(That's my cello journal underneath it.)
It's the Yarn Harlot's One-Row pattern, which I've avoided trying for a long time. The pattern repeats over four stitches on every row. It sounds like the sort of pattern that would cause one to gouge one's eyes out with one's knitting needles out of sheer boredom. However, there's just enough variety in the pattern that before you know it, you've used up a whole skein of yarn and you're scrabbling to find another to add to it and keep going (that's the second skein in the photo). This will end up being about six feet long.
The yarn is Cascade's Venezia Worsted (merino wool and silk). No color name - Cascade only gives each color a number. This is 126. It's a smooth and soft yarn, so the stitch definition really pops out.
I'm also close to finishing a sixteen-button cardigan. It's a clever pattern - you knit the bottom of the body up to where the armholes start, then you put those stitches on a holder and knit the sleeves as flat pieces, then join all three pieces together, alternating blocks of stitches (front left panel stitches, left sleeve stitches, back panel stitches, right sleeve stitches, right front panel stitches) all on one needle, and knit the yoke across them all. So the only seaming to do is on the sleeves, from the bottom of the armhole down to the cuff. Love that!
I haven't picked out the buttons yet, which is just as well because I've run out of yarn twice for this thing, despite having done the math and gauge swatching ahead of time to make sure I had enough yardage, and of course, the yarn has been discontinued. I found someone on ravelry who had some left over, and she very kindly sent it to me. I have enough to finish the yoke, but I still have the button band and the buttonhole band to do, plus sew up the sleeves. Several people on ravelry who have used this yarn have commented that it seems like there's less yardage in the skein than is indicated on the label and that although it's listed as worsted weight yarn, it's a bit on the light side or more like a DK weight, so you'd end up using more of this yarn in a pattern calling for worsted weight yarn. It's irritating whatever the reason is.
I found two more people who have some of this yarn left over, and I've contacted them about a buy or trade. I was lucky the first time on ravelry in the hunt for more of this yarn because what the kind knitter sent me was a virtually identical match, despite being from a different dye lot. From the pictures, these other two potential sellers/donors also have a close match, but you never can tell from just pictures on the computer screen.
In other news, I'm still keeping up with morning pages and cello practice, although I've hit a snag in the latter. Lately, I can't do more than ten to fifteen minutes of practicing before my left hand really starts to ache. I have a mysterious lump on the top of my left wrist, and it seems like that's where the pain emanates from, both going up into my hand and down into my arm. I had this lump before I started playing the cello, and I only had occasional wrist pain, although lengthy crochet sessions would really do it in. Trust me to pick a new hobby that is exactly calculated to make things worse.
So instead of practicing straight through for thirty minutes to an hour at a time, I've switched to several shorts bursts of practice each day. Not ideal, and really screws up trying to make much progress musically, but do-able for the time being. Karen-the-acupuncturist thinks it might be a neuroma, and gottagopractice suggested a ganglion cyst. I've got a doctor's appointment on the 25th to get it checked out, which I suspect will lead to x-rays and referral to a hand specialist for official diagnosis. If it is a neuroma or a cyst, the main treatments are cortisone shots in the wrist and/or aspiration (eeewwww either way!) for pain management. Karen says there are other things I could try first before having to resort to that.
Of course, the easy thing to do would be to give up cello playing and knitting and typing.
But I'm not going to. So there, lump-on-wrist. I don't give in that easily.
4 comments:
My vote would be a ganglion cyst. Does it transilluminate? Let us know the final diagnosis - maybe we could start a pool.
Also, that nameless green is one of my favorite colors, and that's a pretty spiffy cello journal.
Oooh, that's a thought. The aspiration sounds just as eeewww. I have a non-bulky hand brace that I've been wearing a lot. It seems to help.
It's so nice to knit with the bright green yarn, especially on a yucky rainy day like today.
The journal is by Paperchase. I get them at Borders. The covers are linen. I love writing in them, and I've got my boss hooked on them as well.
I had that exact same lump on my left wrist in High School - I heard someone call it "cellists' node". It comes from pinching the fingerboard between your thumb and fingers. Mine went away when I learned to simply let my arm weight push down the strings via my fingers - you should be able to let the thumb float in mid-air (or only touch it to the back of the fingerboard very lightly).
Hit me up via email (gordon.withers@gmail.com) if you want a more detailed explanation - or maybe I'll see you at one of Emily's events in March!
- Gordon
Also, be careful on the aspiration thing - my doctor at the time tried to do that and not only was it intensely painful, it was completely ineffective.
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