Who Needs a Gym?

Who knew knitting could be so exhausting? On Monday and Tuesday, I did a section each day of my Death of the Moon. That means ten rows each day, knitting over 300 stitches of fingering weight yarn on US 4 needles. Yesterday I did six-and-a-half rows, not the ten I'd hoped for. And I was so tired I almost fell asleep at the knitting group I attend on Wednesday afternoons. It takes a lot of concentration to get that many stitches done, and to pay attention to all the increases. I wanted to finish the last few rows of Section 8 of the pattern last night, but I just kind of collapsed.

According to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, knitting burns 85 calories per hour (crocheting burns 80, so tthhhppptt, crocheters). I worked on the shawl for 3.5 hours on Monday and Tuesday, for a total of 7 hours, equaling a total of 595 calories the first two days. I knit about 3 hours on Wednesday, so that's another 255 calories. That's a total of 850 calories. I can honestly say. . .

But the sheer brain power involved in knitting something sometimes is what's really exhausting. I also have a tendency to count the stitches as I'm knitting each row, to make sure I haven't gone wrong somewhere, and I really do have 368 at the end of the row. Woe betide me if I come up with 367, because I will go and count each and every stitch (by twos, 'cause I'm not crazy) to make sure I didn't miscount somewhere (math is hard!). And I really really REALLY want this shawl to come out looking good.

I'll be knitting this afternoon after work. Either on the patio in the back courtyard, or at a cafe with a friend. My goal is to finish section 8, and section 9! Burnin' that fat with knitting'! Yeah!