I’ve decided I’m totally a wimp when it comes to aches and pains. Over the weekend, I was helping Jeff move some furniture upstairs and in the initial lift did something to my back. Strained or pulled, I really don’t know, but the last few days have involved mostly slow and careful movements, lots of ibuprofen and ice packs. It’s exhausting really. By the mid-afternoon, I just want to hide in my apartment and do nothing but knit. Maybe it’s the pain medication that is making me feel so anti-social, or perhaps it’s the constant dull pain. Who knows. In any case, I do think things are improving… just slowly.

Speaking of knitting, I’ve been focusing on using up yarn that has been hanging around here for many months and in some cases, years. I don’t want to have to move yarn that I’ll likely never use, so I figure I’ll knit up what I can, and then give away (or maybe eBay) the rest of the stuff that I don’t have plans for.

To start I made a baby sweater, which I think I might send to my cousin’s baby boy born last fall. I think the sweater might be about a 9-12 month size, and with chunky yarn and size 10.5 needles, I knit it in about 3 days. The best kind of project. I used an original pattern (which really means… I cast on some stitches, 20 in this case, and just started knitting). I like the results.

There’s a hat too, but I don’t actually like the hat much.

People often say I should sell my knits, and I’m wondering if maybe I could. How much do you think I could make for something like this? I figure the materials cost me about $25.00, plus maybe 8 hours of my time? So it’s not like I would make money on the cost/time, but if I could use yarn I already have, perhaps knitting with it and selling it would be better than just having the yarn sitting around.

After the sweater, I started thinking about all the 100% wool yarn I have around that I thought I might make felted projects with, but never actually followed through on. So then I started knitting felted boxes. Finished a large one and most of a small one last night, and now I think I’ll do a couple more. Here’s the “pre-felt” look at them. Hopefully they turn out well. Would make good gifts I think…..

On job searching… I have 2 on-campus interviews in the next week. Crossing my fingers.

p.s. Doesn’t Niko look ferocious (for a house cat) in this picture: