... in which our heroine discovers the source of her skin condition

Dear Readers,

I humbly apologize for the lack of knitting content on this blog. Krista and I both moved out of Pittsburgh in the last week, so virtually all of our yarn is packed. (Mine will remain so for at least a month.) We beseech your patience.

Sincerely,
Chialea


Dear Krista,

Thanks for sending over that bleach pen after I dripped blood all over the carpet. In honor of Mac, I'm posting a gross foot picture.

I promise that this is far less gross than it could be, as it's healing, I've blurred the picture, and I've smoothed over some of the missing flesh with neosporin, breakfast of clumsy people. The upshot is that I seem to be incompetent at moving, and I'd like to avoid it for a while. Luckily, we've signed a lease on an incredible apartment in Cambridge, MA. I'm excited to meet the knitters out there; it seems like they are pretty serious about it. Even a bunch of the blogs I read are based in Boston: Subway Knitter, Grumperina, Blue Blog and the rest of the Knitsmiths. I'll certainly need more sweaters on my 1.5 mile walk/bike (each way) to work, so I'd better get cracking!

I may need to give or trade away all my lovely hemp yarn. According to an organic clothing blog, hemp itself is not irritating. However,

Clothing made from hemp and various wools is often intolerable for the acutely chemically sensitive; probably not because of some problem with the natural fiber but with chemicals added during the manufacturing process.

"Acutely chemically sensitive", my butt. I've never had a skin reaction to anything before in my life, including hemp oils; this one ended up taking over two fingers and kept me from knitting for over a week. AllHemp must have some really impressive chemicals to cause skin sensitivity or skin allergy. Mind you, I washed this yarn before using it. I'm going to ask them for advice, but I may just have to give up on their hemp. Euroflax isn't even available in the colours I wanted: deep ocean blue and chocolate brown.

P.S. I know this is a shot in the dark, but if anyone knows of an interesting knitters group, especially in the Davis Square area or accessible by T (preferably Red Line), please let me know. I'll be moving out to Cambridge all alone for a while and I'd love to meet some more people. Willing to pay bribe of newly washed hemp yarn, as bribery "fees" seem to be the norm for apartment-hunting. :)