Injured, dammit

I managed to take a small chunk out of my left thumb a couple of days ago, and it's still just a little too uncomfortable to lever knit because of the way the stitches are fed off the left needle. I'll be back to it as soon as I can, promise. I tried tonight, and I managed to knit 1 row before I had to put it aside.

The funny thing is, if it were my right thumb, working would be more difficult, but lever knitting would be easy, since the right thumb mostly rests. But since it's the left thumb, I can work with no difficulty; I just can't work on my current practice. 

Fuck a duck. At least it was a tasty apple (what I was cutting up when I injured myself). 

Lever knitting practice day 16

Another 3 inches tonight. Switched the end of the work that I start the tapes measure at just for a change of pace. I have 36 grams of the skein left, should finish up in the next couple of days.

Lever knitting practice day 15

Hit the big 4-0 tonight. Yep, it's 40 inches long now, and the ball of yarn that I'm working from is getting progressively smaller. I really need to start planning a new project.

Lever knitting practice day 14

Lots of knitting time today. Zero pain and far fewer dropped stitches. Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. I am starting to get itchy for a new project, though. 

Lever knitting practice day 13

Lots done tonight. This is some slippery-ass yarn and slick needles. If these factors weren't combined, I feel like I'd go faster and spend less time picking up dropped stitches.

Lever knitting practice day 12 that should be 13

I had one of those days yesterday when I was essentially a zombie, so I didn't practice last night. Tonight I got back to it. Glad to say it went well.

This is the first time I've blogged from the iPad. Interested to see how it looks.

Had to come back and edit the iPad post. It might be a handy tool for drafting an entry on the go, but I don't like the default font, and I'd prefer to place the pictures where I want them within a post. Things that are good to know. 

Lever knitting practice day 11

Today was weird. There was a note on my door yesterday that the power was going to be out for an unspecified amount of time today between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. It just threw my whole schedule off. I would have liked to have been sleeping like this guy (my brother's dog who spends a lot of time with my mom; he's a sweetie). But instead I was up and waiting for the power to go out, and then waiting for it to come back (although I did go out to breakfast while it was out). 

After breakfast, while he was snoring away (which is really funny to hear), I was hanging out at mom's for today's practice. I would love to have more time to knit on this tonight, but I'm kind of fried. I just want to sit and have some screen time. 

Oh well, tomorrow will be another (long) day. 

Lever Knitting Practice Day 10

Solidly producing about 2 inches an hour the last couple of days with this technique. The scarf may not look much different from one picture to the next, but I can totally see the changes. 

Lever Knitting Practice Day 9

About an hour's worth this evening, less than the normal amount of knitting I generally do on a Monday (and not even 1 complete episode of Top Gear, which is way less than a normal Monday), but I was busy today with errands and a cut and color late in the day. 

I got another couple of inches done, see?

Soon, I'm going to cast on something in worsted weight and do the stitches per minute test like we did in the Knitting for Speed and Efficiency class. I'd like to know what my stitches per minute number is looking like now. It was 30 per minute at the start of the class and 32 per minute at the end with my former "normal" way of knitting. Maybe tomorrow night for that one. 

Lever Knitting Practice Day 8

At this point, I'm not even sure what to say about this project anymore. I got a lot done today in a relatively short amount of time. I'm going to have to be more creative in my picture taking so I can get the whole thing in the frame and still have the tape measure to show the growth. 

First I finished this hat. And took a picture of it. And then celebrated a little bit the fact that I don't have to work on it anymore. Although I like the way that it looks OK, I'm not a big fan of the yarn. Maybe when I give it a soak, it will be nicer feeling. 

Anyway, by that time, we were into Oscar Red Carpet Special. So I whipped out my straights and the scarf and worked while I oohed and aahed over pretty downs, and only spent a few moments wondering if a particular person actually owned a mirror. I stopped well before the actual show started, so maybe a couple of hours tonight. That means in 1x1 rib, 50 stitches, with fingering weight yarn, on size 4 needles, I'm churning out a couple of inches of knitting an hour. Not too fucking shabby. Especially since the yarn and needles are both slippery, and I've dropped more stitches than I care to think of due to that combination, and it does take time to pick them up and fix them. 

The fabric that I'm making with this method is pretty amazing. Because it's 1x1 rib, it's springy and cushy, but it's also really, really even and nice looking, not just nice feeling. 

I'm not going to deviate from the instructions and stop working this method on straights sooner than the prescribed amount of time, but I am starting to think about how it's going to work with double-pointed needles and with circular needles. I may actually have to give up magic loop for socks and knit them on DPNs (which I don't really mind) because I think that ML is inherently too inefficient to really work with lever knitting, but I suppose that all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

I sure as fuck hope so, anyway. 

Lever knitting practice day 7

Getting longer every day. I've been working at this for a week now. Depending on the source, that means I either have 14 or 23 days to go (some people say every day for 21 days, others say every day for 30 days). I may end up going until I run out of yarn. 

Tonight I practiced knitting lever style without looking. On a project like this where it's all K1P1 rib, it's pretty easy. I kind of have to think about it, but I don't have to look at every stitch. Which is nice when you're watching TV. 

I knit a little bit on the hat that I showed a few days ago today, too. I need to finish that up in the next couple of days. I have high hopes for tomorrow during the Oscars.  After that, who knows? We'll have to see what the Nerd Wars challenges are for March. That will guide my choice as much as anything. 

Lever knitting practice day 6

And here we go, day #6. I feel like I have the right hand action pretty well in hand at this point, so I'm working on the left hand actions. The left hand actually has quite a bit to do in this style of knitting; it's one of those instances where lefties and righties can learn the same style and nobody really has to make any adjustments. 

Tonight I was able to put in about an hour, and I got quite a bit done. This was the last long work day of my week, so I'm really looking forward to working for longer periods of time tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday. It should really grow over the weekend. 

Lever knitting practice day 5

Definitely getting faster, absolutely no pain in my thumb or shoulder, this is great. 

This was about another 40 minute session today, and it looks like I got a couple of inches in. What I'm waiting for to happen next is for my left thumb and index finger to be able to really feel the stitches as they're coming and know whether it's a knit stitch or a purl stitch. I'm super right-hand-dominant, so I imagine it takes a bit longer to really attune to my left hand. 

Lever knitting practice day 4

Good progress was made today. I put in about 45 minutes after work, and although I spent part of that time fixing some dropped stitches, I feel like I got a good bit done. The tape measure tells the tale. 

Lever Knitting Practice day #3

Today's beauty shot. 

While I will grant you that I didn't make quite as much progress today as I did yesterday, I also knit for less time. Yesterday, I was catching up on my DVR (I was 3 episodes behind on Glee, shocking), and I knit through almost an entire episode. Today, on the other hand, I have to work, and I sat down and practiced for right around 30 minutes. It felt faster today, and I figured out that it's a little easier if I have something under my right elbow. Not something to lean on hard, but if I can rest my elbow on the table and not have it floating out in mid air, everything seems to flow a little better. 

For your entertainment pleasure, I'm also working on this project. 

This was taken yesterday morning when it was about 2-1/2 inches long (hats in fingering weight yarn take time). When I put it down last night, I just about at the crown decreases (almost at 6 inches). I'll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow. 

And since my last big blog in November, I made this, 

Three months of garter stitch. After a while I missed purling, but it came out so very well. It was worth 3 months of garter. 

And a couple more pictures of smaller projects that I started and finished. 

So you can see I have been busy. There's a pair of plain stockinette socks on the needles now, too, but I haven't pointed my phone at it yet to take a picture.

Lever knitting progress day #2

I didn't measure after I finished knitting yesterday, but I did measure before I started today, and day #1's effort was just less than 1 inch. I knitted longer on this today, and got a lot further (we're now just shy of 2-1/2 inches).

One of the things that Stephanie said in class was, "you have to slow down to speed up." I'm taking that to heart. I'm going s-l-o-w-l-y and paying close attention to my wrists, hands, fingers, and everything else when I'm practicing with the lever knitting. After today's session, I had no pain of any kind, and that right there is a huge plus. 

P.S. This yarn is crazy-pants in its pooling, isn't it? I was told to expect my gauge to change from start to finish on this, and that's partly why I chose the yarn (that and it will never be socks), when gauge changes, the look of pooling changes with it. Should be interesting to watch. 

And She's Back!

I know I've been gone a while. I was knitting, quite a bit, but just not finding time to write about it. Now I know that I can't find time, I have to take time to do things. 

Anyway, moving on.

Yesterday, I took my very first formal in-person knitting class. I attending the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival and took Knitting for Speed and Efficiency with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, AKA The Yarn Harlot. I learned a lot, and the most important bit of what I learned was how to lever knit. One of the issues that I've been having recently is that I've had some knitting related discomfort, particularly shoulder pain and pain in my right thumb. I'd like to continue knitting for many years and pain-free is my preference, so I'm going to follow YH's  suggestion and practice lever knitting on long straight needles (14 inches, one stationary, anchored in my right armpit) every day for 30 days. The suggested project is a 1x1 rib scarf, because there's equal knitting and purling. When I asked her how much time every day for these 30 days I should devote to this practice, she said, "until you feel anger and despair, then put it away for the day and knit your other projects your regular way."

This is what I accomplished today, which is day #1 of 30. 

It's not much yet, but it will grow. This is Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox in the Spring Green Colorway. I cast on 50 stitches on a size 4 needle, worked a while in a knit 1 purl 1 rib, and this is about 30-40 minutes worth of knitting. 

I'll attempt to at least post a picture of my progress daily, even if I don't have much to say. 

Changes are coming, but kind of slowly.

You may have noticed that I changed the title of the blog to Connie Plays with Sticks and String. I didn't want to have to futz around with making a new blog just for knitting content, so I've evolved Sweet Nothings. I'm hoping to have new knitting content very soon. I have projects to show off, really I do.  Here's the start of one. 

I'll tell you all about it soon. 

Contemplating a change

Hello my friends!

I didn't start out to have a knitting blog, and I kind of ended up with one. However, I don't think this particular blog should continue to be my  knitting blog. I want it to go back to its original purpose of my personal blog for amusing stories (not about nothing, but not about much).

To that end, I'm pretty sure I'll be launching a new knitting only blog in the next little bit here. I'll let you know when I do. 

I'm not not blogging

Sort of. I've been using Google+ and Instagram a lot more recently to show my knitting pictures in a more immediate way. My user name on both those services is the same as it is here, so if you want to follow me or add me to a circle, please feel free to do so.


I know I've not blogged here the last couple of weeks, but I do have something to show off today. 

I finally finished the second Lingerie Sock. Here are the specifications with links from Ravelry. 


Pattern: Lingerie by Maria Naslund. (You can still find it for Free in Knitty First Fall 2011; I didn't pay for it, but if you have tiny feet or huge feet, the paid pattern has more sizes).


Needles: US size 1, 2.25 mm for the entire sock. 


Yarn: Solemate by Lorna's Laces. It has a space age fiber that's supposed to help regulate temperature, keeping you comfortable. 


Time: It took me almost 2 months for these. I was working on other projects at the same time, and there was   difficulty with the heel on the first sock only to be followed by ripping out the entire first sock shortly after finally getting the heel right (I did not use the one in the pattern) because I had knit it on 2 mm (US size 0) needles as specified by the pattern and they were too tight across the ankle. I may have shed a tear or two before I frogged, rewound, and started over. 


Anyway, since my working schedule is Tuesday through Saturday, it's become very difficult to consistently blog about knitting on  Friday. I'm usually just too tired on Friday to want to blog, and then I feel guilty, and I don't need to feel guilty about blogging. It's something I do for pleasure not as a job. So I may be more sporadic, but I will still blog about my knitting and various and sundry other parts of my life.