Socks for Afghanistan

Today I mailed off these socks to Afghans for Afghans for their Socks for Students. They're made with wool generously provided by Elizabeth Durand, plus a little KnitPicks Wool of the Andes I had on hand. I hope they make their goal of 250 pair; they have expressed a little concern about getting that many in time for their trip in March.

My knitting is still progressing slowly, which is why I don't have a finished vest to show off as well. When I started experiencing wrist pain a while back, I just figured my carpal tunnel syndrome was flaring up, and treated it in my usual manner. But when my neck, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees started hurting too, I started looking for another cause--no flies on me! It occurred to me to read the helpful brochure that came with the medication recently prescribed by my dentist; right there, smack dab in the middle of a long list of possible side effects, was JOINT PAIN. It also listed loss of appetite; wish I had gotten that one instead. Anyway, I called my dentist, I'm no longer taking the meds, and the pain is slowly receding.

Since I've had to limit my knitting time, I've been reading about knitting instead. Recently got a copy of EZ's Knitting Without Tears, and I've been poring over the instructions for seamless sweaters. Of course, that's just making my fingers itch to cast on for a sweater, so perhaps my choice of reading material was less than wise. I'm thinking some Peace Fleece sport weight in Kamchatka Seamoss would lend itself nicely to a simple raglan or yoked sweater.

I also got this book recently, which also has some seamless sweater patterns. I think I'll try out a kid-size sweater before I launch into one for myself, see how I like the method. *sigh* There are so many things I want to make; I would love to be able to just sit down and start knitting like mad. I wonder if I could score some really good pain meds somewhere?