny bobbles are done.

God I hate bobbles. There is no point at which the phrase "Hey, you know what'd look good here? Bobbles!" is anything but drunk talk. They're like the vestigal tails of the knitting beast.

Anyway, schematic to come, since I like doing them, and folks like seeing 'em :) And now, back to work!