Plodding Along and Knitted Related Injuries

Well, I'm still working on the Magic Halter by Mandy Moore. I know, a halter - sounds a little "chicka-bow-wow!", but all the bits that need to be covered will be in this pattern. Its just taking SO long! Little needles, thin yarn - it has the most wonderful hand and drape, but it sure takes a lot of knitting to get anywhere. Here's the obligatory in progress shot

Ravelry: stalepeeps' Magic Halter

And the injury. Um, well, I was trying on the Magic Halter and instead of putting the stitches on a longer cable or yarn so I could easily try it on, I used the cable it was already on. I don't know what I was thinking cause the cable is many inches smaller than my, uh, bodacious rack, and as I saw that the stitches were about to slip off the needle in the back, I did some weird arm gymnastics and reached around and up and back and something in my neck/shoulder area went "aaaaaachhhhhhhhht". Of course, this did not stop me though. I got the thing off with a little help from the hubby and went right back to knitting, not thinking much about it. A half hour or so later, I thought - "hmm, my neck is killing me" and then "wow, my shoulder hurts too". I can't believe it took me so long to realize that I must have pulled a little something. So, now I've taken some blue-eez and brown-eez (in my house this means naproxen and ibruprofen) and even put a heating pad on it. And it still does not feel real good. In fact it hurts. Quite alot even. I'm sure it will feel better tomorrow, but it might be best if I put away the knitting for the night.
Wah!

Long Time, No Blog

Where have I been, you ask? Um, trying to stay cool and getting some knitting done. Last night, while watching season 1 of Project Runway , (yeah, I know - we missed it the first time around) - finally finished my Esther socks. Love the pattern, its so easy and SO pretty! Its a great pattern by Stephanie van der Linden. If you're interested, you will need to join the yahoo group to access the pattern - The yahoo group is German; however, the pattern is available in both English and German. Join the waiting list of the Socken-Kreativ-Liste Modifications made were to start the socks on waste yarn and do a bind off picot edge instead of the traditional picot, which felt bulky to me and I wouldn't have had quite enough yarn had I followed the pattern exactly. I did a standard S1 K1 heel and wedge toe also. Pretty, n'est-ce pas?

I've also been making great progress with the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It would actually be done, in fact, if my sister had short arms. After asking a friend to try it on for me, I realized the sleeves would have to be lengthened. Ah, such is life! Now just trying to figure out the best way of doing this. I tried picking out the cast on row and going forward from there, but the rib doesn't quite match up going in the opposite direction. Now I think I will cut it close to the point where the ribbing switches to stockinette, pick up the stitches and redo the entire cuff. Because the sleeves are attached to the body and then continued in the round for the yoke, you can't really tell how short or long the sleeves will be until you are almost finished. It sucks that I have to redo the cuffs, but I want it to be right, you know? While pondering this conundrum, I started the Magic Halter from my queue in some fine lightweight cashmerino that's been hanging around the stash for a couple of years. This is small yarn on small needles and likely to be a long term project in my size. What am I thinking???

Well, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is having a great summer!