I figured out the culprit causing my wrist pain - making M1 increases in cotton. The increases in the diagonal pillow cover below, an M1 at the start of each row, look great, but the twist making the M1 and the lack of give, even in this cotton-acrylic blend, was too much for my fragile wrist. No more all-day bursts of knitting on that pillow, that's for sure.

I tried a little straight knitting at a larger gauge without any pain, so until the pain is all the way gone I'm working on a cat blanket for the Critter Knitters knit-a-thon. I went stash-diving and came up with some Lion Brand Homespun that has been languishing for years, and we all know (at least we who have introduced it into the household know) cats love Homespun. Homespun is a cat magnet, machine washable, and meets all the requirements for critter knitting, so I cast on another basic triangle, but this time with a YO increase - no pain, the cats will gain.

Another bad night's sleep last night, though now they are triggered by dumb reasons. My flashbacks and nightmares have stopped, thank God, but stupid things conspire to rob me of sleep. Last night it was an itching fire ant bite on the bottom of my foot. I was moving the garden hose for my baby tomato plants on Saturday, and a fire ant climbed onto my sandal and bit the sole of my foot, right at the tender skin on the arch. I responded quickly, smooshing the ant, turning the air blue with profanity, and then spraying the bite with some Benadryl spray - if you get it fast enough it usually will prevent it from developing into one of those lovely, very medieval boil-like things. A fire ant bite on sensitive skin can turn into something you really don't want to look at before, during or after eating. The Benadryl did the trick, it's just a small pink spot on my foot, but at 3 a.m. it started itching like a mother and nothing appeased it. Fire ants are absolutely vile. I think it was Ortho who ran a hilarious radio commercial for their fire ant killer a few years ago - it went something like, "They aren't cute. They don't pollinate anything. They don't serve any useful purpose in nature. All they do is bite the HELL out of you, and that is why they need to DIE, and die horribly!" It ended with the slogan, "Kick fire ant butt." That's pretty close to verbatim - I remembered it because it was so hilarious it brightened my morning commute. I need to kick more fire ant butt, obviously - they are the most invasive little bastards and hunting them is a year-round sport. If you are north of the fire ant zone, count your blessings.