Never not knitting

Last year in the knitting world the words to the Dr Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham suddenly started appearing everywhere, but corrupted to describe the actions of a knitter:

"I will knit on a boat, I will knit on a train... I will knit here and there, I will knit anywhere!"

And that describes my actions pretty well; I always have some knitting on me, just in case I get caught in a queue, or in traffic (obviously not when I'm driving!), or with a spare couple of minutes. I knit while stood in the kitchen waiting for pasta to boil and while watching television (I can do basic knitting without looking, and more complex knitting if what I'm watching isn't too involved). There are very few occasions when I do not knit.

Kitchen-knitting

But about an hour ago I cast off the final stitch on my latest commission. And I will not be knitting again for a couple of days. My recurrent knitting-related finger injury has returned, and requires at least four layers of micropore tape to make knitting bearable, and I have developed an ache in one wrist, so rather than pushing it and doing further damage, I am stepping away and not knitting.

I really should learn not to stab holes in my finger while knitting 

What does not knitting entail? I'm not really sure. I can't remember the last day I did not knit on - possibly when I was in hospital having my daughter a few years ago, possibly longer ago than that. My default non-knitting option used to be reading, but that's hard with two children to look after! I do have some seaming to do, so that will be done first. Then I might get some pattern cutting done. But when I'm out of the house and at a loose end? Who knows?! I wonder whether I can still crochet...

Seaming can be done with an injured finger

Wish me luck!

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A week in the life: 8th January 2017

I've decided that this year I will try and post a few more progress shots of projects, rather than just declaring them done before I show pictures, so thought I would start by trying a little round-up post for the week.

This week has been a busy one, with the kids going back to school and nursery, and I've had lots of little bits and pieces to catch up on that didn't get done over the holidays. I have enjoyed being in one place for the whole week and not having to travel the length of the country.

My main project this week has been a sample for a new design for a magazine, so I can't show you more than these two pictures (it's seamed, and is purple), but now that's done, and I have been working on some things I can show you.

I've been working on my Toft chameleon. Progress is a little slow as I can't work on him while I watch TV (I have have to look at crochet all the time, and as every round is different, it takes a lot of concentration). I have made it to the neck, and finally made a start on stuffing him yesterday, only to realise that I really ought to have started that step rather earlier! I had to use the blunt end of a knitting needle on the inside of the piece to poke the stuffing into the tail, and then the pointy end of the knitting needle to shuffle the stuffing around from the outside of the tail to give it a good shape. So fiddly! But worth it; the tail looks pretty fab now.

My out and about knitting is the pair of socks I started during the holidays. I've not made much progress, but feel I ought to get cracking on them as they're currently housed in a Christmas project bag, and I don't want to hunt out a more seasonally-appropriate one.

Annoyingly I've injured my 'pushing finger' (the one that I use to push the stitch off the needle when I've finished the stitch, so I constantly have a plaster on that finger (it is healing, but very slowly, occasionally I forget about it, remove the plaster, then promtly stab myself again and am back to sqaure one), which is starting to get annoying. Hopefully it'll be better soon.

Yesterday I cast on a new project: a jumper for me! It's a reimagining of the Antler cardigan I cast on last year, then decided that I wanted it to be a jumper instead, and a bit bigger. I have knitted as far as the elbow on the first sleeve, but the only photo I have shows way to much of the chaos on my living room floor, so I'll wait until I've done a it more before sharing any photos.

I have managed to stick to my target of reading for 15 minutes every day (though not necessarily by going to bed earlier - I slept for longer into this morning than I meant to, oops), and have finished my first book of the year: The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan. I started reading the book over Christmas, and enjoyed it. It's part of the Rosie Hopkins' series (not that it matters - there's a series summary at the start of the book), and is a light, easy read. The surprises start pretty near the start of the book, so there's not much I can tell you about the story, but it's lovely and heart-warming, defintely one of the better examples of chick-lit out there.

Hope you'vbe had a good week this week. What have you been up to?