Lace-Up Opera Gloves

This weekend is the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany. I went in 2005 and had an absolutely amazing time. Sadly I haven't had the money to go since (but will definitely be saving my pennies for next year). My friends try and go every year, so I have to just try and not be too jealous.

Last night I helped my friend pack (while trying not to feel too jealous ;) ), so today I thought I'd post an FO report for a garment that I'd possibly had taken with me were I going (and were it not going to be over 30oC in Leipzig this weekend):

My Lace-Up Opera Gloves:



(by the way, that is not my belly or my pants, it's my underskirt showing. Mr Bee is getting a little better at styling photos, but not much)

I started these aaaaaages ago, and had one knitted up since before Christmas, I think. But obviously it took a while to knit the second one. Then I had to wait ages to get round to buying ribbons. The ribbons I did get, by the way, are rubbish. They aren't actual ribbon, they're a bit plastic-y. Plus they were too wide so I had to fold them in half and stitch them together, so it does look a bit like I've laced the gloves up with PVC tubing.



Pattern: Lace-Up Opera Gloves by Ysolda
Yarn: from an unravelled shrug; a thick singles held with a couple of metallic threads. This is the yarn I had left over after making my Hug. It was coincidentally a similar colour to the one Ysolda had on the pattern page.
Needles: 6mm straights
Modifications: different yarn, different needles, totally different gauge. I ended up doing less repeats I think.

This is a really nice pattern, which I ballsed up a bit by not substituting properly (I basically grabbed the first needles that were to hand!). The main problem is that the fabric I ended up knitting is very firm and stiff - there's hardly any give in it, so I can't pull it in to lace. The thumb is also rather bulky, because I was using such thick yarn.

I thought the weird ribbons made the gloves look a tad dodgy, but having seen the photos I don't think they're too bad - I'm going to try and get some actual ribbon ribbons though!

If I knitted this pattern again I'd probably pay closer attention to getting the right sort of drape. Although I can alter a pattern if I don't have gauge to make sure that I have the right dimensions, I need to remember that knitted fabric has different characteristics depending on gauge!

The End is in Sight...

I've only got 2 rounds left on Tempting. So that's 2 rounds (200 stitches each), 1 cast off round, and 2 3-needle-bind-off underarm things.

2, maybe 3 days.

(Then a couple of months for me to go and buy some ribbon. I still need ribbon for my Lace Up Opera gloves. Luckily it is likely to be the same type of ribbon, so I can just go and buy loads. Eventually. And then the wait for photos. How long has Sonnet been waiting for now? 1 year? 2?).

I spun up the second singles yesterday. I used my right foot very gently (tried to keep it in what my yoga teacher would term a 'tadasana foot'), but I used my left for the majority of the spinning.

Further to what I wrote in my last post, I don't think a double treadle is inherently bad, just that I'd only want to use a DT that could also be used as a single treadle. With an ST you can move the wheel around, whereas with a DT you are - I presume - limited to sat bang in front of it, unless it can be used as an ST. Anyway, I often wonder about the different types of wheel - when I think of what I started with because it was all I had (single treadle, double drive, no instructions, awkward tension, merino top) and what I read people on mailing lists saying is advanced (single treadle, double drive, awkward tension, merino) it does make me laugh (especially since I made a perfectly servicable garment from my first ever spinnings - and this is not because I'm great at spinning). Had I known all this before I started maybe I'd have been more wary, and I think I'd have suffered for it. Of course, in an ideal world everyone should have the wheel that suits them, but sometimes I think people thinking of buying tend to worry too much about whether it will be too 'advanced'.

So anyway, back to my ankles. I think there is a slight problem. Of course, this is when I had changed my whorl, my bobbin, and (probably most importantly): my house. I'm hoping that any problem with over-worked feet is coming from one of these, rather than my body deciding that since my arms aren't too bad my legs can pack up.

Our new house has [very cheap] laminate flooring, and I'm also sat in a corner which limits how far to the left I can have the wheel. I don't think the corner is too much of an issue, but I do think I must be sliding over the floor a little, pushing the wheel forwards. This must put just a little too much pressure on my foot. When I ply I'm going to put the wheel & my stool on a rug, and hopefully (hopefully!) I won't have any further issues.

(And I really really really really hope I have no further issues, since after discovering Franquemont Fibres, I've now discovered the Sanguine Gryphon's etsy store. Be still my treadling feet.)

Whaddid I miss?

Poor November. Poor December. Poor January. I can't believe I let them go by unposted. I'll have to fake something so they don't feel left out. I didn't realise that I hadn't posted in such a long time.

So, news.

I finally finished my MPhil, and handed it in in December. That end-of-September-2006 deadline? Turns out that it was actually end-of-September-2007. I kid you not. The MA students had a September 2006 deadline, but the MPhil students are supposed to spend a year researching, and then have up to a year to write up the thesis. I only discovered this when I asked for an extension and discovered that technically my course hadn't ended.

However, since I'd been under the impression I had to be finished my September, I'd applied to start my PhD from October... So I had to finish my MPhil relatively quickly to fulfill the conditions of the PhD.

As I was finishing my MPhil I realised that the 'only' pain I was getting was a constant burning in my right wrist. The reason why it took me about a month to realise that my elbows and forearms were feeling better was because this burning pain has no cause that I can divine, and no cure. Ice doesn't help it; anti-inflammatories don't help it. All I could do was go to bed and hope it had gone in the morning.

After I handed in my thesis we went away for a week, so I did no intense hand-movements at all. When I came back I was relatively pain free! Then I only had a couple of days at home before we went to see our parents for Christmas - so again, no hand movements. By the time we came back I'd been pretty much pain free for most of December, BUT I hadn't been doing anything.

So I was pretty much too scared to start doing things again, because being pain free, finally, after over a year, was too nice a state to be in. So now I'm just taking things slowly, trying not to overdo things. I've been attending an exercise class in the physiotherapy department of the general hospital, working on strengthening my body (I've become very weak this past year), and I've also restarted yoga. But - as the weekly physio lectures stress - I also have to pace myself, and not overdo things. Now I've been relatively painfree for two months I probably underdo things too much, since I'm so wary of setting off the pain again.

I have been knitting and spinning, and - tada! - I've finished one of my WIPs. I've finished the Lace-Up Opera Gloves, but need to get ribbons for them. It took about 2 months to finish them (I'd already knit one last year) - I did a maximum of about 4 rows a day, and I didn't knit daily. I keep a note of what I do each day, partly so I don't overdo it, and partly so that I'm always sure where I'm up to - when you can only knit about 100 stitches a day, you don't want to waste hand movements unknitting!

I'm currently working on Branching Out. This is the piece that gave me tennis elbow back in the summer, so I'm taking it really carefully. And I only knit if I've been painfree that day, and I try not to knit too much on days that I type a lot. I'm doing around a maximum of 10 rows a day (ie., a full pattern repeat), but these are spaced out throughout the day. I'm a little concerned I may run out of yarn, but since it's a scarf that shouldn't be too dreadful - it's already neck warmer length.

Spinning wise, I dyed my final 100g of white Cheviot top with Kool Aid - I went with some of my blue and some of my yellow, mixing them in the middle to get green. One of the reasons why I prefer my Chapter Two yarn over my Chapter Three yarn is that it has more colours and shades mixing together. The Chapter Three yarn is basically blue and pink, whereas Chapter Two has pink, purple, blue, white, red... Each inch is a new delight of colour combination, and so this is why I used three colours this time. I spun the singles last weekend, and will probably ply them this weekend. It may be garish, and heavens know what I'll do with it, but it's all fun.

I also spun back in December, when we got back from our trip. I spun and plied all in one evening - I'd stop every now and then and think 'No pain! Keep going!' That's my secret spinning, from my secret dyeing, and so won't be revealed just yet.

In non-fibrey-new, our landlord has said that he is going to sell the flat, so now we're in the process of moving and will be out by the end of the month. We'll be moving to the city that I go to university in (right now I have a 45 minute train ride), and we've found a lovely house. Unfortunately, it's also for sale so I have a horrid feeling we're going to have to move again in 6 months. But 6 months in that house should be nice, I hope. Now I'm just spending most of the time sorting and packing and clearing, and trying not to overdo things!

And finally, today my postman delivered some voice recognition software, courtesy of Tauret (Hope - thank you so much :) I'm so sorry I haven't sent my half of the swap out yet). I haven't tried it out yet (this post has used up most of my typing time for the day!), but I'm hopeful that it will allow me to do a great deal more in future. We'll see :)

Slowly but surely

Well, over the course of a couple of weeks I made the second mitten and finished it - hoorah! I'll do photos soon, have quite a few things to photograph and show off!

Today I made a start on finishing the opera gloves - I've nearly finished one (just the thumb to go). I'm knitting it with a much firmer hand (I think that is the right term). The fabric is very dense and tight but still works, and with some floofy ribbon should look lovely. The designer, Ysolda, also has a pattern for sale which I love: Matilda Jane. I was so desperate for her to release it as a pattern, but when it came out I was in the depths of RSI hell, not knowing how possible it would be for me to knit properly again. I guess I'm still there really. And it's knit in DK yarn. But it's sooooooooooooo lovely... I guess I'll look into buying it once I sell more stuff on ebay, even if I just keep it to look at and wish.

Although I can knit, spin and type a little now, I need to make so sure that I don't overdo it. And I NEED to keep up with my exercises.

I want to knit

But I can't. Sigh.

I didn't knit whilst we were in the Peak District - I read (Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy is well top) and did jigsaws. Still managed to have twinges though - I think it was possibly holding books open *rollseyes*

Then on Saturday 22nd April I knitted during Dr Who (45 minutes), then a couple of hours later I knitted during Green Wing (just over an hour, with breaks in the adverts). Then I began knitting during a Mary Renault documentary and half an hour in felt the worst thing possible: a twinge in my right arm :-0 Inner forearm, just by the elbow.

I haven't knitted since. Right arm has been OK, left arm is twinge-happy. I've hardly typed either - 'luckily' my Latin revision calls mainly for long-hand writing instead.

I went to the doctor for a repeat prescription for my anti-inflammatory gel, as I think I will run out of what I currently have before my exam. I saw a different doctor this time, and let's just say she was in a rush. I have my repeat prescription though, and she said she would put me on the list for physiotherapy.

My chiropractor has now moved on from suggesting x-rays to suggesting an MRI! If I go private it would be £200 though, and I'm not overly sure what it would achieve. I think I'd rather go for x-rays first if I do have to have any tests.

However, as well as the twinge I am now getting pain in my left elbow. The edge of the inner bone pretty much hurts constantly, as if it is under intense pressure. Occasionally I can flail my arm about just right and it will make an almighty crack, but that only relieves it for a few seconds, and most of the time the flailing doesn't work.

I want to knit because it's fun and I enjoy it. I want to finish Friday's other glove as it's his birthday in about a week. I want to finish at least one opera glove to see if it works (I'm not sure my yarn is stretchy enough). I want to finish blasted Tempting - the idea was to wear it for a wedding at the end of May, but with at least 10 rounds of 200 stitches that's not going to happen. I have some beautiful plyed merino handspun waiting to become armwarmers... And the Corset Pullover! I keep fondling my swatch...

But I can't. I really really can't. Absolutely no fibre arts (so no spinning either) until my Latin exam on Thursday 25th May. I can't risk having arms that don't work for that! I'm going to struggle as it is as my vocab knowledge is pretty poor, never mind not being able to write!

After that... Who knows.

I don't actually think anyone reads this, but if you do then I'm sorry for not posting in a while. I do have to show off some FOs'n'stuff, and I have a pic of some really cute little lambs...

Thinking positive...

A little update

Well, Hug is finished! Photos to come soon.

I've also made a start on these Lace Up Opera Gloves, using the same yarn as Hug, but I didn't bring enough with me to finish them.

Mr Bee's grandmother died last week, and his mum has given me her old knitting needles, which is very sweet. I may see whether his sister is interested in them, but I don't think she knits.

We are going away today, to stay in a converted cotton mill in the Peak District! I've brought Tempting with me - let's see whether I can actually get it finished or not!