After nearly two years of what I've been told was tendonitis, my hands are working again. It's such a relief. There was a little while there that I thought my knitting days were over. An hour of knitting required two days of recovery. It was very discouraging and frustrating.
Now, I can knit, crochet, bead, and most important to my poor neglected blog, I can type again. So now I can make stuff and tell you about it.
Like this, The Van Ness Scarf. It is a quick crochet and comes out beautifully.
This one is made from Moda Dea Bamboo Wool in Chili Pepper Red, which is wonderful to work with. So smooth and soft and cuddly and warm and just made me so happy I had a hard time parting with this scarf. The only downside to this pattern is that there are a lot of ends to weave in and no way to avoid it. I changed the way I made the foundation shells because I am incapable of leaving well enough alone. The pattern called for starting with a magic loop and I'm not a fan so I ch 4 and joined that into a loop and followed the rest of the directions as written. It worked out fine. I made three of them for Christmas gifts.
Not being able to knit, crochet, bead etc. didn't stop me from enhancing my stash of knit, crochet, bead etc. supplies. I think it was a way to participate in knitting, crocheting, beading etc. so when I had the urge to do those things I would buy supplies or fondle the ones I had. The end result is that I'm set for sock yarn for the year and I have enough seed beads to weave a peyote car cozy. So, to alleviate some the guilt inherent in wanton stash enhancement I knit socks for a couple of people for Christmas. It worked out as free gifts because I already had the yarn and didn't need to spend any of the holiday budget on them. At least that is what I told myself. Of course I knit myself some socks too. It took months to make those Noro socks and a week to make these:
Sorry, I don't know what yarn I used. I was so excited to be able to do this again and do it so quickly that I made these:
Then I knit a pair for my mom for Christmas which I didn't photograph. They were standard crew socks knit from Regia 4-ply Mosiak Color in Bright Multi.
The weather here in the Hudson Valley is frigid. The temp tonight is going down to 13F. When I go out to clean the snow off my car I have handknit wool socks so my feet are happy. I have always loved socks. Many years ago Dennis gave me a gift certificate to the GAP and I spent the whole thing on socks. Being able to make them for myself gives me a charge I can't quite explain. Even so, I've decided to detour from sock knitting to make something nice for my hands. Just as soon as I'm done with these:
(Trekking XXL in the Spring colorway)
Love your socks! I love stripes and always buy striped socks, hose, or tights. Making them would be great but I don't have the attention span required. I know, I tried.
Glad to read that your hands are doing better now. When you can't do what you love it's hell.
Posted by: Bad Alice | January 11, 2010 at 11:32 PM