Like most professions in the 21st century, mine comes with a slew of hazards both physical and mental. No, it is not dangerous like being a lineman, or a railway worker, but it comes with its own issues. Namely mental stress, eye strain from staring at a computer screen for 12 hours a day, foot pain from stuffing my feet into beautiful and impractical shoes for the sake of looking polished and professional, and wrist strain, which is what I'm experiencing this week. I hurt my wrist during school by working on my computer for too long every day, and my doctor told me to wear a wrist brace to prevent carpal tunnel. So this week the wrist brace is on, and I have to cut back on certain activities, namely typing, knitting, and playing wii.
Well, typing is not going to happen, as I need that to work. So unfortunately the knitting and wii are going out the window for the rest of the week. No wii is sad enough, because an impromptu boxing match or baseball game against Jared at 12 in the morning is excellent stress relief after a frustrating work day. But the knitting is really killing me for several reasons.
First, I have an awesome self-designed UFO that I am really dedicated to taking to the next level and actually finishing in the same year that I start it. My goal is to have it done by Memorial Day, and I've been inching towards that goal by completing at least two rows a day. (So slow! But I usually get more than that done.)
Second, I'm getting 300 grams of sock yarn in the mail. Beautiful, hand-dyed sock yarn in acid green, neon orange and bright motherfucking yellow. I can't wait to start on a lacy sock project for spring. And it is furthering my goal of only knitting socks in solid yarn from here on out, because variegated drives me crazy. Because...
Third, I have finally managed to get my second Jaywalk Sock to the point where the variegated colors stop pooling and stripe properly. As I posted before, I was trying for a looser gauge, but with these colors it is not happening if I don't want pooling. And the pooling just looked awful. Even now the stripes are a bit wider than I would like, but I had to just give a Seinfeldian "oh to HELL WITH IT" and give up. They'll be warm and comfy, anyway. But from now on, no variegated socks.
These socks have become my morning and evening routine though, as I knit them while riding the bus to and from work. It's very hard to give that up, especially since I find that I've been getting very motion sick from trying to read on the bus. This morning I read the Express with my sad little brace on my wrist, feeling nauseous and dizzy... no more of this, please. Maybe I should just get a book on tape for my iPod, but those always leave me itching with something to do with my hands. Like... knitting. Hmph.