Month: February 2018

Close Call

My Ravellenics project was going along as easily as a curler’s stone on ice right up until last week.  Apparently spending a long time on the phone at work with my head cocked at an angle holding my phone while clicking through hundreds of photos was a bad idea.  I got off the phone and had very little strength in my right hand with a lot of pain.  I stretched.  I gave myself a little shoulder rub.  I stretched some more.  It helped, but only a little.

It was a strong reminder of how important proper posture and ergonomics are.  In thinking back to a class I took with Carson Demers in August, I knew I needed to think through what I should change about my knitting habits and techniques.

  1.  Be seated properly.  Feet on the floor with legs at a 90 degree angle.  This is next to impossible in our living room with the current configuration, but relatively speaking I don’t spend all that much time there.  It is very possible to do at the desk I spend so much time at.  I have to remind myself to sit up straight!
  2. Stretch.  This list of hand exercises for knitters is golden.
  3. Take breaks often.  This not only means get up and walk around, but it also means drink a glass of water.  It’s easy to forget that water is the natural lubricant in our bodies.
  4. Change it up.  I know it is not good for my body to work exclusively on one project at a time.  It’s always better if I have one or two projects that I can alternate with.  Generally this is one fingering weight project and one project with worsted or heavier weight, or one with a significantly looser gauge.  This alternating of projects gives my hands a break.
  5. Use good tools.  I’m a big believer in using good tools when it comes to knitting.  I use good needles and am picky when it comes to the quality of the yarn I use.  In this case, I was using both good needles and good yarn and they were suited for each other.  But you see, the mouse I was clicking with was not such high quality.  I also wasn’t using the soft gel pad that I often put under my wrist to remind myself to lift up my hand as I’m click clicking away at photos.

Obviously, every knitter is different and your mileage may vary.  However, I find reminding myself of these things is very helpful.  And if you ever have the opportunity to take a Carson Demers class, I highly recommend it.  He’s smart and funny and knows his stuff.

My Ravellenics project may not get done as quickly as I would like, but I continue to make progress on it.  The sleeves are finished and I’m working on the ribbing on the bottom of the sweater.  I’m debating if the inside of my pockets should be a contrasting color, so I’m holding off on those for a bit.  To change things up I’m also doing a baby hat here and there in worsted weight.  See?  I’m actually taking my own advice!

 

 

Optimistically Speaking

Every year my Optimist Club does a hat knitting challenge.  It started many years ago when I had a hair-brained scheme  to get the (mostly) older men in my Optimist Club to do a project for the local hospitals.  I thought I could teach them to knit and they could knit a few hats here and there for the local Birth Centers.  Little did I know that they would discover knitting looms and that this annual challenge would go on for YEARS.  I don’t know how many years it’s been… probably around 10-11 years if I had to guess.

We set ourselves up into 2 teams.  Sometimes we pick up knitters from across the country who help us knit hats.  Everyone in the local club uses the looms with bulky yarn.  They think it’s hysterical that they can knit a hat on a loom faster than I can knit on 2 needles.  Everyone considers me a “ringer” to have on their team, even though I do not knit anywhere near the highest number of hats.  Oh, and the winning team?  They generally get chocolate.  And bragging rights.  It’s a pretty good deal.

This year the contest is running from February 6 – March 20, so there is plenty of time to get in on the knitting action if you’d like to play along.  If you’re a local knitter, stop on by the Incline Station in Duluth on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month.  If you’re non-local and want to play, just leave me a message and we can figure out how to get the hats where they need to go.  Or knit for your local hospital, that’s cool too!

Hats can be any size to fit micro-preemie through newborn.  Hats that are slightly larger than newborn tend to be given to the big sisters and big brothers of the new arrivals.  The local hospitals definitely appreciate these hats!

So far I’ve finished 3 hats during the contest.  that’s the short stack of hats in the photo above.  I kind of like having a stack of knitted hats sitting on my end table just waiting to have more hats added to it.  I have one or two more that I should be able to finish this evening…. but then the hat knitting will slow down considerably.  See, I’ve got Olympic-sized knitting to do.  I’m planning on knitting a Clayoquot Cardigan from Tin Can Knits during the Olympic Games.  If you haven’t joined a team for the Ravellenics yet, you totally should.  You’re only competing against yourself and it’s kind of fun to see just how far you can get.  So come on, jump into the deep end of the pool snowdrift with us!