Ouch

Yesterday was moving day at work. While looking for empty boxes, I wrestled with a box of paper and managed to pinch a nerve in my lower back. You know the feeling: shooting pains from hip to ankle. It's been a while since I did something like this, but I know the routine: lots of Advil, some stretching, and application of pressure to the resulting knots in my gluteus maximus. A difficult spot to reach but I'm sure my sweetie will help out tonight.

Several years ago, I was flying somewhere (to Tucson?) At one point, a woman several rows in front of me held her knitting up over her head to examine her handiwork. I could see each perfect stitch from where I sat, and I was consumed with jealousy. How did she do that? My stitches tend to look rather haphazard initially (thank god for blocking), and we won't even discuss gauge or laddering between DPNs. Although my knitting continues to improve, and I no longer approach the end of each project with dread (will it look okay? will it fit? will it resemble something other than a bird's nest of yarn?), I still wish most fervently that my handiwork were better.

But I keep trying. Here is a mitten from the Reynolds Lopi Icelandic wool:



If it looks kinda long and skinny, that is because it is. I read in The Knitter's Book of Yarn that Icelandic wool has little elasticity, and Clara Parkes is right; it was like knitting with baling twine, just as stiff and just as coarse. I'm using a free pattern from Lion Brand called "Starter Mittens" but I ribbed the cuff. The pattern says the mittens will fit an adult, but an adult what? I have large hands and on US6 needles, my gauge is a little tight (so what else is new?), and this mitten fits my hand snugly. The thumb is perfect but the overall length is a tad long. In fact, I may undo the end and remove a few rows. Icelandic wool is a bit too scratchy for next-to-the-skin wear, but I expect it to wear well, so these mittens will become my working pair, for shoveling snow, etc.

I finished the garish Magic Socks.



The colorway is "Jelly Bean Stripe" although I didn't quite get the stripes lined up. These look kind of odd but they fit me well (surprise!) In fact, I am wearing them right now. The yarn is sport weight and I used US3 needles, so they went fairly quickly. (From what I understand, LB has discontinued Magic Stripes, but it looks like they still have a couple of colors, including this one, listed on their website.)

And here is the official start of the red-red-red sweater:



After a certain amount of dinking (and tinking) around, I think I am settled on the sleeves at least, at last. I knit the first four rows on straight needles, then started knitting in the round, so there is a little notch in the cuff, allowing the option of rolling the cuff up. I could not face acres of stockinette, so I added the lace pattern "lace diagonal" as described in The Knitting Stitche Bible, just to remind me that I am counting-impaired.