state of the me

[ysobel]

am still trying to find ways to do sock knitting. (for those who don't remember, lemme 'splain ... no, there is too much, let me sum up. Hands are fixed in position about half a foot apart from each other, right in front of my stomach. I knit by using long (10" or longer) needles -- which limits me to dpns and straights, since circs do not exist with long enough needle part -- and by having one hand near the tips of the needles to manage yarn and stitches and suchlike, and the other hand at the base of its needle. English style knitting does not work because the only way I can manage it involves letting go of the right needle, which tends to slip out; Continental style works for knitting, haven't managed purling in a way that works, except that the bamboo needles below size 5 (US) are flexible enough that I can't keep the yarn on the needle while I'm trying to make a stitch. I'd try using metal normal-length dpns with a locking hemostat type thing to hold one needle with, but I can't find my set of sock dpns and anyway the hemostats would probably scratch the needles up. Sock loom works physically, but the gauge is bafflingly off, in that I have completed a toe of 60-stitch circumference and even after about a week off the loom to allow it to relax it's rather too big and there are other issues there anyway.)

brain is not in good place. sigma is very persuasive, and it is so much easier to just let myself fall back into the pit where it wants me to be. I don't want to be there but I'm halfway down and can't figure out how to climb up. some of this is medication issues (changed pharmacies, which meant one of the depression meds was from a different manufacturer, and apparently that's enough to fsck with my brain chemistry) and some of it is self-worth issues (which partly is a self-feeding cycle with the depression, and partly has to do with the fact that I physically can't do 99% of the things I'd like to and am too lazy and/or scared to do the effort required for the other 1%).

i should be happy. there are a hundred reasons why. i'm not, and the main reason is that i'm not doing anything Useful. can't tell you what Useful is, per se, but i'm not doing it. the point of life is to a) pass on genetic code, which is so very bad of an idea in my case; b) contribute something; or c) enjoy things. not managing any of those. sigma keeps telling me that I am wasting my college education, and I think it's right. there are things I should be doing, and i'm not, and it's easier to hate myself for it (and whine in my journal) than to fix the things that are wrong.

mrrp.

Comments

[zarhooie]

I should take you sky-diving. I am pretty sure I can shove you out the door of a plane... <3

ETA: That was meant with love, affection and adoration, darling. We'd find you an awesome parachute, maybe with sparklies and ponies? I am a fan.

[ysobel]

Sky-diving itself would be awesome. (The landing not so much though...)

[0jack]

Hm. I would say bugger the issue of scratching the needles, it won't be enough to wreck up the yarn. Also, some kind of coating on the hemostat would probably only help things stay in place, if someone could use some "shoe goo" or something to coat the ends.

I am thinking also that one could make some long circs by cutting the ends off of a set of regular needles and coming up with some kind of cable or find an appropriate tubing into which to slide two DPNs... I will think on this a while and check out Instructables. That would allow for some of that 2-circ knitting-in-the-round.

Re: sock loom, what a bugger. I was just thinking of buying one. I have the larger plastic knitting looms and have enjoyed using them when my hands wouldn't let me do anything else. One thing you can do if all else fails is use the loom with pure wool and then get some help to felt it or full it to size.

Do you have access to a local yarn store?

[cesy]

I would love to know a way to adapt circular needles - I have the opposite problem to ysobel, in that the needles are always too long for me, and I can't find any with shorter needles and longer cable.

[ysobel]

Get wooden circs and then use a pencil sharpener to shave the tips down? ;)

[0jack]

I am expecting that if the needles aren't hollow, a Dremel would work for cutting them down and grinding them to a point again. If they are hollow, there might be some trickery needed, but it could be done.

[ysobel]

If I could find the right sort of tubing, that might work ... a friend's son made me some custom circs (sizes 7 and 9) by getting straight needles, chopping off the end and filing it down a bit, and adding tubing; but he couldn't manage smaller sizes without a really bad bump at the join. Also, the cable itself is very "sticky" and hard to slide stitches along, which is less than ideal.

The sock loom I have is adjustable, so I can do a sock with fewer pegs. The problem with this is that the pattern I'm using (not a loom pattern) is written for 60 sts, and trying to adjust it to fewer is kind of awkward. The fabric (straight stockinette) is coming out fairly nice, but ... it's kind of impossible to adjust tension on looms. I do like it, I just haven't conquered it into doing what I want to do.

And no, no LYS around here. :(

[0jack]

I've gotten some advice from ppl on Instructables, and I am going to hit up a friend who's a welder for some advice. I have a Dremel and a ton of spare needles and I'm not afraid to use them. :)

[synecdochic]

I love and believe in you, darling.

[ysobel]

<33333333

*hugs*

[synecdochic]

*mwah*

[pne]

What's a "dpns", and how do you even pronounce it?

[cesy]

Double-pointed needles, but I'm not sure how you pronounce the abbreviation.

[ysobel]

dpn = double pointed needle, and is pronounced by sounding out the letters individually (dee pee en). the plural form is dee pee ens (not dee pee en ess).