It had been at least 25 years since I had knitted. Not that I was ever any amazing knitter, mind you, but still I had made my share of scarves back in the day (and 3/4 of a sweater). Nowadays the very best dishcloths are knitted or crocheted from cotton yarn and my mom has stocked my kitchen with a variety of them (Love them all - THANKS MOM!!) It was time for me to try my hand at making some as gifts so I dove in last Friday night with gusto - knitted 7 straight hours that day followed by 3 hours the following morning. The knitting groove came right back to me - I was on fire - it all seemed like a great idea until later that afternoon. . .
I was in agony - chronic pain from my shoulders through down to my fingertips. Normally, I can handle pain (I gave birth naturally to our second son. Quote from my MIL - "You didn't cuss - not even once!!") but this was different. I got a massage from one of those guys in a chair in the middle of the mall in hopes that it would help my pain and it worked!! He made my neck and back hurt as much if not more than my arms!! The evening involved painkillers, Bengay applied down the length of the inside of my arms and eventually the cold wrap on both arms from wrists to elbows leaving me with mummy arms! BTW - Did I mention that it was our anniversary weekend and I spoiled our "alone time" by breaking myself??!!
Public Service Announcement - If I can keep even one knitter from suffering these same injuries and depriving their husband of an enjoyable kidfree weekend than the sharing of my tale of woe will be worth it. . . Sunday I limited myself to 30 minute stretches of knitting followed by 30 minutes of rest. I am now fully recovered but itching to start knitting again - I will try to use some balance this time around. . . LOL!!
Linking to Creative Every Day
Did you know that Interweave has announced a blog contest?? It was serendipitous that I had posted about my return to knitting but you should seriously think about posting about your knitting project on your blog! You could win up to $200 worth of merchandise from their amazing online store. If I were to win I'd indulge in some fabulous mixed-media goodies including: Inktense Pencils, Inktense Blocks and classes like Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's All About Faces and Jane Davenport's The Whimsical Face. Drawing girls makes me happy and Interweave has gobs of merchandise to facilitate that love!
If you enter leave me a comment - I'd love to see your project!
10 comments:
knitting can be addictive!! one winter, I knitted everyone I knew scarves!
your knitting looks so neat and clean, I love it! I know the feeling of that pain too, I think I have arthritis coming my way :/
Welcome back to knitting! A knitting marathon was probably not a good idea.
Your knitting is really good, nice and even.
Wow, Seven straight hours and then another three!! No wonder your arms hurt! . I had an aunt who was always knitting. She tucked the needles under her arms and made a really quick clicking noise with them so fast you could literally watch the knitting grow!
and now you have 2 beautiful dishcloths! love your pattern!
it is addicting, isn't it?! i like crocheting because it goes faster, but knitting is prettier, imo.
I used to be addicted to crocheting until my hands began complaining. I hope your hubby forgave you and you get another kidfree weekend soon.
Oh, I so love your story about returning to knitting. It did give me a laugh. But it is so easy to laugh when you look back on something but the pain must have been awful.
I also love my knitting but have very little time for it as my sewing and quilting comes first. Found you through Love Knitting on Facebook :)
I'll bet my bottom dollar that you use the throw method of knitting rather than the knitpick method! I used to be a thrower and used to have the same pain you speak of. Once I transitioned to knit pick style, all my pain went away and I can knit literally for 6 hours and not have a speck of pain at all!!!!
I've gotten adept at knitting in my sleep when I just don't want to quit but can't seem to stay awake any longer.
Is this your own pattern? Is it posted on your blog somewhere? It's beautiful.
I love this post! I have 3 different kinds of Arthritis and I love to knit. There are so many times I am just embarrassed to say that I hurt myself knitting!
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