Let’s start with apologies: I’m a bad blogger, you know it, I know it, I just don’t do it regularly. Okay, I’m glad I got that off my chest.
Now, what have I been knitting? Not a lot, actually. My husband had a gallstone attack on Mother’s day and I spent that evening with him in the ER, knitting away on my blue Etesian sweater while leaning awkwardly in an ER chair. The next day, my elbow started to hurt. Then I did a bunch of data entry for my job and it hurt more. And my forearm hurt. And… it hasn’t totally gone away. A mom at school who is a doctor told me that she thought it was tennis elbow, I’ve had acupuncture three times for it, which has helped, but it still aches and my forearm muscles are still very tight.
It sucks.
(My husband is fine now, though gall bladder-free and on a doctor ordered low fat diet and kind of sad about that.)
So, I took a break from knitting, mostly. I have been crocheting quite a bit, though.
Dave, from Chub Creek, posted on Twitter that someone should make him a coffee carafe and mug cozy, so I did.
Completely by accident, it arrived just before his birthday. He sent me a thank you Chub Creek mug in return.
Which is enormous. I use it in the morning to pretend I’m drinking giant mugs of coffee, even though I can’t drink real coffee any more because it makes me insane. (It’s hell getting old.)
Next up in the FO parade: little bag for Brenda Dayne‘s A Memorable Yarn project.
I used yarn from Karen’s stash and embroidered a pink K on it since pink was Karen’s favorite color. The Memorable Yarn event that I attended at A Verb for Keeping Warm ended up being held on the anniversary of Karen’s passing, so it was quite appropriate.
Speaking of pink… I finished my impulsively started Annis.
I was knitting it one evening with my knitting friends and I said I didn’t think I’d ever wear this pink shawl with a beaded edge and my friend Teenuh said that she loved it. Her birthday was coming up so… problem solved! And the shawl has a new home with someone who loves pink and sparkly beads. Perfect.
When I was working on Dave’s cozies my younger son commented that he loved that blue color and would I please make him something with it? When I asked what he’d like he decided on a blankie for his stuffed dog, Snowball.
Stuffed dogs are easy to please. My son liked it too.
Last, but not least, my friend Pam’s son is having his bar mitzvah and at some point earlier in the year she mentioned that she might need help making yarmulkes. I decided that knitting them was a) too hard on my elbow and b) too time consuming. After knitting three I settled into crochet and made eight crocheted yarmulkes (plus the three knitted ones).
I stacked them at knit night and it reminded me of Caps for Sale, a book I loved as a child. I’m still thinking that I need to write Yarmulkes for Sale! I just need an illustrator.
Whew. Are you still with me? Good. I have more pictures. This time of yarn that I bought while visiting my brother and his family in NJ. Did you know that in NJ they don’t charge sales tax for yarn because (like clothing) it is an “essential”? A belief that yarn is essential: I like that in a state.
I got some Berroco Origami on sale for a sweater I’ve been wanting to make for two years.
And then I got some single skeins of Rowan Cotton Jeans that were also on sale.
I am not sure what I’ll do with those. I thinking maybe some crochet coasters or something similar.
There was also Rowan Calmer in the sale bin.
The colors are more different than they look in the pictures. I see hats and mitts in that yarn’s future.
I don’t know if anyone stuck with me through this long, picture-heavy post. Maybe if I posted more often I wouldn’t have so many pictures to share at once. Maybe.
the sheep free knitter 
