Friday 12 March 2010

Knitter's Elbow?

There's not much new on the knitting front. I'm still plugging away on my Byzantine Bazic, which I'm enjoying for the most part. The only part I'm not enjoying is that part where I make a mistake and have to fix it, but I can hardly blame that on the pattern, or can I? If you have a way I can do so, please let me know. Why should I take the blame for my own mistakes when most of the rest of the world doesn't? Of course, there are those who make mistakes and then make a big song and dance apology to the public. Somehow I can't help but think that no one reading this will care if I apologize for making mistakes in my knitting and that they would probably just tell me I'm the one suffering for my mistakes, which is quite true. But if it's true for me, why isn't it true for the rest of them? I'm sorry, but neither their apology nor their failure to make an apology effects my life in the slightest and I doubt it really effects the vast majority of the public either. If few people really care, make that apology to them. It might get you further.

Anyhoo, I digress (really, I wasn't intending to say any of that). Since I don't have any snazzy pictures or interesting things to say about my knitting, I'll tell you about my new Harmony needles. I'm terribly glad I didn't buy the whole set. I tried switching to the wood from my metal ones and it took me all of two seconds to realize that there's a reason I've liked the metal. I'm a very tight knitter and need the metal so I can slide the stitches along the needles. They don't slide on the wood and frankly, I just can't be bothered putting that much effort into knitting with wood. Ergo, I'm sticking with metal from here on out. I suppose I could try the new arylic ones, but I can't think of any reason they should be better than the metal, so why spend the money? Again, if anyone knows a reason, I'm open to new thoughts.

Finally, I have a question for you. Does anyone know if it's possible to get tennis elbow from knitting? From what I read in the Net, I have tennis elbow, but I don't know where I got it from. It could be from knitting or from mouse work at the office, but I don't know. Has anyone heard of someone getting it from knitting?

7 comments:

  1. I've never heard of it... but I wouldn't discount it. Of course, I'm the kind of girl who can throw her back out pulling on her underwear...

    And don't worry about those mistake... they aren't realy mistakes... they are "personal touches" or "design features"

    Oh and to comment about one of your comments... I think Mildred it a great cat name! Was she grey? I totally want a grey cat named Mildred now!

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  2. I don't see why you couldn't get it from knitting. It's all about the movements you make, isn't it? That sucks!

    Don't bother with the acrylics if you don't like the wood. They're "sticky" like the wood ones are. I appreciate the price of the acrylics, but I'll stick to the metal ones too! (I do like wood sometimes for socks, but only certain projects. For the most part I find metal are the best too.)

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  3. If you ever want to part with your Harmonys let me know! They're the first tips I go to for the most part, not that I don't use and like my metal tips, I just like that Harmonys a bit more.

    Re the elbow, it wouldn't surprise me either, especially if you're using a non-stretchy yarn like cotton or have a lot of stockinette in your pattern. I sometimes get a weird pain going from my wrist to my elbow if I've been knitting miles of stockinette for a while.

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  4. Yes, you can. But it may be a combination of mousing and knitting. I've been having shoulder pain from my 'hockey injury' and when I was out of town knitting up a storm but computerless, there was no pain. I have to figure out better posture at my desk, i guess. I'm with you on the Harmony's and I'm a loose knitter.

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  5. Yes. you can. It is just one more kind of repetitive stress injury. Mary Lou is right--posture is key.

    I never use metal needles. I have a looser than average gauge so wood or bamboo suit me and keep me from dropping stitches. I don't care for modern acrylics but I have some vintage plactic tortoise-looking needles I love.

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  6. Yes, you can get tennis elbow (tendinitis) from over-knitting. I have knitter's shoulder, and it hurts like the devil when it acts up. Tylenol does help, plus cutting back on knitting time and finding new positions to lessen the strain. Put a pillow under your elbow to support it while knitting.
    CatBookMom

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  7. I prefer the metal needles too. In my enthusiasm I bought several bamboo ones and I just can't cope with them. It's so much easier to work with metal.

    Hope the elbow is better. I usually get 'mouse-' or 'knitting-' shoulder.

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