I knit my fingers to the bone on Sunday. Now, I like to be careful with marathon knitting. I try not to do it often to avoid repetitive motion injuries and all that jazz. But one time a year, I give into the competition of the Iknitarod and go for it. I take breaks and stretch my hands and things, but it’s a lot of knitting for about 10 days. I’m not sure exactly how many stitches I knit on Sunday, but it was a lot. Then, I hit the hay. That’s when things got interesting.
(dream) At night, I am walking home through a seedy part of town and a gentleman was giving everyone batons (and by baton, I mean tactical baton, not high school twirling baton). Everyone was taking them and continuing on their way as we all knew there was some kind of crazy dangerous killer in the area. Why we knew this and were still calmly walking along, I cannot fathom, but it’s a dream. Go with it. Fast forwad a couple of blocks. Generous Baton Guy had looped back and was approaching us again. This time, however, he was throwing full-sized saw blades at us like they were Chinese throwing stars. I blocked one with my baton and I don’t know if it ricocheted or another one appeared, but a saw cut about halfway through my hand as I caught it. Now, I’m not going to pretend to be some kind of weapons expert, but if a saw blade is being thrown at you, for the love of all that is holy, do not try to catch the thing. Avoid it at all costs. Hide behind a car. Duck down very small so it will go over your head. Do whatever you can to get out of the path. DO NOT try to catch it. Again, it’s a saw.
It seems that I was in shock because my hand did not hurt that bad and I was pleased to have caught the thing. My very next thought in this dream was, “damn, I’m not going to be able to knit tomorrow.” My hand is nearly in two pieces and I’m thinking about how soon I can get back to knitting. Ladies and gentlemen, you might have a problem if…..

the rest of the story: I think I had a hand cramp and my brain was working it into my dream. My hands both feel fine now…..and I think we can all agree that the hitchhiker shawl has kind of a saw feel to it.

Ps. I’m working on point 42 and the Iditarod winner should be pulling into Nome sometime tomorrow. Mush!