Ugh.

Today was a bad day, but I'm going to share with you my mantra to make it seem better:

"no day in which i have been given yarn can be all bad."

pictures sundayish. socks, new yarn, possibly weekend festivities.

Binge

A little while ago I showed you the lovely Debbie Bliss Cashmere Cotton that I got on sale at a litlle yarn shop in Broad Ripple. The ladies in the shop (nice ladies) are retiring, and the shop is going out of business. Therefore, there is a pretty ridiculous amount of yarn marked half or more off in the shop. I have known about this for upwards of a month, and have been responsibly and rationally waiting to the last week for a couple of reasons:

1. When you mark knitting down by half, a lot of the good stuff goes fast. I figure if all the things I want are gone, I will have little trouble controlling myself when I come to pick up the last dregs. (You have no idea how easily I can pass up novelty yarn--it's simply not my style.)

2. I was going to save and budget so that I didn't get out of control. I have discussed before that I don't have a lot of stash room, and therefore set myself a limit of only $40.


Now. Here's what really happened.

First, two balls of Regia sock yarn. Responsible, hard working, self-striping sock yarn. A completely economical purchase at half off.

Then, there was the Louisa Harding Kashimir DK. Simple black. This is for a gift which I have been planning to make, and will not reveal at this time. But here: look at how nice.

70% off! Couldn't be passed up. I still feel at this point that I was behaving in an entirely reasonable manner.

Then came the artful yarns jazz. It called to me. From afar. Sang out my name. I accept no responsibility.


I bought four. Half off, though. This is when I told myself to stop.



But I did not stop. Two cubbies down something else was calling to me. The Malabrigo.

I was powerless to resist. (The colorway? Dusty Olive. Gorgeous) I was down for the count. I had to get out, so I made my way to the cash register and waited in line...


Next to the Debbie Bliss. The chocolate colored merino DK came home with me.

That is it. And, honestly, I'm pretty sure it could have been much worse. There was a whole shelf of Noro I managed to avoid. And a lot of that Malabrigo's siblings who wanted to be mine as well. Oh, and some heavier weight sock yarn. And...



Hey. Let's just look at my summer top. And think no more on the yarn that might have been.

Etsy!

Knitting has been slower than usual because of the hand thing. Absent my ability to knit I took to wandering the craft store in search of something that didn't shoot lightning pains of death up my forearm.

Funnily enough, this was what I've been able to do while my knitting muscles (tendons, nerves, whatever is broken in there) are recovering.





Wire wrapped jewelry. Which, by the way is both frustrating and fun to work with as a medium. They're up on my etsy, waiting to catch someone's eye.

Happy Litha, everyone!

A Hint

The summer top is knit, but the making up is going just as slow as all the rest. In the meantime, here's a hint of what I've done
Short row shaping, for a better fit at the bust

Grafted shoulder seams, for a more streamlined fit.

Left to do: make up the side seams, pick up seed stitch edging.

I love...

..taking pictures that make me smile.

(Knitting this weekend. I promise.)

Linkage

The following, in no particular order are a some links I check daily. While I am knit-free you should amuse yourself with them. But make sure to come back, the wrist is healing and there will be pictures sometime next week.

Yarn Harlot--I kind of don't want to show you this because the harlot's blog is better than mine and you might begin to find me boring. Please forgive me, she writes about knitting full-time. I do not.

Slate--I love Today's Papers. Someone reads all the major national papers and summarizes the coverage with links to the stories. I don't have time to read all the papers, but this makes me feel smart.

I Can Has Cheezburger--look! Cats!

Pictures, but not progress

The summer top is half done. Simple, cotton, with short row shaping in the bust. I was excited to finish it and wear it. But alas:
It remains half finished. I had switched to a simple toe-up sock on Friday in anticipation of going to the movies and needing something that worked for in-the-dark knitting.

Isn't it pretty? It's not done either. My arm was hurting a bit early in the day, but it really kicked in while i was picking up the figure-eight toe cast on (there's a fair bit of finagling involved, and i'm afraid that's what put my bum wrist over the edge) and i had to sit through Mr Brooks with no knitting at all. I ate a lot of popcorn. Luckily it was a good movie.

See? There's the bum wrist, all wrapped up. The shooting pains have subsided, and now I have more of a general, dull aching. But the knitting makes it flare up again, and I'd rather not knit for a couple of weeks while my body sorts itself out than cause some more horrible injury that will put me out of action for longer. So i'm thinking of new things that I will amuse you with while I have no finished objects or wip updates. Today you get pictures. This weekend: linkfest!

A problem

Picture updates tomorrow on the summer top. You would probably have a whole summer top to look at, and a good deal of a new sock, but...listen, why don't you sit down a minute...I have stopped knitting for a while.


...yeah. take a deep breath. that was my reaction too. actually, my reaction was painful. shooting pains in my left wrist and arm. which is specifically why i've stopped knitting. it's also why i'm typing this mostly with one hand. so if it has a typo or two, cut me a break. i'm all gimped up.

i think picture taking is not out of reach. so look for those soon, but no knitting for a couple of days, at least. think healing thoughts for me and my bum wrist in the meantime.