Recycled knits

I started a cabled sweater this weekend, then promptly set it aside due to injury. (Anyone notice a theme here?) On Sunday I lost an argument with a folding ladder. I didn't fall this time. My right hand got flattened in a way hands weren't meant to be squeezed. Being experienced in these things, I stomped a little, yelled a lot, and grumped around the barnyard until the pain receded a bit. I helped my husband set up the ladder and fix the barn roof, then found an ice bag. After a couple of hours, I was sure the injury wouldn't require a trip to the emergency room, but knew I'd be seeing some interesting colors on that skin this week. By evening I'd confirmed that the swelling definitely affected dexterity, and the sweater project was better left in the basket for now.

No way would I tolerate another long knitting drought though. So I pulled out a more forgiving project, a doormat from recycled baling twine. That's one thing I have plenty of around here, and if I run short on baling twine retrieved from the bales I feed my own livestock, my neighbors are more than willing to share their surplus. This doormat pattern isn't an original idea of mine. Mention of it was made about a year or so ago on an email list made up of farm women with a common interest in sustainable agriculture. (I know I'm not the only one who immediately walked out to the barn and started tying lengths of scrap baling twine together after reading that post.) I rolled my barn yarn around an old hydrogen peroxide bottle to make it more manageable, and debated how to begin. After a bit of experimenting, I settled on US 11 tips on my Denise Interchangeables, cast on 50 stitches, and plain old garter stitch.

It's ugly, but if it catches the mud at the back door during mud season, I'll be happy.