Lessons Learned

Today is about learning lessons. Or perhaps it is this week/month/year/life that requires the lesson learning. The lessons currently?

Knitting:
Gauge! When the pattern says 36 st = 4 inches that is important. 32 stitches is not 36. It is actually a difference of 4 stitches. One stitch per inch. What a slight difference. Really might not make much difference right? Wrong. This translated into an 8 stitch difference and an additional inch. Now if I were making a shawl or even a cozy pullover that extra inch might be manageable or even forgivable. However, I am working on socks. An extra inch in socks is not a good thing. They become sloppy. They bunch up when you walk. They slouch down the leg. This led me to finding new yarn, smaller needles, and sadly, knitting a new gauge swatch. You may be thinking, "Why did she not do this before?" I did, sort of. I had a pair on the needles, they were 32 stitches = 4 inches. Those needles were 1 1/2 (2.5 mm already quite small). I needed a new pair. The LYS (Local Yarn Shop) had a pair of 1s (2.25 mm even smaller). Usually when I go down one size I end up with the perfect gauge. I feel I must admit here that I am using the word usually with a very loose definition. Usually would imply some sort of pattern. One of the lessons here is that there really is no pattern to my usual gauge/needle/yarn. So what happened with the new yarn and what size were the needles? The needles I started with for this next attempt were size 0. What I ended up with was size 000! I got the gauge. Now am doomed to knit socks with tiny needles. They will be wonderful socks though. I started with latte colored yarn and a slightly darker bead. These were/are called Bailey's on the Rocks Socks. They are the Mystery Sock from Knitter's Brewing Co. The new ones? The color is apricot. I am pretending it is peach. Yes, peach is more orange than apricot sometimes. But couldn't they be interchanged? In my imagination they will be peach and I will call them Fuzzy Navel Socks. They will fit my feet. I will wear them with the giddiness they deserve.

Exercise:
Time! There is always time for exercise. Half an hour can be fit in between clients. That is a good amount of cardio-knitting. Two half hours will add up to one whole hour of cardio, and probably 1-1 1/2 inches of additional sock! I too can do the Power Half Hour training routine. Concentrating on myself for just one half hour at a time will add up and my results will be stunning.

Soreness? I keep wondering why I am sore. I keep working in those sets with my clients. I have been doing steady cardio workouts. This would mean that I might have a few sore muscles. I might have muscles that are growing and repairing themselves. Somehow I don't seem to be catching on to this. It is not as if I am thinking I am above getting sore. It is more like I am having trouble understanding the mechanics of the human body when applied to my body. Yesterday I worked back and biceps. Today I am aware of those muscles. There is a good chance that as the sun goes down I will be even more aware of them (the workout was at about sunset yesterday). General rule-muscle soreness sets in 24-48 hours after exercise and can last for 24-48 hours. Lesson learned here? Keep training and the body will keep changing. You may be more aware of the changes some days than others.