What not to do with your knitting needles...

So, tonight I was knitting away at my new hat, and set it aside for a bit. Hazel was determined to play with the yarn and needles, so I sat it on the back of the couch behind me, where she couldn't get to them.

Now, originally, I was going to title this post "Things not to do with your knitting needles" but for reasons you will soon discover, I've had a hard time thinking of much but this....

Brett was sitting on the floor, looking through our collection of DVDs trying to decide what to watch, and Hazel (being Hazel) was "helping" him, which, as it turns out, isn't helping. I was sitting on the couch, an arm's reach from Brett and even closer to Hazel. Laughing, I leaned over and scooped Hazel up around her belly and under her arms, and (still laughing) fell (do you see where this is going?) back onto the couch.

Right back onto the knitting.

Which might not have been so bad if they had been on the seat part of the couch, or even on the arm. Nope. They were on the back.

The needles when right into my scalp.

Thankfully, it was just the tiniest of wounds. But I still had to pull the needle, the one the was HANGING FROM MY HEAD, out of my scalp. And there was bleeding. And crying. And the nauseous need to pass out. So we called the on-call Dr to see what we should do. My scalp was only bleeding a little, and Brett couldn't make anything out, but we were nervous about blowing it off, especially as I had to PULL NEEDLES FROM MY HEAD. The nurse that called back said she felt better about calling an ambulance to come take me to the hospital than having me get in the car and let Brett drive me to Urgent Care. So we sat, and waited. And the longer we sat here, the more my head hurt, which made me think about it more, which made me more sick to my stomach and light headed.

The EMTs showed up...nicest guys btw...took a look at it and said they thought I should be okay. That the wound was really tiny, and seemed to have stopped bleeding, and since they didn't see the needle and how far it went into my scalp, they could advise 2 things. 1, I could go to the ER and get a tetanus shot. But the ER in Antrim would be PACKED on a Saturday night and I would most likely spend most of the evening in the waiting room as more severe cases would go before me (as rightfully they should) or 2, I could clean out the little wound and wait until my dr is in on Monday, give him a call and see about getting the shot then.

We chose #2.

Anyway, let this be a lesson to all you knitters. We were very lucky that the needles stabbed me and not Hazel. I'm usually very careful with my needles. Well, usually, anyway. If you thought you were one of those knitters who thinks you're too smart to hurt yourself by sitting on or getting stabbed by your needles, be ware....you're next.