Jean-Luc Picard Appreciates A Hand-Knit Garment

There's good news and bad news this week.

First the good.  I finished both sleeves of my shrug and blocked it.  Yahoo!

The bad news - there is a mystery stain.  A massive tiny red stain on one sleeve.  I'm pretty devastated and I've tried getting it out with what limited tools one has when washing cashmere and silk.  *sigh*  Any life saving advice on that front would be incredibly welcome.

So that was a downer.

But wait!  There is more good news.  I am so close to being finished my KAL sweater I can almost taste it; and it tastes kinda like mutton.  I finished off the sleeves after starting my second skein - which, by the way, wouldn't have been possible without every knitters' dream: A man, woman or child who is willing to hold his or her arms shoulder width apart for up to 30 minutes while you wind your ball.

True Love

So I was knitting like crazy and watching episode after episode of Star Trek: TNG and then my shoulder started to get all complainy and I started having all these weird Star Trekky/Knitty dreams.  So I've taken a few days off and I hope to be back at it over the next few days and have a FINISHED PRODUCT to show you next week!  Huzzah!

Today's Episode: In Which Lindsay Saves Herself From A Mangled Fist

I've been knitting like a madwoman!  I currently have two sweaters on the go and I am loving working on both because they're so different.

There's my vanilla wedding shrug in a cashmere/merino/silk blend and DK weight:

Geez can someone turn the lights on?

And then there's my dark purple KAL sweater in 100% peruvian wool and bulky weight:

That's better.

Because they're so different I can switch to the other when I get tired of the first and vise versa - this results in pretty much non-stop knitting.  The only problem is - I'm getting hand cramps, finger cramps, and twinges all in my arms.

I know all about over-use injuries.  I've had them before.  But in the past the injury was from something I didn't want to do like working, so this is a whole new feeling because basically I'm a knitting addict and I will knit through the pain just on principle.

So I'm going to try and change my "grasp" (read: mangled claw of death) because I know the one I'm using is an ergonomic nightmare - this is what it looks like:

"I am not an animal!"

I use the crease between my first and second knuckle to hold the yarn and maintain tension.  My middle finger pretty much does all of the knitting and now does the majority of the complaining as well.

My new technique looks more like this:

What's that tingling sensation?  Oh it's my proprioceptors turning back on.

As you can see there are a lot less kinks going on in my hand in general and I'm going to try to minimize my throw as well - keep it as small as possible.

So far this has helped quite a bit in terms of pain, but I'm concerned that the new technique will change my gauge.  A frightening prospect when you're 2/3 of the way through a beautiful sweater.  Wish me luck!

Anyways, I'm really curious how others hold their yarn and maintain tension.  Let me know in the comments if you have a particular technique that works well for marathon knitting sessions.  Or like stretches or yogi chants or anything else keeping you comfortable while you knit for hours on end.