Protect Your Tools

I was knitting this morning, working on my "at home" project, when I had a sudden realization. The project in question, my top down raglan sweater, had gotten a bit too cumbersome for the commute. I'd finally reached the waistband ribbing, which required switching to size 4 needles. For those of you who don't knit, smaller numbers equal smaller needles, so that's tiny. I was knitting along when I got a pain in my forearm, that pain that made me remember the words of my drafting professor: "If you keep drafting like that, you're going to have carpal tunnel before you're thirty". Thanks a lot. I can't speed along on size four needles. I'll have to alternate this project with other, larger gauge projects. I'll never be able to knit a Rowan sweater. It's strange that these needles are causing me problems, since I've knit socks on smaller needles. Of course, socks are a smaller project. Oh well. I'd rather take an extra couple of months to finish this than cripple myself.
Later at work, I felt a pain in the big joint of my thumb on my right hand. What I imagined to be a vaguely arthritic twinge, as I am clearly a hypochondriac. Or the child of a hypochondriac. I looked down and realized that I was gripping my cheapo Bic pen as though my life depended on it. I grip that pen for a good five hours a day at work, so this was a distressing thought. I'd heard of people getting repetitive stress injuries from typing, but from writing?! So, I made a conscious effort to relax my grip on the pen and immediately felt better. My handwriting looked pretty spindly without that apparently crippling force behind it. Maybe I should start bringing my own pens or those dorky rubber grips favored by people who do a lot of crossword puzzles.
Fortunately, my other project is on larger needles. Yes, back to that. I'm back to work on the Colinette Giotto pullover, now that my extra skein has arrived from the UK. I really love the people at Colinette. The pattern for the sleeves has a right and a left. Most patterns don't. These designers clearly know what they're doing. Further advancing my theory that all Colinette books should feature a disclaimer at the front warning knitters of the addictive properties of their product. I've got to find some warm weather projects, once this one's off the needles. Almost all of the projects in the batting order at cold weather items. Of course, knitting them during the warmer months of the year would ensure that they would be ready and waiting on that first cold day of autumn, but it means missing out on that gratifying first wearing, still warm from the needles. Delayed gratification is not a favorite activity of mine. I think that I may tackle Wendy's Something Red next. It looks like a good cross-season garment, good for when they turn the AC on at work. I don't want to get caught wearing an Old Grandpa sweater in the middle of the summer, like so many office workers keep in their cubicles!