O is for 'Oh no!'

I seem to be experiencing my first ever bout of RSI which has meant that the sock knitting A-Z challenge has rather ground to a halt. I have been having some aches in my wrists and hands at work (I do a lot of keyboard and mouse-work) but of course, never did anything about it. Anyway things got much worse last week although fortunately I had a few days off work and was able to rest.
My 2.5mm circular needles though were agony to use and so I had to spend a day or two Not Knitting - horror. I did some physio exercises and things settled down a little but anything smaller than dk weight yarn on 4mm needles isn't good at the moment.
I am just doing a little every now and again but have decided to stop the A-Z challenge for now. I will still carry on at my own pace later in the year - after all I have more sock patterns queued now than I did when I started!

The power of monogamy

In a strictly knitting sense of course.

I've always been a bit of a serial caster-on'er with no less than 3 or 4 projects on the go at any one time. But this past 2 weeks has seen me working on a single solitary project, finishing it and then moving on to another - strange behaviour.

I have to say though, that I have been mightily impressed by the speed at which I can knock out a finished object when my knitting time isn't divided between several projects. The baby blanket below was knit in an amazing 5 days. Granted, it is knit in aran weight yarn (Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran) and I omitted the time-consuming Honeycomb stitch that the pattern suggests (replacing it with simple garter stitch) but I was genuinely surprised by how quickly the thing flew off the needles.

Thrilled with my success I quickly cast on for an Olearia and this again was finished in a matter of days

Again, admittedly I knit the smallest, newborn size but even so the power of monogamy was impressive.

I'm not sure how long this phase of mine will last - probably until my friend finally has her baby and I cast on for some huge sweater project for me (only to run out of steam and start something new - my usual modus operandi). But for now I am embracing the monogamy!

Something new

There is nothing like catching sight of a new pattern to wake up a knitters mojo. At the weekend I caught sight of this little beauty - Widdershins - and it was love at first sight. I have some yarn that would be perfect, some Manos Serena in a lovely blue-green colourway and I downloaded the pattern faster than you could say 'cast-on'.

My deal with myself though is that I must turn the heel on my second Monkey sock before I cast on for it - so three guesses what I'll be doing with my lunch hour today.

Mojo

Apologies for the long absence, but in truth I am in a bit of a knitting slump at the moment and I didn't want to post anything too downbeat. The sock knitting proceeds as usual - currently on M for Monkey but to be perfectly honest the sock knitting enthusiasm is starting to fade a little. It isn't that I'm not enjoying knitting the socks but it is more the fact that I don't have time to knit anything else. I can manage the odd small baby garment or finishing up the odd WIP languishing in a cupboard. But my Ravelry queue is getting longer as I find myself spending many frustrating hours looking at all the projects I want to make but don't have the time.

Cria
Skelf
... in fact anything from Ysolda's new book

Several baby blankets for friends who all seem to be due at the same time

I am also toying with the idea of a few designs of my own but don't really have the time to experiment and play. Consequently my head is whirling with lots of knitting ideas, mentally rummaging through my stash and matching yarn to potential projects - it's a bit like fantasy knitting I suppose. Either way, it's tiring and faintly depressing.

Anyway - sorry to whine. Maybe I should take myself off and do something small and fun, like a few crocheted granny squares, or some crocheted flowers. Or maybe I should just step away from the knitting for a day...drastic measures.

The moral of the story

Off to work for a busy 4hr's of meetings yesterday I umm'd and ahh'd about whether to take my knitting bag with me. "I won't have any time" said the rational part of my brain". "Take it anyway, said my inner Knitter". And boy, am I glad I did.

5 hours spent sat on the A120 behind a jacknifed lorry!

I must have been the calmest person on that piece of road. I had food (my packed lunch) and water - although I shared some with the family behind me who had two small children. I had coffee and most importantly, my knitting. I started out working on a dishcloth but when it became apparent that we were in for the long haul, I cracked out my Whipporwill Shawl that I am making in the beautiful Manos Serena.

I knit away to my hearts content and got well over 20 rows done (and at 300-plus stitches, these are not short rows), safe in the knowledge that all I was missing was some boring meetings and being profundly grateful that I hadn't joined the road 30 seconds earlier and had avoided being caught up in the whole awful mess.

The downside - toilet arrangements. How does a lady relieve herself when all that is at the side of the road is a bare field and an army off truckers watching on? Not a tree in site. I'll spare you the details.

But the moral of the story is to always take your knitting, and buy a She-wee.

Tempus Fugit

Crikey - where does the time go? Half-term has whizzed by in a blur. Much fun has been had by all but sadly with very little to show on the knitting front.

A visit to the in-laws near Bath was great fun but my choice of holiday/away knitting was a very poor one. I decided to cast on for my L socks - the Lohengrin pattern in some lovely new yarn by Yarnscape - Footsie HT. The pattern is beautiful but has many twisted stitches and requires full concentration at all times. Not what you need when supervising two small boys in a house full of delicate ornaments and art-work.

After that, followed a short family break in the country so all in all, I came back with a grand total of 10 rows of the chart done on the first sock (plus an inch or so of ribbing). I will post a photo when there is a more respectable amount although I am sensing that these are going to be the sort of longer term project that I can pick up whenever I have some real quiet time (probably about once a week the way things are going at the moment).

Lilac cloud

P5220517
Originally uploaded by l.tilbrook
Baby knitting seems to be a bit like buses - nothing for ages then three come along at once.
This is another cute free pattern that I came across on Ravelry. I found some Stylecraft Luxury Merino dk in my stash which worked really well with the pattern and gave a nice drape. The pattern does say this will fit a 1-2 yr old and it is a bit on the large side for a newborn baby but heck - she will grow into it.
Having said that, it was such a fun, quick project that I'm thinking I might make one in 4ply yarn and go for a smaller size.