For those of you who aren't knitters, I have "Just One More Row" syndrome/disease. That means, when I'm on a roll and I know I should stop, I don't. I finish my row and then I start another row ... or at least I'm very tempted to start another row. And, if I start another row, then I need to finish that row and am (again) tempted to start yet another row.
Well, because of my disease (I like to think of it as a disease as diseases are often curable or manageable at best), I now have tendonitis in my right wrist. :( It started back in December 2013. First, I was in denial, thinking that I must have hit my wrist on something or lifted my (often heavy) bag funky or something ... I mean knitting isn't dangerous or anything, right? Wrong! Because I was finally getting the hang of knitting and started to really enjoy the process (as well as the progress), I had Just One More Row disease bad! I would often stay up late for "just one more row" ... the next thing I knew, the late evening news was over and I should have gone to bed at least an hour or more ago! :P
So, I finally conceded (mainly because my wrist got so sore). I was going on vacation anyways (for the holidays) so, that should help, right? My knitting was getting too big to take with me on my trip so, no knitting for me for two weeks. :(
Did it help??
Sadly, no. It got even worse on the trip and I wasn't even knitting! That royally sucked. :( It was bad enough that I was forced to see my doctor who confirmed that I did have tendonitis and I'd have to lay off knitting for good for at least a month (i.e. No knitting and take some ibuprofen to help with the inflammation). That meant that I needed to lay off knitting for the rest of January.
Well, let me say, ibuprofen was a god send. I took it religiously for a week and half and my wrist almost felt brand new. I knew that it wasn't quite back to normal yet because I noticed that my range of wrist motion wasn't like how it used to be as it still hurt when I did certain things (like putting on my bra - who knew that you needed full range of motion to do a simple thing like that?! :P).
In short, I waited the month out and February finally rolled around. I started knitting again (*yay!*) ... just slowly. Here's what else I did:
- Bought new (longer) circular interchangeable knitting needles (Chiaogoo's!! (that's the brand) I love it!! So light and smooth). This has helped to keep all the weight of my shawl in my lap.
- Had a mini lesson/revelation at my new favorite yarn store (Yarn Story - Thanks, Kimberly for the great advice and the needles - loving it!!!). Kimberly taught me a different knitting technique and more importantly, helped me realize that I was clutching my needles (i.e. need to relax more - maybe have a drink (drinks?) while I knit! :P) and that with variation (of how I knit), I could ease my wrist tension by simply knitting a bit differently.
- Started only knitting one (1) row a day (hey, I was happy I could simply start knitting and not hurting! :P).
- MAJOR REALIZATION: read other people's blogs about wrist pain + knitting and conceded - if I was going to continue knitting, I couldn't do marathon knitting sessions anymore; no more coming home from work, eating dinner, doing chores, taking a shower and knitting for the next three hours until bedtime (or beyond). I needed to take breaks and more importantly, I needed to control the disease. :P
So, now I try to knit during my lunch breaks (that often doesn't happen but I try) and I only knit three (yes, count 'em 3) rows at a time before I take a 15-30 minute break; three rows = 30 minutes for me (at least with my current shawl project). And, I wear a wrist brace at night and do some (very) light wrist exercises in the morning and afternoon. It's helped a lot and have saved me from myself (as well as preserved my ability to explore knitting more!). :)
Ok ... so I lied ... this was an epic blog (again) but, hey! I'm still catching up ;) ... one day (soon? ok - not sure about that), it'll be short/shorter (I hope)! :P
Hi, everyone. :) This is my first post on my amimono no monogatari so, I have some catching up to do! :P
I actually started "thinking" about knitting the year my grandma died. She was an avid knitter and always made the cutest sweaters for herself (and boring but practical vests and sweaters for my grandpa). Why (do you ask) did I not have my grandma teach me how to knit? Well, no matter how hard (and often!) I tried to cajole her into teaching me how to knit, she never had to patience for it. :P She often said that it would be easier for her to make me something than to teach me how to do it. :P So, I was stuck watching her knit and not really understanding how she managed to make a ball of yarn into one of her cute sweaters. :(
So about a year or so after her death, I actually took the plunge and started knitting (or at least vaguely trying to). I had managed to inherit all her leftover yarn (yes, yarn as in some leftover (very small) skein she had - Grandma wasn't much of a stasher) and one metal circular needle (she had other needles but, as she got older, she had given them away before I could ask for it - bummer!). I fumbled (and mumbled) my way into my first swatch and this is what it looked like:
It was a horrid experience and while I managed to make "something", it was a struggle as I "tried" to knit and purl my way through this swatch. It took me nearly two+ (yes, 2!!) years to make this 28 cm (at it's "extreme" widest) x 19 cm swatch.
It was a struggle for me to learn how to cast on then figure out how to start my next row much less figure out which stitch was a knit stitch and a purl stitch. In short, while I borrowed (practically) every knitting book from my local library, perused through every knitting book I could get my hands on at my local bookstore, and watched some youtube videos, I struggled to figure out if knitting would be for me or not. This little swatch was picked up, stared at (a lot!), worked on in bits and pieces and often forgotten as I wondered if it was worth the effort and time I took to work on this (at the time) Herculean project.
So (you ask), what turned you around?
Well, I had recently transferred (like six months ago) to another job and met Ariana. The office that I work in can get quite chilly, I often wear a scarf with a balloon clip (don't ask - it's actually an inside joke from my old office) to hold it together. Short story short, Ariana often teased me about my clip, saying that I should just get a shawl pin. Somehow, some way, I managed to find out she was a knitter. So, I asked her if she could teach me how to knit. After a few hands-on knitting lunches, I was on my way to finishing this little swatch.
Throughout this time, I managed to amass a stash (and not of my own doing). For some reason or another, various family members had given me their bits and pieces of their stash as they decided to turn to other crafts/projects. So, after I finished my first swatch, I decided that I wanted to get rid of my stash by using it to make a shawl. My hopes for my shawl was to use it as a practice piece - to ensure I really understood how to knit and purl (and knowing when I was doing which stitch) as well as how to "read" my stitches. So, I picked a length (I wanted a really wide shawl) and a pattern: seed stitch to get in my knits and purls. Here's what I've done (so far) (yes, my inadvertent stash is pretty big):
The initial color, mint, was really my first hurdle but I learned a lot from it. I learned which stitch was a knit vs a purl stitch; how to fix my mistakes (and dropped stitches) and how to weave in my (enormously long) tail (and why one needs to have a tail just long enough - not too short, not too long). The next color (christmas green) was great! :) I speedily whipped out row after row and my stitches became more even ... I was showing great progress! :) I continued on to the other colors, learning how to add on a new color, how to change needle sizes as I changed yarn type, and getting better at weaving in my ends. Then I hit Black. I will never ever knit a whole black object. Black is evil - it's the worst color one can even think of ever using ... Struggling with knitting was back! :(
I had such a hard time seeing which stitch I was doing if I ceased to pay attention to which stitch I was actually doing and reading my stitches (especially at night) became impossible (it was vaguely possible in full daylight). The "stash" of black was a very small ball of yarn but, I began wondering if it was worth the time to continue on ... It was such a small ball but, it was sooooo hard! :( I wanted to continue on but every time I saw that little black ball, I cringed. It was time to take a break from my shawl.
Since my stash was so big, I decided to make a water bottle holder (I needed one anyways). So began my next project. Ariana helped me get started, came up with a "simple" bottom up pattern for me and set me off. I choose a Red Heart yarn and began my adventure in making my first rounds. I learned how to use DPNs but struggled with my project. The yarn wasn't very elastic, I was using some borrowed caspian DPNs that wasn't very flexible and since Ariana started me out (she's a very tight knitter), I struggled to make the next row. I persevered on and as it grew to a weird shape, I hoped I could salvage it (somehow). But, I knew it was doomed when one of my co-workers looked at it one day and asked if it was either some kind of gigantic flower or a pot holder! :P This is how it came out:
I knew I had to start over. I talked it over with Ariana, told her of my struggles and started over. This time, Ariana help me come up with a top-down pattern and I started myself off. This is how it came out:
Success!! I learned a lot from this project. I learned how ribbing worked, how to close up the bottom, how to add on a strap and even how to make a button hole! :) *Yay!!!* Knitting isn't so bad and even useful! :) I was on my way to becoming a full fledged knitter! :)
This was such a success that my hubby kept eyeing out my bottle holder and even attempted to steal my first completed project for his own use! :P So, as I continued to struggle with finishing up the black portion of my shawl, I decided that I could "whip out" a bottle holder for him. Over the course of a weekend, here's what I did:
Not too shabby, huh? :P
Ok, that's a wrap for my first post. I know it was very, very long, but, hey! It was my saga and adventure to actually getting to this amimono no monogatari! :) Don't worry, the next post will be much shorter! I promise! :D
