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D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

Intermission
Thu Nov 13 2008


I spent a significant amount of my time yesterday trolling the news sites, reading up on current events and finally came to the end of my 'gloom and doom' tolerance.

I had to walk away.

Just walk away.

I mostly did it to spare myself the nasty job of cleaning up in case my head exploded. Because trust me. No one else is gonna clean that up.

(You got that right. Though I'll bet we could talk The Hen into.... never mind.)

Last night a permitted myself a little knitting time. I knitted up three swatches...

[album 65561 Knit Wits Three.JPG]

The one on the far left is my usual way. The one in the middle is purling the way my friend Shachiko showed me, and the one on the right is Norwegian purl. Of course you are not looking at the purl side, I was just comparing gauge and evenness of tension on the right side.

Now I'm in a quandary.

(Again? I can't TAKE it any more, all this angst over knitting minutia!!!)

Cool your grammar there ( ), this stuff is important.

(Oh yeah? prove it.)

Okay.

If you are knitting a sweater and your gauge is off just one quarter inch in a swatch, and you multiply that several times in the number of stitches in a garment, and you have something that could be big enough for Fezzik.... from Greenland!
I obviously can't continue doing my purls Sachiko's way. [The middle one.] I suck at it. I could stick with the Norwegian one which doesn't look too bad, however, I already knit loosely, and the Norwegian way makes my knitting even LOOSER.

OY!

So I am thinking what I may to is when I have a lot of purling to do, I will just have to limit my amount of time doing it. Take lots of breaks. . . and keep doing it my old way.

(As Hub Man says: "Remember this decision.")

By the way.... if you ever get tendonitis in your hand or any other extremity that will fit in a sink or bowl of ice water, I HIGHLY recommend the ice dip. I am feeling SO much better today. The swelling and pain went WAY down in my thumb. I will probably ice it some more today on and off when I get a chance.

You can check it out here:

I Love This Guy

7 Comments
  • From:
    Dustbunny3 (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Nov 13 2008
    To me your (Idid it My way) is the best Knit. I had a sever case of Elbow tendonitis that ended up with Surgery that has lasted with pain free some 55 years now. It was caused from building a deck and tearing down a fence . Man it was strange how far a hammer would go flipping from your hand and you never knew when it was going to happen .Pain OH BOY. I tried ICE,Cortizone shots but it aways came back. So the surgery worked for me but it was a 3 month battle to be normal.
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Nov 13 2008
    As for the purling, you'd have to show me what to look for. I don't see any difference. I'd have to watch you knit to understand why it's your thumb, and not your index finger that's suffering. If you were talking about crocheting, I could follow the thumb problem.

    Anyway, I'm glad the ice treatment is working for you!


    Bless

  • From:
    Mamallama (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Nov 13 2008
    I can't see too much difference in the purling either.
    Hmmmm....
    Maybe my eye isn't fixed after all.
    Or they didn't fix the knitting part. :o)
  • From:
    InStitches (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Nov 14 2008
    I see a distinct difference. Yours is a definitely more even with just a wee bit smaller stitches. Gauge is critical so I would stick with what you know works.

    Keep the ice dips handy, but do think about the suggestions I offered. A while back I had a fairly painful thumb joint from crocheting and it no longer bothers me at all. :)

  • From:
    InStitches (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Nov 14 2008
    PS. I was studying your picture and decided you might want to keep practicing that Norwegian method. Your stitches are very consistent there though looser. With practice you might be able to tighten the tension to better match your regular style.
  • From:
    Allimom (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Nov 14 2008
    If you did one practice swatch a day of the Norwegian method, is it safe to say that over the course of a short amount of time you could tighten up the gauge?
    Alli
  • From:
    Diane (Unauthenticated) (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Nov 14 2008
    I say stick with your old way of purling for quite a few reasons. One being that you are most comfortable with it, two it looks the best, and most importantly three you are driving yourself over the edge trying to figure out a new way to do it. :-))) I have tendonitis in my right elbow which developed years ago at work for something that I repeatedly did the same way each day for a very long time. It does ease and seem to go away, but truthfully it is always there and one day out of the blue you can make a motion that will bring it right back again. For the most part though mine has been underwraps for a long time. Rest, use your ice water trick if it is working for you and for a little while at least if you can't stop purling all together to let it heal (ahem :-) ), do as you suggested and knit for a very short while at a time. Just be sure you aren't filling your day with those little knitting times! Sorry you are having to go through this. I know how much you enjoy knitting.