Hospital, mittens and comments; OH MY!

I don't know what it is exactly about hospitals that both comfort me, and freak me out at the same time. The mere thought of walking into a hospital makes me feel itchy and scratchy. Once I'm there, its a very different feeling. It's not warm fuzzies or anything but my itchies go away, and it's like visiting a friend in an apartment with lots of house guests. Or maybe I've just had some interesting experiences in hospitals. At this point, I really don't know.

The great thing about this round of hospital sitting is that I knit. I busted out almost an entire mitten in about four hours. Friday, after a perilous trip to the vet, I dog sat. So while the pooch was resting from being poked and prodded I watched The View and Law and Order reruns and finished my second mitten. Yes, I actually finished a pair of mittens in slightly over a day. I couldn't believe it. I started them Thursday and finished by 3pm on Friday. Unbelievable. But hey – I told Granny that I'd have mittens to show her after her surgery. What surprises me is that I actually do. I did them on one circular US 8 needle, and with an increase here, and a stitch holder there, I busted out mittens that only needed the thumb to be seamed.

This – ladies and gentlemen and people – this is profound! I have a love affair of things knit in one piece. The idea of it being stronger because its one solid piece of fabric just tickles me pink and probably makes me weirder than I ever thought I could be. I can't believe I just said “tickles me pink”. Moving on; almost every mitten pattern I've seen you need to use dpn's OR straight needles with seaming. And let me tell you, I avoid seaming like its bird flu and e.coli mashed together. I made them so they're each a little different, and once the ribbing of the cuff ends, I held two pieces of yarn together to make them extra warm.

Needless to say, I've gotten a lot of compliments on my knitting over the past week. When you hospital sit, there are only so many hours of General Hospital and Geraldo: At Large you can watch until you just want to claw your own eyes out for the sheer fun of it. It's also helpful because you aren't really thinking as much about why you're in the hospital to begin with. In my case, I was more worried about the thumb and the decreases... But now, with the 9 degree weather slowly warming up to the mid-twenties, I only have one project to concern myself with. No more hats, or scarves, no more quick projects oh no, I'm in the marathon of knitting.

....Except I'm like that guy from the Mastercard commercials who gets a snack and sees a movie instead of running.

In other news, I won a contest! I know, I couldn't believe it either. I woke up Saturday morning to an email that said I won. I had to read it about four times before I replied. I'm still in shock. While poking around I found an image resizer which I plan to use as soon as I have time to take pictures of Matching Mittens, finished Waffle Scarf and Hat.

For the record: I am definitely not afraid of DPN's. It's partially a “I'm too broke to buy them” / “It's hard to teach yourself how to use DPN's.” So right now, I'm content with circular needles and I absolutely plan to learn how to use them, because I want to knit socks. It just may take another few years to sit down with someone and bust out my first pair of socks. I also want to be a better knitter, even if I learn how to use them and I hate DPN's, I want to say I know how to do it – you know?

Thank you for the comments, I appreciate them :) Thank you Lynne for the contest, and the prize. I also stuck my email address on the blog because I noticed someone couldn't post comments. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)