Slogging Along

OK, I'm knitting a little. Very little. A couple of dpns worth here and there. I've set the Paws to Remember Scarf for my SIL aside for a bit. I've knit on it steadily, [well, as steadily as you can knit when you only knit one row at a time] for a month now. I've made good progress on it. I'm two pattern repeats into the two strands of the #5 colorway. I need to knit a total 7½ repeats before the next color change, so 5½ to go! From what I can deduce from my blog entries when I started knitting again on this scarf, I knit around 106 rows in January. That's quite a bit. If I did even close to that in February . . .

But no, I'm going to switch for a bit to the dark heather gray Country Socks for Sweetie. I cast on for these on January 8 and only have 7 rounds done on the cuff. Most of that was done in one swell foop. So with dpns I'm doing only a couple of needles then stopping to read. A full round stitch count is 88 stitches, only one stitch less than the scarf. I need a bit of a break from the scarf. The Country Socks pattern has no ktog or ptog anything in the cuff so no strain there unlike my Christmas Monkey socks which does have those things. The Paws to Remember scarf does but I'm on larger needles and it's a pretty loose knit with lace weight, unlike with my tiny 2.25mm dpns and sock weight. We'll see how that goes.

I'm doing my hand exercises lately which I must shamefully admit I haven't been doing. And I really do think it is helping. But it's slow going.

Off to more reading.

Sad But True

It all comes down, in my case, to eliminating all the suspect activities then bringing them back on one at a time. It was either the target shooting, typing and mousing on the computer or knitting or a combination of all. But mostly it's beginning to look more and more like it's mostly the knitting. Second would be the typing and mostly the computer mousing and least seems to be the shooting. They each contributed but that's the order that seems to affect my eldabows the most.

We went target shooting last Wednesday afternoon and I probably shot around 200 rounds. That's the most I've shot in a month a half, except for IDPA. Didn't seem to bother my eldabows At. All. I did shoot with my supports in place and I'd taken a couple of Ibuprofen before hand. No pain that night or the next morning.

I haven't stayed completely off the computer but I was limiting my on-line time to less than a quarter of what if was. Hard to tell either way but probably a good thing.

Ah, the knitting. I hadn't had any pain for a couple of days and so last night (Friday) I sat and did my usual thing, read several pages and knit one row and so on and I knit several rows that way. I felt a couple of twinges but I'd felt them when I'd knit in this manner previously. This morning, my eldabows really hurt. I can't think of anything else I did that would account for it. Well, CRAP!

It could be a fluke so I'll heal up here, and try the experiment again in a few days. Meanwhile, I'll continue to do life a usual, but with no knitting. I am getting a lot of reading done.

Forward Motion

The Paws to Remember Scarf for my SIL is just over the 50% mark. This evening I finished 3½ pattern repeats of one strand of the #4 colorway and one strand of the #5 colorway. I've just started using two strands of the #5 colorway. Sooooo, that means I only have 234 more rows with 89 stitches each . . . if I don't have to tink or frog . . . Anything.

This scarf was going to be in the 400 row range but I wanted it to be at least 60" long unblocked so that led to a larger center section. The color is now firmly on the purple side of the color wheel. It's been on the red-purple side for several inches and the one strand of the #4 and one strand of the #5 colorway marked the dividing line. I can go to the next color change in about 87 rows!! That would be about the leg of a sock for Sweetie or my SIL, even to the stitch count.

So although progress is slow; knit one row, read a chapter or two, knit one row, etc progress is being made. It beats not knitting at all.

As far as my other projects, mostly on the back burner for now. I take the Romancing the Stone sock out when I have errands to run and that's at the most, one needle at a time while at a long stop light. This injury takes a long time to heal and it flares up easily.


The other evening I shot in my second IDPA match. The scores aren't posted yet but I probably did as poorly as I did the first time. OK, maybe I did a little better. . . I hope. That may be due more to the particular Course of Fire than to my ability. Anyway, here's a You Tube link of some video that was shot. I am the second shooter. I was amazed to see how much my gun jumps when I shoot. Something ELSE to work on.

I'm All Out of Faith

This is how I feel.

On the way back from my hair appointment a few weeks ago I listened to this song, Torn, which I always thought was by Jewel but is sung by Natalie Imbruglia. And, well, the next four years will tell. The lady that does my hair is a also Conservative and we commiserated while she cut my hair. Just a trim — I'm still growing it out. It's now long enough to put it up in a clip — FINALLY!


Not being on the computer is doing wonders for my eldabows. But I've been on more than I should. It's so hard to stay off. Typing is harder on my eldabows than mousing so this blog as suffered.

I'm still doing the knit one row then read and still mostly working on the Paws to Remember Scarf for my SIL. And I'm just barely to the halfway point — just one more pattern repeat, I think. However, I have moved on as far as the colors. In the pattern all the color changes have taken place over only six rounds. As I'm knitting with two strands, I'll stop one of the strands and for six rows I'll be knitting with one strand of the previous color and one strand of the new color then I'll stop the old color and continue to knit with both strands being the same color. As this center section is going to be so large with the one color taking 7½ pattern repeats instead of the usual five I'm going to make the transition longer.

I started about 2½ pattern repeats short of the middle with one strand of the #4 and one strand of the #5. This color transition will be 5 pattern repeats then I'll continue on for 7½ repeats with two stands of the #5 colorway. It just so happens that this is also the transition from the more rose shades to a more distinct reddish-purple. And the total row count has mushroomed from 400 rows to 508. Good think I'm a process and not a project knitter.

I took this photo today. It's just under 30" long slightly (very slightly) stretched. This is at row 256, just short of the halfway point.

I mentioned in my last post (gosh! 10 days ago!) that I'd started a pair of socks for Sweetie. I've got five rounds done. When I do knit I've tended to knit on the scarf. Here's a photo so far. I like the color and the yarn is soft


We went shooting a week ago last Friday night and I shot my 9mm and a couple of our .38's for the first time in over a month. In the week or so before Christmas I'd shot my Glock twice only putting five rounds one time then six rounds through it a few days later. I'd been shooting my bolt action 22LR and our .223. Since both of those are bench rested there's no strain on my eldabows. Shooting Friday night I shot probably 35 of my special reloaded 9mm rounds and 20 or so .38 special rounds. Both are loaded only enough to eject the spent shell properly on the 9mm and near the minimums on the .38 with HP-38. That way you can enjoy shooting at the range longer — not so much wear and tear on your body.

Anyway, I shot very well. I hadn't lost anything which was a relief. I'd been saving myself all day Thursday to shoot IDPA that evening but Sweetie had to work so we didn't go. There's always next time, which is this week.

One Row at a Time

Still knitting ONE row at a time then reading several pages. I've done two 12 row pattern repeats on the Paws to Remember scarf for my SIL. The other day I had several errands to run and I did some stoplight knitting for the first time in weeks. That entailed only one needles worth, mainly because I broke one. I always carry extras so that was not a problem. At the next stop I did transfer all the stitches to the new needle because it broke off so short and I was loosing stitches off the broken end. Still don't know how that happened.

And since I'm only knitting one row at a time, what better time than to cast on for a new sock. (rolls eyes). I had to stop into the bank to pick up a couple of new check registers and my LYS was just down the street. I've been thinking over the past week or so that Sweetie needs yet another pair of wool socks. The cream Koigu Burr Oak socks currently reside with the rest of his winter gear in the car. I'll switch 'em out in a few days for the Asparagus socks but meanwhile, it seems like all his wool socks are always laid over something drying.

The other thing in my stash even remotely suitable color-wise was the extra ball of variegated blue Trekking XXX I got when I made the first pair of socks I ever made for him — tube socks. So I picked up a skein of Trekking Pro Natura which looks like a dark heathered gray to me but is called near black. It's color #1509 and I'll get a photo up next post.

I've often used the Country Socks from Nancy Bush's book Folk Socks as a jumping off point but this time (maybe) I'll use the pattern as written. So using the same technique knit one row, not knit for a while then knit one now this is now my TV sock. The Paws to Remember Scarf is too complicated for my TV knitting, even one row at a time.

My tried and true method of TV / knitting / housecleaning is still going strong. Normally I would knit during the show and do a little housework during the long commercial breaks. With the knit one row then stop for a while method, I knit one round every other segment between commercial breaks. So I cast on very slowly and sat through two program segments before I joined in the round and slowly knit the first round. I'm on round three.

I'm going to keep up the method of knitting one row or round and stopping for several minutes until I have no aches or pains in the eldabows for several days. Staying off the computer, unfortunately seems to be the ticket.

OK that's enough with the typing. Signing off.

Ahhhhhh.

I've cut waaay back on the computer. I'm wearing these supports almost all the time during the day. I'm using this cold pack on my eldabows several times a day. I was using an old bag of frozen peas but I finally busted the bag. And on New Year's Eve I picked up my knitting again. (sigh of contentment).

I decided to start with the Paws to Remember Scarf. It's only 89 stitches but I need to concentrate on each repeat and so it's a slowish knit. I knit ONE ROW, put it down and read for 10 or 15 minutes. Then I knit ONE ROW, put it down and read for 10 or 15 minutes and so on. I knit 6 rows that night and this evening I picked it up again and did the same thing. I only knit 4 rows this evening. As this scarf has been a difficult knit for me, a lot of the froggin here and not a mindless knit. It's naturally a slower knit for me. The needles, although lace-weight are larger 4.5 mm / US 7 rather than the 2.5 or 2.25 mm sock needles.

So that's been going well. I've not dived into the knitting because I shoot IDPA this coming Thursday and want to be be able to do that. As far as target shooting, I've not shot my 9mm hardly at all since I shot IDPA on 12/11. I shot five rounds on 12/20, six rounds on 12/23 and nothing since then. Normally, I would shoot between 60 and 100 rounds so you can see I've cut way down. On 12/23 I shot several 10 round magazines from our Browning 22LR but I haven't shot it since then.

I have been having fun with my Marlin 908S, a bolt action 22LR. I bench rest it and it doesn't seem to have any effect on my eldabows at all. I have been wearing my supports when I shoot.

So things are improving. They don't ache like they used to but I still get a sharp pain now and then when I lift something heavyish with one hand (like the jug of laundry detergent) even with the braces on.

Time to sign off so I don't over do.