Sunday, March 29, 2009

Laptop love cove(r)

I really love knitting cables. I also love knitting for my friends. I have so far only done two projects for myself and they were just to understand techniques. The rest have been given away. Current project: macbook cover.

This one is a bit of a challenge for me because I've never read cable charts before. It's not hard, but I need a little notepad with hash marks to make sure I'm on the right row next to me the whole time. I get distracted easily.

Using the Knitting with Balls pattern for the aran laptop cover.

I ended up making a fair number of changes, as I want to add a zipper along the length of the laptop and have the flap on the short side. The sizing was also a little difficult for me to figure out how to adjust appropriately, so I just did a swatch and some math. But I'm sticking to the cable patterns.

I'm looking forward to completing this one as there are a lot of finishes that need to go on (see above) and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to pull it off without a sewing machine. The cables are also coming out a little funny (the wild oak cable is messy looking) so I'm going to try my hand at blocking for the first time and hopefully that will help.

The yarn I'm using is wonderful. The colour is perfect for my friend (mossy green) and looks wicked with the aran style. It's a merino, so it managed to knock me back a bit, but at least this project will be way cheaper than the Dr. Who scarf I ended up gifting to a friend in Chicago.

Mah groin!

I picked up a beautiful board yesterday. Loaded Pintail. Reading over the website and some reviews, I realize that I should have gotten a different flex. I got a 1 which is apparently geared towards 200-220lbs riders. I'm a skinny bitch and probably should have gotten the 4. But I am a skinny newbie bitch and will not complain.

It's been a very very very long time since I did any riding and am still not used to longboards. My joyful testament: I pulled my groin yesterday, not three hours after buying the board. One leg and knee stopped, dropped and smashed and the other leg kept on going with my board.

My treatment of a pulled groin:
  • Immobilized the leg and raised it. Got good and comfy, because I was not going anywhere for awhile, my friend.
  • Ibuprofen, extra strength. I got the gel ones. Took two. Perhaps overkill, but damn.
  • Ice! On for fifteen minutes, back in the freezer for 45, then back on for another 15. Repeated until my friend was bored of walking back and forth to the freezer, because I sure wasn't doing it.
  • Heat (I'm not really at this point yet). Apparently one should apply heat to the area before exercise or stretching. I'm still having a pretty hard time shuffling over to the freezer for more ice.
  • Light stretching (see above)
  • Going to the frickin' hospital, dumbass. After reading a couple websites (why do I always do this after I've done something stupid?) I apparently have a grade 3 groin pull, including difficulty walking and pain while sitting and sleeping. As it is feeling significantly better than yesterday afternoon. I choose not to believe that I need surgery to stitch the muscle back together. But it could happen. Crap.
I really feel like I should be eating more protein, but I can't really get up too long to cook. I guess this gives me enough time to get to my knitting.