wrist update, Hobbit art recs

[bedlamsbard]

Oof, I made the -- hmm, I don't know if I want to go ahead and say "mistake" -- I made the decision to try and knit the entire time during the Vikings finale, and I'm not entirely sure that that was the smartest decision. I have been outright afraid of knitting for the past couple of weeks, of even trying to knit -- I think I did four minutes one time, ten minutes another -- just in case I found out I couldn't, that even trying would hurt too much to be worth it, that my (not terribly extensive compared to some) collection of expensive yarn was now worthless, etc., etc. But I bit the bullet and did it today (I just finished up the gusset on the 3x1 ribbed sock that I started about a month ago at about the same time the wrist pain was kicking in again), and knitting for about 44 minutes straight was probably not the brightest notion, because I could definitely feel it afterwards. In the left wrist and a little bit in the right, maybe, I'm never sure whether I'm actually in pain, if it's all in my head, or if I think I should be in pain so I make myself actually be in pain (this makes sense in my head).

Today was actually probably not the best day to try, since this week's wrist experiences have varied between "ow ow ow", "okay", "ugh", and "eh." Though it hasn't veered into "OW MOTHERFUCKER MAKE IT STOP" for the past couple weeks, and both wrists have been kind of poppy for the past two days. Right wrist is normally poppy, left wrist has been more so recently -- Monday was painkillers, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much "whatever IDK", Thursday was intensive note-taking and thus some aching/poppy-ness, yesterday was on and off poppy, veering into "wow, I really shouldn't be doing this and yet I can't stop typing," because I went into the writing madness on Thursday and Friday. Although typing works my hands in different places than knitting, and yeah, I don't know. I do know that my left wrist has been kind of "eh" all day, so testing it may not have been the best idea.

Although, let's be honest, English Flatmate N. and I are going to go see Iron Man 3 tomorrow, and I was -- still am, I guess, we'll see if my hands have fallen off tomorrow morning -- anxious about what I can do with my hands in the theatre. Normally I knit; if I don't knit, I take in a skein of yarn and spend the entire movie winding it. (I actually did this through all four screenings of The Hobbit, because I didn't have anything on the needles I could do without looking.) But I obviously don't want to start winding yarn if I don't know if I'll be able to knit anytime soon, and I don't know if I'll actually be able to knit, and I don't want to get popcorn...I guess we'll see. I mean, I may just end up in the theatre clutching my ziploc of half-knitted sock. (Which I end up doing if I screw up badly enough I can't fix it without looking. Basically, I need to have something in my hands.)

The vague upside to the whole hand thing is because I can't knit while I'm watching TV, I'm watching a lot less TV -- an episode or two a day (sometimes more, depending what I'm doing). Usually while I'm eating; if not or after I finish, I end up with my hands wrapped around a mug, usually bopping around on the internet too. A couple of times I've sat down with some lengths of yarn to work on my multi-strand braiding techniques. I don't know how I'll deal with an actual movie. Anyway, if I watch less TV, then I'm doing something else. Schoolwork, hopefully. Mostly. Sometimes. (Actually, I wish I was reading more, for school or otherwise. I mean, have you seen my to-read pile?)

One side effect of the whole wrist business is that I'm much more likely to reach for whatever painkiller I have on hand -- ibuprofen, today -- out of sheer irritation rather than the level of pain. (I mean, the pain too. I notoriously have problems with painkillers.) Which is not the best idea ever, but I'm clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

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I've got a LotR art rec post coming up sometime -- it was going to be today, but then I realized a lot of what I'd put aside to mine for later actually turned out to be Silmarillion art, which I'm not going to rec until I've, you know, actually read the Silmarillion. (It is at the top of my to-read pile. Well, one of them.)

Today's Hobbit art rec theme is book-based art! I thought I had a little more of this, but I can't find it right now. That is to say, art that's based on written depictions of characters in the book, rather than the movie versions. So a bit of a change from what we've seen recently! (Don't worry, I've got some Hot Dwarves (TM) lined up for later too.)

Bilbo Baggins and Long Way by CG-warrior
Thorin Oakenshield and There and Back Again by gold-seven
The Arkenstone by ullakko
Balin, Bombur, and Dori by ancalinar
He came alone, and in bear's shape... by sceithailm
Gandalf the Grey by lucasgraciano

Slightly odd numbers, I know, but I kind of lost track and didn't feel like cutting anything out. There's quite a lot of book-based art out there, of course, these books have been around for much, much longer than the movies, The Hobbit or LotR! It's rather disconcerting to look at book-based art for familiar characters, especially if you've been spending as much time looking at visual representations of them as I have. (Read: a lot. I've got about 500 pieces saved on my computer, and there's a lot I don't save because it doesn't really do it for me, not to mention pictures of the actors, the actual movie, concept art, etc. And that's just Hobbit stuff, not counting anything for/from LotR.) You end up staring at it going, "Wait, but, Bilbo, what? Wait, dwarves, what? WAIT GANDALF WHAT?" I pulled out my copies of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings when I was at home over break, which I can't take seriously anymore because of the cover art -- this box set. I KNOW RIGHT? (Also, I think between me and my father we might have about three or four copies each of all the books.)