Tennis Elbow

I was diagnosed with tennis elbow last week.  I do not play tennis.  If I would play tennis, I would have to wear one of those little tennis skirts and I would have to book my court.  That is how it works in my subdivision because it seems two women beat the hell out of each other one day with their tennis rackets fighting over a court. 

I know...right? 

So, I am in my own version of hell because I can't knit.  No knitting and it is about to drive me around the bend.  Crocheting is out since it is my right arm.

I am limited with what I can do with my right hand and arm.  If I do something I am not supposed to, my fingers go numb.  Great.  Grocery shopping was fun today.  I have to learn to not use the arm.  It was painful on the way out of the store.  I am glad I took the Escape, it is easy to get into and out of and it is easy to load groceries into. Love that pop up back end. 

Since the corgi and I have both gained weight, today I decided was the first day of exercising outside the home.  I took him on a walk.  We have to start small and work our way up to the mile.  The vet said he needs to weigh in at 29 pounds.  I nearly fell over laughing from that one.  He loves to eat.  So, she told me to start out small and then work our way up to that mile.  It works for me.  He weighed in at 41.5 pounds.  Big for a corgi. 

Anyway, my tennis elbow is from vacuuming.  Yep, vacuuming with my Dyson DC59 Motor head.  Love that thing!  Only bad thing, since it is so top heavy, it hurt the arm and elbow.  Thus my problems. 

The thought of me in one of those itty bitty tennis skirts...No, I don't think so.  Ever!  The thought of my butt hanging out, I will skip that. 

For my snack, I had baby spinach, baby kale, coconut water, some frozen fruit and blended it all up in the Vitamix.  That is one powerful blender.  It is so freaking loud.  We broke down and decided to get one last year.  We had 2 blenders that we received for our wedding 14 years ago and they pretty much sucked.  So, we pawned them off onto my sister.  Told her she could always garage sale them.  She used them once and garage saled them and bought a better blender from the proceeds. 

My sister tells me I am weird for liking kale.  I have to have leafy greens these days.  They have to be part of my diet.  Doctor's orders.  I do like them but, I generally don't cook with them.  So, I am using the Vitamix to have my leafy greens in a more palatable way. 

I am waiting for pomegranate season.  I love those things!  I get one and snack away on it.  It is a nice treat to get one. 

The Sparkly Kathleen Sock

I finally found my camera.  Woo!  It had all the pictures of the new sock on it.  I have been contemplating this sock for a while and decided to just do it to see if it would work.  It did. 

Side view of the Kathleen Sparkly sock

Front view of the sock

Back view and heel

Close up of bead work and pattern

The yarn is a merino/silk I hand dyed, it is called Clementine.  This is my test knit.  I am testing the pattern and I will be writing it down, soon.  It will be for sale in my shop.  The finished pair of socks will be for sale in the shop as well.  I have to finish the second one.  I am no longer knitting socks for free for family and friends.  I am charging my rate, which will pay for the yarn and the wear and tear on my hands. 

I chose to use Dyna-mites beads from Fire Mountain Gems.  Love the price tag on the beads, in my ball park.  The color is root beer, a rainbow transparent.  I used rocailles, size 6/0.  My crochet hook is a size 9 steel hook.  I knit this sock on US3 addi turbo sock rockets.  Love those needles, they have the sharp points and they come in my favorite cable length, 24 inches.  I use 2 of them to knit socks.  I had to explain that this weekend to another knitter. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that I use two needles to knit a pair of socks.  I can use dpns but, my preferred method is the two needles. 

I have found it is far easier to knit lace socks on two circs.  It holds the work for me when I am not knitting.  Love that feature.  I have tried so many different needles over the years and always faithfully return to my addi turbos.  Best purchase, ever.  I know they are expensive but, if you knit professionally like I do, spend the money for them.