OY, my aching hands!

It's official. I knit too much.

Actually, I think my problem is that I'm knitting too much in the same gauge. I have four different projects on US8 size needles (and one on US2), even though I KNOW that such behavior is just asking for carpal tunnel or a serious muscle cramp. With school out for summer and no other official activities in the works, I basically knit full time, as if it's a job. I believe it's helping me avoid the usual summer break blues, where I spiral into depression from feeling useless and lacking structure, while still side-stepping anything overtly stressful like the graduate classes I need to finish or a temp job.

Jake showed off his laptop case all over town, and apparently several people asked if they could buy one. This isn't the first time someone has asked to commission some knit work, but for the time being, I always answer no. I want my knitting hobby to be just that, a hobby, something I love that relieves stress and releases creativity. If I start ho-ing myself out for money, I'll end up treating my knitting time like a dreaded chore and pumping out known, familiar patterns over and over until I'm utterly sick of them. Stress-inducing. Anti-creativity.

However, that's not to say I don't toy with the idea. It's no secret that I've grown rather disillusioned with the profession of teaching and, at the very least, could use a break. Furthermore, I often ponder how I will balance work and family once we finally obtain the little one we so desire. I can't imagine putting myself through all of this, moving heaven and earth to have a baby, just to drop him/her off at day-care for 9 hours a day while I pretend that nothing has changed. If I fight tooth and nail for this kid, I'm going to want to spend my days enjoying him/her. On the other hand, unless we wait until Jake is out of law school, I will still need to contribute meaningfully to our financial situation, and knitting or designing or blogging or something could be my ticket to that happy medium. I'm just not sure exactly how that would work. Oh well! In the meantime, I'm content honing my craft and gifting everyone I've ever met with handknits.

Oh, and a tip to yarn lovers: my new favorite place to buy yarn is Eat Sleep Knit. They have a great selection of hand-dyed yarns, many of which have cult followings but aren't available in the Dallas area. Right now they have a Yarn Marathon contest going, where they track your mileage and give you prizes for certain achievements! So fun! Also, every order they send you arrives with a scratch-off lottery card, offering awards like gift certificates and free skeins or kits. Man, I'm a sucker for a great marketing scheme. My very first skein of Malabrigo just arrived (the Vaa colorway), and I can't stop petting and smelling it. Check out the link to the right.