Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Hitofude love



I seem to have hit my stride with Hitofude. Last night I got the  last repeat of the upper body and sleeves done, and even managed to seam the first sleeve before bed.
 Now I know what you’re thinking… “but Valerie, last night was Monday. You said Hitofude was weekend knitting.”

True, but now that I’ve got my groove on, I want to get as much done as I can before I lose it.

When I first started knitting this, I really didn’t love it. Oh – I loved the pattern, and I loved the yarn, but knitting it just wasn’t doing it for me. The rows were long and slow, and my hands ached a little while doing them. It just wasn’t making for a happy knit.

But then I realized something… the discomfort was because my hands were cold! You see, every autumn, I play a game called “No heat until November” and I try to resist the urge to turn the rads on until November first, no matter how cold it gets!

It’s usually not too bad – I’ve got lots of sweaters and shawls and blankets. But I didn’t realize how cold my hands were until the other night when I had to give Mr. Stinkypants a bath.
 (Only having three legs makes it hard to negotiate the box sometimes and accidents happen) Even though the poor boy was wrapped in a towel, under a fleece blanket and surrounded by my legs, he was shivering – so on went the heat.

He got nice and toasty and so did my hands.

And once the heat is turned on, there’s no point going back to cold when the cat is dry. So when I finally picked up Hitofude on the weekend, I noticed a huge difference. Rows went faster and my hands no longer ached!

So – now she’s getting plenty of love. Tonight I’ll seam the other sleeve and see how far I can get on the body. Want to lay bets on if I can have her done by Remembrance Day?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the spidey hat, hate the spiders. Seriously injured my leg last night while trying to help Hubster kill a big spider. Instead of killing it on the first go it somehow ended up about my feet. I jumped past Hubster but ended up connecting my thigh with the dog kennel door. Right on the top corner!!! Can you say gouged and bruised? I can. LOL. Yeah for warm hands to knit with.

kathy b said...

Ha! cold hands warm heart. Good that kitty got rid of the shivers and helped your knitting

Araignee said...

We turn the heat on early because of the critters too. I have a tropical parrot that doesn't like the cold and dirty little doggies that need bathing often. I'm knitting all these mitts so I can put a pair in every knitting bag. Even with the heat on, my hands always get cold as soon as the sun goes down and this weekend, it's going down mighty early again. :(

Now where is that hot water bottle?

Rachelle said...

I have the cold hands issue in autumn too, it makes quite a difference.
Btw, I think kitty was "wrapped", you may want to change that cos what you've got may have been the reason he needed a bath, lol.

Anonymous said...

While we are STILL running the air conditioner. LOL

That is supposed to change this weekend. I think maybe fall is finally coming to Florida.

Tux is such a cutie pie. He must be very sweet too if he lets you give him a bath.

I can imagine if I bathed Shelby, HEAT would be the least of my problems. ;-)

lexa said...

I haven't turned my heat on yet. Been chilly in the morning a few times, but I've held off. Today we've got a warm front moving through, a high of +20C. I think this weekend I may have to break down and turn the furnace on, it's only calling for highs of like +8, +7, +9 for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Guess it's bound to happen sooner or later! Time to order more oil.

Unknown said...

Ah, I can just feel that heat...and the warm hands hitting their stride with the needles. Looking good. I'm anxious to see more pictures; the pattern looks beautiful...complicated, but worth it.

elns said...

I'm glad your hands and the kitty is warm. (How cute is he under that towel?)

I love it when one hits that knitting zone. You get it, girl. Enjoy that groove. You're a fantastic knitter and we always get to see the good stuff when you get there.