The Injured List

I've suffered my first knitting injury. Well, it's the first one if I don't count all the times I've strained my right eye because of inadequate lighting. Yes, I do know better, but sometimes the urge to knit doesn't wait for good lighting, right?

Anyway a few nights ago I began a project from Son of Stitch n' Bitch. My husband saw a fair isle hat that he likes because it has skulls on it. He likes it despite the fact that the pattern calls for fingering weight yarn and size 1 dpns. But really, how is he to know any better? So there I was, cross-legged in the chair late at night, next to the not-very-bright lamp, straining downward to see the tiny stitches in two shades of blue. These two particular shades of blue are different enough to produce a nice contrasting fair isle pattern, but are not so easy to tell apart at midnight when illuminated only by my inadequate lamp. I got about 4 rows into the pattern repeat before calling it quits. I should have known that something was awry when my whole body was so stiff that I struggled and stumbled while getting up from the chair. I went to bed thinking about how much more fun I'm having knitting my other current WIP, a blanket with worsted weight yarn on size 8 needles.

The next morning when I woke up and turned my head to look at the clock, all hell broke loose. Actually, it was the opposite of loose. I had the worst neck crick of my life. Not just an uncomfortable one, but seriously horrific (at least at the time.) It hurt to sit up. It hurt to bend over. It hurt to look anywhere but straight ahead. It hurt even after two days of 800 mg of Ibuprofen, heat, cold compress, massage. People thought I was ignoring them when they were standing by my side, because I couldn't turn my head to look at them. Geeeez...all this caused by knitting a hat. More than one person has had a good chuckle upon hearing exactly how I threw my neck out. All this makes me realize that my body isn't as resilient as it used to be.

In other news, many good things happened over Christmas break. Most notably, we found out that Hubby would get out of the Navy earlier than expected. Actually, his separation date has already come and gone. After five years of service, he is a civilian again. The movers will pack up our things in California next week and we will move into our new Little Rock apartment next weekend. Exciting stuff!

House envy and gift bows

This evening I went to a baby shower for a woman in my class. It was a party for couples, but the husbands may have actually outnumbered the wives. Anyway, the shower was at an amazing house out in the glitzy part of town and the decorations were so amazing that I wish I had taken pictures so that I could use them for future inspiration when we finally have a home of our own. The hostess had some Yankee candles that made the whole house smell like she had been baking goodies all day. My gift for the new baby included two hand-knit bibs, though unfortunately I forgot to take photos. But just to prove that there really has been knitting going on, here is a photo of (part of) an entrelac scarf that is sloooowly chugging along:

The yarn is Noro Silk Garden purchased from my fave LYS in San Diego when I last visited over fall break. At first doing the entrelac was a bit challenging, then it was hugely, stupendously fun, but now it is just ridiculously tedious. I am near the end of the 3rd skein of Noro, with another whole skein to go before the scarf is actually long enough to be a scarf. It is beginning to look like this poor guy won't be worn until next winter. Oh well. There are a few other FO's and WIP's that may get posted soon if my dear husband can be coerced into photographing them when he's here on Christmas leave.

In other crafting news, the ribbon coasters have been stalled because I can't seem to focus on any project for more than a day or two before all interest in the task flies right out the window and lands hard on some fascinating new project. For example, just earlier this evening I made a gift bow out of paper torn from an old Knit Picks catalog.


Please excuse the blur and poor lighting, but if you look just the right way you may see that this paper was formerly an advertisement for Knit Picks Options needles!

There are some other projects at the top of my to-do list- the likes of decorative hurricane lamps and homemade gift boxes- but the last exam of the semester is in less than a week. I gotta cool my jets on crafting and get focused on school for the next few days.

Coasters

This year I haven't had the time to knit Christmas gifts. Actually when my mom asked me several weeks ago if I was giving out handmade gifts again this year, I sort of laughed to myself at the idea setting aside hours and hours of knitting time amidst all the hours and hours of time that studying already uses up. Well, I started to think that there had to be some project out there that was quick enough to fit into my schedule, inexpensive enough to fit into my budget, and cool enough to serve as Christmas gifts. So I searched many craft websites and blogs until I found a hand-made coaster project made from curling ribbon.

The only supplies needed are:
Curling ribbon in several colors
Tape (preferably double-sided scotch tape)
Hot glue
Cork
Polyurethane

The process is very simple - wrap the ribbon around itself, forming a disc and adding new colors at will; coat with several layers of polyurethane and allow to harden; glue a piece of cork on the bottom and voila! Coasters! I have nearly finished 2 sets of four and will probably be making 2 more sets. Here's a pic of the first few that got made:



Cute, right? The big ones are approximately 4" in diameter. The little one was a test piece and never made it to full size, but is instead hanging as an ornament on my Christmas tree.

If only there were more hours in the day

A lot has happened in two months. A lot of school, really...not much else. Medical school is going well, but sometimes it seems like an 80 hour-a-week job.

I have been knitting some, I just haven't gotten around to blogging or updating Ravelry in a while. Adding to the problem is that my photographer/husband is still in a different state. But the good news is that he won't be away for much longer! He will be getting out of the Navy in the beginning of 2010 and moving back to Arkansas with me :)

The fact of the matter is that his impending return has me quite excited. Currently I am still living on campus, but will soon be looking for a new apartment to house the both of us (and hopefully, a pet as well.) I really can't wait to set up a home again with my own furniture instead of this dormitory-style stuff. I am hoping to be the owner of a new sewing machine soon, and I have all manner of ideas to decorate a new place. Placemats, pillow covers, shower curtains... never mind the fact that I don't know the first thing about sewing. No time like the present to learn.

There hasn't been loads of cooking going on, either. That didn't stop me from getting a new Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 slow cooker last week. It is absolutely divine next to my old 2 qt. slow cooker that quick functioning on "low" and now only functions at a level of "high" that must be similar to the blazes of hell. The nice, new slow cooker sits patiently in the kitchen waiting, along with all the sewing and knitting ideas in my head, for the day when gross anatomy doesn't thieve all of my time and energy.

I lurve music

The inherent problem in doing school work on a computer is that it's soooo easy to get distracted by the Interwebs. I try really hard to get interested in my powerpoint slides about complex lipid metabolism, but YouTube starts silently screaming for my attention. My will is sometimes weak...but I found a good song! It's called "Hotel Song" by Regina Spektor (not "Come Into My World.") All I can say is that my neighbors must either be absent, hard of hearing, or otherwise very patient with my sudden outbursts of sing-alongs.

WIP Scarf

So I knew med school would throw a lot of information my way. But I guess you can't really know what it's like until you're in the midst of it. The first test is on Monday and is going to cover about 35ish lectures. So I've been ridiculously busy studying but decided to take a break tonight to admire my Scrappy Scarf-in-progress. I haven't knit on it since school began, but I look at it and wrap it around my neck quite frequently. If only it would quit being 90 degrees outside and I had more impetus to finish it asap.




These pictures may not do the piece enough justice, but the fact of the matter (or my opinion of the matter) is that the woven effect is quite pleasurable to the eye.

Unoriginal

FO: Unoriginal

Pattern: Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Kraemer Yarns Mauch Chunky
Needles: size 11 dpns

Yowza. I like finishing projects so quickly. My heart is already set on the next project, which unbelievably isn't a hat. It's Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf. At first I didn't care much for the woven look of the scarf, but after giving it a little more thought the willy-nilly color changes would be mighty fun. And it would use up even more scrap yarn. And I could make fringe out of the yarn ends instead of weaving them in. These three pros trump the unfortunate con of doing linen stitch over 500 stitches per row. Sigh... if only grocery shopping and sewing up Husband's birthday gift didn't necessarily have higher priority..