Mossy Cottage Knits

Your gansey and your genita....erm, peppers are just lovely.

You are about to learn of one of the great pepper marketing ploys of the grocery store world. You know how in the grocery store you see green bell peppers for oh, $ per pound, and then you see red bell peppers for $$$ per pound? They're the same damn pepper. The only difference is that the red ones are ripe. Green bell peppers are green because, well, they're green, i.e., not ripe! It drives me up a tree to see plants in nurseries marked as "green bell peppers" and next to them "red bell peppers" too. Orange and yellow bell peppers are slightly different animals, but only in color. They can also be picked as green peppers, or left to ripen to their colorful selves.

Your peppers are a variety that turns from green to yellow to red as they ripen. You can pick them at the yellow stage or wait until they turn red. Depends on how you like your peppers. They'll be more evenly hot and a bit sweet when they are fully ripe.

The detailing on that sweater is amazing! I'm also impressed (and a little scared) that you're working on a sweater in such hot weather...

the sweater is amazing - I so understand the hot and knitting - it is 8:48am and it is 82 in my house - and it is cloudy and way humid - no way I am picking up knitting today - you are a better woman then I am

The sweater looks great! The peppers look yum - I say you cook up that outlier.

Absolutely marvelous!
But, hey!--what's this about waking up with ghost hands? Sounds like you are sleeping with your wrists bent. See what consciously relaxing your hands and wrists while falling asleep (and every time you sort of rouse in the night) does for you. Of course, you might also want to remember that I in no way have any license to dispense any advice whatsoever!

Hi ya - the sweater is Gorgeous! REALLY! you need to stop calling it merely tolerable. As for the heat, we are also wilting here in Oly, tho it much nicer today....

Thanks for the Rose link the other day. There is one rugosa there that is sorely tempting me....

First, go to Target or a similar store and get yourself some wrist splints. They are used for people suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. Second, wear them to bed every night and see if it helps. You may be able to wear them while knitting, I'm not sure. I wear them while embroidering if I start to hurt or go numb.

This worked for me, anyway. Couldn't hurt to try it! ;0)

That gansey is way beyond merely tolerable. I love the heathery yarn color, and the knitting -- oo la la! What size needles are you using? If it is smaller than a 7 -- and I think, based on the photos, that it is -- you have my undying admiration for your courage and perseverance. Making a sweater on, say, size 5 needles for a 5' tall, 98-pound person is one thing; doing it for a Woman Of Substance like you and I is something quite different. Bravo!

The sweater is looking great! I second the idea of wearing wrist splints to bed to alleviate the hand issue. I, too, am not medically qualified to offer advice.

Now why would you want to continue to mangle yourself knitting WOOL in the SUMMERTIME, however lovely the results (even though your results are amazingly lovely)...?

My suggestion: lace knitting.

Oh. I guess I mentioned this before. Sorry to be such a nag. I can hear your teeth grinding as I post...sorry....

I third the suggestion to get wrist braces. I used to wake up with both hands clenched into fists that would take 5-10 minutes for me to uncurl. Totally worth the lack of sex appeal to wear those braces to bed.
Sweater looks lovely!

I know burnett/conway sketch that you refer to. That was a skit where he was the dentist and Harvey Korman was in the chair. Apparently most of that was adlibed (sp). I once had a dentist (I'm dentophobic) who told me to watch that skit and the Bill Cosby skit "moke i mell moke" remember that one? Then he said whenever I was in chair and started to get anxious to try to follow in my mind the storyline the whole way thru. Sort of mentally watching the DVD. You know, sometimes it worked, and sometimes I aspirated cotton and other drill debris while they were working on me because I was trying not to laugh.
Anyway, take care of those wrists. Carpal tunnel is nothing to sneeze at. I am waiting to have both wrists done and it's not fun when they flare up. The day that made my decision to go ahead with surgery was the day after I finished "Pillars of the Earth" and my wrists were so sore from holding that heavy sucker up to read, I literally could not pick anything up without gasping in pain.
Oh and the gansey is far from tolerable, it's quite amazing. As pretty close to a non-knitter (2 or 3 sweaters when my kids were little) I envy those that can produce beautiful garments like this. I can sew till the sheep come home, because sewing can give me pretty near instant gratification. But how I love knitted items.

Me again!! I just read Janine's post about ghost hands and remembered that the surgeon that is to do my surgery told me to buy a pair of "resting splints" at the drug store in the medical devices area (where they sell canes and knee braces and stuff like that). They are sort of like cycling gloves or which ever gloves have no fingers? (I'm such a sporty girl). Hidden inside the layers of the gloves there is a little metal piece with a sort of spoon shaped section at one end, that fits inside your palm and the spoon handle section goes part way up your wrist to keep it from bending. That's what provides the support. The gloves strap on at night with velcro and belt loops and keep your wrists in a more neutral position while you sleep. There's no need to tighten them so they hurt. Just gently tighten so they don't twist out of place - they shouldn't be uncomfortable to wear. You can also wear them during the day but they inhibit some kinds of movements. The longer you spend in them the less compression is put on those CT nerves and it gives that area more time to calm down and the swelling to subside. They come in small medium and large and don't need a prescription and cost

I was going to lecture you about your hands, but you seem to have been thoroughly lectured already! But please, please, don't ignore this!

And if you suspect the gansey is responsible please PLEASE take a break from it! Another week of knitting instead of resting might mean an extra month of resting, if that's what's causing it!

Wrist wraps to keep from sleeping with them bent might be all you need, but if not ...

(We lecture because we love you!)

xoxo

*I* won't lecture you about your wrists -- however, as a Jewish Mother I can't just let it go, so: WHAT THEY SAID!!

Also, regarding the sweater: as a simple knitter (as in: I make patterns gleaned from the knitting class at the Home for Seriously-Knitting-Challenged-or-Under-Age-Five) I can tell you that your sweater is eye-wateringly beautiful. I would set it aside too, until it's cooler and the wrists feel better -- but during the hiatus, go in search of a beautiful, long, soft and drape-y skirt (I'd want pockets) to wear with it in the fall. Because I cannot imagine an outfit more elegant, and when you say, "Why, thank you, it's the first adult-sized sweater WHICH I KNITTED ENTIRELY, THANK YOU FOR ASKING" you can feel justifiable pride.

Amazing job on the sweater! You have every right to be proud of such an accomplishment.

I hope my peppers turn out as well as yours. I'm growing CA bell and Italian sweet peppers. Haven't checked them recently but I'd be surprised to see more than a tiny speck of a pepper on any of them, and here yours are already changing colors. Wow!

Your sweater is coming out great (and the yarn is holding up pretty darn well for ripping out the sleeve so many times)!

I'm also glad that you survived your rake to the face incident.

Sue and I looked at your sweater on Sunday in AWE! It really is quite beautiful babe. And I can't wait to see you wearing it.

also. altho lots of folks have talked about carpal tunnel it might simply be a nerve thing from sleeping in a fetal position. I often sleep with my elbows bent and my wrists curled. there was a news article recently about how people holding telephones up to their ears are cutting the blood flow to the nerves. Try to sleep with your arms straight. using the splints wouln't hurt, altho the elbows need to be straight too. I know. not "relaxing" since my "comfort" position default is curled. But you need more blood and oxygen to those bits. :) good luck babe.