Habits Revisited

It's been 7 weeks today since I hurt my shoulder. They said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to heal. They were right. Who'd a thunk it? I still have a twinge now and again when I move my arm in certain directions but other than that I'm really doing well. I've started doing some upper body strengthening and am now walking every day for half an hour with my neighbor. We take HRH with us so we're not out for speed yet as she walks at a snail's pace. I'm hoping in the next week to move our walking time to 7:00 so I can sneak out before Rachel and Larry are awake. My neighbor and I haven't decided yet what we'll do when the weather goes south but hopefully by then the habit of walking every day will be established and we'll keep moving. Hopefully.

Speaking of habits, I've been really terrible with my writing habit. I think it's time to reestablish my writing goals and just get writing. I will start writing every day again.

I've done a lot of knitting in the last few weeks. Some good, some I'm not going to talk about.

Remember the knitted purse? I finally sewed it up today and got it on a giant pickle jar blocking. It's a giant CLEAN pickle jar mind you. Inigo is inspecting my work. I put in a flexible blocking wire to give the points more definition. I have to make a drawstring and a lining and it's done. I hope it doesn't take me another two months to get to that. This is going to be a Channukah gift so I really do want to finish it before then.
I also finished one half of a pair of socks for a Channuka gift. I got the second one cast on before I got bit with Second Sock Syndrome. Phew...
I am making myself another bag. It's a French Market Bag, knitted then felted(fulled.) I'm making it with Noro Iro. It's not my first choice for this yarn as it's expensive and has silk in it that won't felt well but I've had the yarn in my stash for over a year, I don't have enough to make a garment for myself, and I love the colors. So I might as well use it and make something I'll love and use often, no? As for the silk not felting, I'm not too worried. The bag is knitting up into a nice tight fabric and will be pretty sturdy with only a little fulling. However what I didn't take into account is the size. It's going to be larger simply because it won't shrink as much during it's round in the washing machine. But that's okay, everyone needs a large bag in which to carry things.









AND after the success of my knitted purse, above, I decided to have a go at knitting a larger lace project. It's a Revontuli shawl. Yes, the link takes you to a blog in Finnish. Eat your hearts out Kim and Jason. Revontuli in Finnish means Northern Lights. I'm knitting this up with Noro Kureyon Sock. I still think it looks like cat vomit but other experienced lace knitters keep telling me that it looks like it's supposed to, just keep knitting. The blocking will cure everything they tell me. The jury is still out but I'll take that first step in faith, thank you Dr. MLK Jr. This too will probably end up as a Channukah gift as I can't ever see myself wearing it and with kids and cats in the house, using as a lap shawl and leaving it on the sofa is completely out.

Yakira