I have had eczema all my life and I'm currently undergoing my winter flare. The type of gloves I use at work are making things worse: the acrylic gloves (which aren't good enough for protection anyway) make me sweat, and the powdered latex gloves dry my skin. All I'm asking for is powder free latex gloves, and I don't want to go through occupational health to get them (I'd have to go out of town for that, it's complicated). It's bad enough that I am surrounded by doctors and nurses that tell me I might be developing a latex allergy (everyone here is paranoid about that). Excuse me, but this is just an irritation, my immune system is not yet involved. I stole one box of powder-free latex gloves from a different area in the hospital, I hope nobody minds and, more importantly, I hope it works.

I can still go on knitting since my fingers are not affected, just the back of my hands. However, I'm relieving the itch with a coal tar gunk that stains all fabrics, so I'd rather keep my yarn safe. Well, maybe I'll knit a little bit, right after washing my hands and before applying the ointment again. I finished the body of the frankenbag and decided that the greens I have clash with the earth tones, so I'm using one of the pale colors for trimming. I have yet to make straps.

I started a new pair of socks with my socka yarn. It's been three months since I got it, it's about time I do something with it.

I like the earth tones, but it's a little dull. Maybe a green trimming later on?
What else have I been doing? Defiling art. Sorry. I could not resist the temptation. I hope no one finds this too pretentious:

This is one of my favorite paintings. It was partially destroyed by fire and later restored. So I figured I could play a little bit with it... After all, it's already been peppered up by someone else, right? If you click on the image you can see the whole desecration... I mean, work of art... It's a large file, though. And if you click here, you can see the original.

I'm so happy about my violet that I couldn't avoid posting a picture. See, when I first got this pretty plant I immedately overexposed it to sunlight and ruined a few leaves with water marks. But look at it now! Thank you Heather, for the beautiful plant and the great advice.

And now, some knitting content:

I started a new project with mystery yarn. When I first got it I planned on making a Frankenvest, but the texture is so rough that I thought it could only be used to make rugs. As you can see, I changed my mind again.

Yes, I overcame my second sock syndrome without straining my pinkie:

I would have worn them right away, were it not for the fact that they tend to roll down to my ankles. But I'm going to fix them:


Do you think this will work? I've never incorporated elastic to ribbing, but my mom used to do it, so I'm hoping I'll be able to do it too. If it doesn't work, I'm going to ask her for some help.

By the way, she is the one that taught me how to knit, and she was taught by her aunts and grandmother, so I assume people in Mexico and Spain have been using the "combined" method all along. Can anyone check on that? The so called "English" method is also used in Germany and in Italy, according to Marta (I did ask her once). I'll just call it the popular method, since it's the one most books and magazines assume you will use. Modeknits calls it the "Western" method, which gives the false impression that this method is used throughout the Western hemisphere.

I'm a combination knitter. At least according to this excellent site, where an expert knitter is trying to gain some converts.

I've knit this way all my life and it never occurred to me that this was an anomaly until I noticed that sometimes patterns did not make much sense. And now, after 20+ years of knitting, I discover that my method actually has a name, and someone is trying to teach it to others. I sure see the advantages: no wrist pain ever.

Oh, and that sore pinkie? Well, that comes from ordinary knit stitches, which I learned to make in order to knit in the round (though I still do weird things when I purl in the round).

Well, I'm not alone then. I feel better. Though I hate labels, don't you?

Albeit a small one. No, it's not the awaited second sock. It's a camera case:


That's not my camera, of course. It's a birthday gift for my father from my sister, my mom and me. Technically, the case is not yet finished, it needs some blocking and a piece of velcro on the bottom, that's why the flap is hanging. It's not a very professional looking case, but I know he'll use it. It's made with the yarn I got from the retirement home's spring cleaning.

Remember my first Kool-Aid yarn? I thought about different things to do with this very irregular yarn and finally decided to make these two potholders:


One is larger than the other, but not by much. Making these potholders gave me an opportunity to rest my pinkie (so far no pain) and also to practice a couple of new stitches. The small potholder was made in Shaker stitch (from Buss's Big Book of Knitting). I modified the stitch in order to make the larger potholder, and got a less stretchy fabric, but it's just as thick as the Shaker stitch.

I also took a picture of a doily I started about a year ago and then abandoned. Maybe if I post it here I'll get myself to finish it:

It seems that getting my hands on the computer is getting harder and harder. Just to give you an idea, my husband spends about 14 hours per day working on it. Which I hope means that he will finish his dissertation soon, he really needs to rest.

Here's the picture I took of my nephew's scarf before packing it:


And here's a picture of the striped yarn I recently dyed:


I'm curious to see how it knits up, but I'm putting this yarn away, since I must finish my yellow and green socks first:


I'm going very slowly, I don't want to get a sore pinkie again.

Yes indeed, I finished that beaded scarf, blocked it and packed it. Those two scarves are the only Christmas presents I'm knitting this year. I took a picture of the scarf before packing it, but I'll post it when I get another chance at my husband's computer. I started working again on my striped socks, hoping my pinkie won't resent it. Michele asked for a link to the beading tecnhique that I used for the scarves. I tried two other techniques, (I'm sure there's more out there) but this is the one I liked the most. The website does not mention that you cannot have two adjacent beads either vertically or horizontally. That is something I discovered by trial and error. And it kind of makes sense, once you see how it's done.

And if my very depressed husband means it, I won't have to. He said long before the elections that we would leave this country if Bush won.

I have not knitted much, because I want to give my sore pinkie a break, but I hope to finish soon my nephew's scarf. I already finished the airplane, take a look:

I read today that someone does not like pets pictured on knitting blogs. Which is foolish, since Wendy has tons of useful information and a lot of knitting pictures in her blog. I don't see what's wrong with adding pictures of a gorgeous pet that is happy to pose for her owner. Me, I only have Bertoldino, who's a little camera shy, but I still love him and am proud to show him off:

I'm off to pamper myself, I'm not over the elections yet.