Overrun with Baby Cardigans

Posted on April 11, 2013 by honey

Easter holidays gave me a little bit of time to dash to the family seat ‘up north’ and visit the relatives.

My younger Sister is fabulous, glamorous and wonderful. All my life she has been very focused on what’s ‘in’ and designer labels and stuff like that – reading the magazines and following the trends. Me on the other hand, I get dressed and then wait for it to come back into fashion. It happens surprisingly frequently.

I know that knitting is currently the ‘big thing’, that it has now tapered out and diffused from the ever increasing knitting groups, and is becoming an ever increasing blip on the general populations’ radar. However I was still surprised when Sis asked me to teach her to knit while I was there.

A ball of DK (8ply for the non-UK readers) and 5.5mm bamboo needles later and I was *amazed* at how fast my sister processes information. In an hour we had done cast on, knit (which she confessed she kinda remembered from being a child), purl, garter stitch, stockingette stitch, how to tell which one you were doing and how to swap between them, slipping the first stitch of each row (and why) and casting off. 5 hours later she had a ‘Barbie Quilt’ of beautifully even stockingette stitches, and she had started another ‘test square’ with a few garter stitch rows so that it didn’t curl.

She has now set her sights on a baby cardigan. I might just have to send her a knit package! I’ve told her about Ravelry, but it’s all very new and daunting right now. I’m scrolling through loads of baby cardigan patterns looking for one that isn’t a basic bog garter stitch boredom fest, but also isn’t a top down, raglan, seamless “and now get your dpn’s out for the sleeves” thing which could terrify a beginner. Sure I’m on the other end of a skype call, but that’s not the point – any suggestions anybody?

There is a theory that the older you get the faster time seems to fly by. I think it’s all marketing myself (how can you possibly not think the year is going faster if you can buy Easter eggs on 26th December?) but I’m still surprised by how fast my first course of 2013 has rolled around. I’m all ready bar piling everything in the car – piles of samples, class notes, presentations, blocking equipment, secret goodies and the cutest little baby cardigan for a gender confused child..

See that little dotted pink line? That ladies and gentlemen is a short row pocket – worked at the same time as the garment. It gives a completely seamless pocket top and invisible joins and is so cute. I didn’t think of this myself, I got the inspiration from Franklin Habit and his love of vintage pattern (you can read his post here if you like).

Another example of short row shaping is done in the neck of this little cardigan to let it lie properly on the back of baby’s neck.

However the most concerning thing about this cardigan is not the fact that I have made a baby garment (those of you who know me may be surprised that I didn’t in fact spontaneously combust when presented with this little task) but that I (who never, ever, ever makes any baby blanket present in baby blue or baby pink). had two balls of baby pastels in my stash. What I want to know is “why do I have a 100g ball of baby blue acrylic, and 100g grams of baby pink acrylic in my stash?!” It would appear that the stash is prone to growing, with stuff you don’t want, if you don’t keep a careful eye on it.

Having said that the Crochet Shaping course is going to be a blast, I’m trying out several new ideas – I’ve even had my nails done in preparation! k- and I’m really looking forward to it.

Most of this week, and last week has been taken up with final minute non-productive flapping, but I did get to the end of the charts on the Honeymeade shawl (you have no idea how happy I was to complete that!) and I’ve done the first 5 rows of a slip stitch crochet rectangular shawl test about 20,000 times. More fool me for thinking it would be easy. More on that process next week I think!

Finally in other news, the doctors are now weaning me off the drugs to see what happens. Apparently what happens is that when I get to 1mg my hands object, so I’ve gone back up to 2mg till Saturday and will drop back to 1mg next week when it’s not so vitally important that I can use my hands. My next appointment is 22nd April so we’ll see what happens then.

hairpins do more than hold your hair up

Posted on March 17, 2013 by honey

First up, I got another couple of repeats done on my Honeymeade shawl, completing the first set of charts and about to start the second. Aoibhe Ni has produced a really interesting way of combining crochet and Tunisian crochet, turning things (literally) around and producing a really interesting visual texture.

Detail of the Honeymeade – showing Crochet and Tunisian sections

I’m still loving how the yarn is working up, and it feels so fabulous. the touch of stelina makes it sparkle (you can see it a bit in the photo towards the bottom right and top left). On the right you can see the ‘crochet’ section – and on the left you can see the Tunisian section (split almost exactly in the middle of the photo) The method of increases results the beautiful pleating you can see in the top left – but that will mostly block out when the shawl is finished.

I know I spoke about my hairpin tunic last week and how enthusiastic I was about it. Well, pride come before a fall and I quickly discovered that, despite what the label might claim (why do I trust those?) it is nowhere near an aran weight and while the pattern calls for 2 ‘stitches’ to the inch, and I’m getting nearly 8! So I’ll have to buy some more yarn. boo hiss. But I need your help, dear reader.

The tunic is this one, from Crochet So Fine by Kristin Omdhal:

I’ve found an appropriate yarn, Delphine by Louisa Harding, but I’m having a tough ole time deciding which colourway to go with..

now, obviously this is more a summer tunic, so I’d like to go fairly summery – which means the charcoal is out. And I look really ill in pure white – so that’s the Ecru out. I’m also not a massive fan of the bright pinks, which removes the Watermelon from the equation. I know that I don’t own much lime green or orange, but when I do people complement the colour on me. I’m just not sure I can carry off such a large area of such a colour. At the moment I’m drawn towards the navy or coffee or the natural (as I can see those over pale summery colours) but I’d value your opinion… what do you think?

Finally I’ve been back to the Consultant and have permission to start trying to come off the drugs over the next 5 weeks. Fingers crossed it’s worked and I can stop taking them and be wonderful and pain free from here on in!

Going back to work for a rest!

Posted on February 23, 2013 by honey

Last weekend I went over to Purlescence for their first open day of 2013. They had remodelled over the winter break, and the new shop layout is gorgeous. Of course, being overwhelmed with all the lovelies, I completely forgot to take photos, but it is much more open and bright than the previous layout, and the yarns are displayed in all their colourful temptation goodness. I was very good and other than buying a couple of needles I needed after I broke my knitpicks 3mm, 2 Tunisian hooks to make the Anais jacket, cotton yarn to make two more baby blankets and yarn for a birthday present, I didn’t buy anything at all!

I took along the Tunisian Spa Cloth sampler for the Tunisian course, and there was lots of interest from people throughout the day, so that is looking like it’s going to be a really good day.

I also got to spend time with the ever lovely R at her home and talked well into the night about the upcoming courses and teaching and ideas (and yarn and stash and upcoming babies and 80’s children’s shows… you know the sort of evening)

This week has been half-term break for me, which means that I have been insanely busy and running around. I really need to use my camera more because then I could show you photos of the champagne tea I had on Wednesday and the fabric shops I was in on Thursday – though you are probably less interested in seeing photos of the MRI scan I had on Monday, or the packing boxes I was surrounded by at a friends house yesterday as I helped her pack for moving.

Monday’s MRI was interesting. I don’t get the result for a few weeks (11th March), but I did discover that lying on my front, with my arms stretched out above my head and holding them still for 30 minutes is really really painful on the shoulders. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful and standard type medical procedure with lots of waiting about etc..

Wednesday’s Champagne tea was lovely. An excuse to dress up and eat cake, what more do you need? We had champagne, tea (well I had a tissane as I’m not allowed tea on the mix of drugs), finger sandwiches – including a lovely pesto bread, scones with cream and jam and little tiny cakes. The waitress tried to take my champagne before I was finished (I mean the glass was over half full!), and we had a visitor in the form of a little tiny dormouse who created all sorts of excitement for a good 20 minutes, all accompanied by a beautiful pianist doing the best of Rogers and Hammerstein. It was a lovely afternoon, and I can see afternoon tea becoming a regular feature of my annual calendar.

Thursday’s trip I went into town with a friend and her almost teenage daughter who has decided she wants to learn to sew. I’ll be honest, it’s many years since I did some sewing, and have several yards waiting be to turned into several beautiful things, but I was still shocked by how much the price of fabric has increased since I was last buying fabric regularly. OK, we’re talking London prices, but still! Teenage Daughter eventually got some beautiful cotton to make her first skirt, at £12 a meter (!) and I got the thread needed to finish the winter coat I’ve been making for several years. Naturally we did have to go for tea and cake at Camille’s (lemon cake with frosting, delicious!) but otherwise the day was pretty healthy.

All this activity has resulted in very little crafting time (other than on the commutes – so I have several swatches completed). I had started the Anais Jacket, but after several inches I discovered I had made a mistake somewhere, so had to rip back out to row 1. gahhh… Loving how it’s coming out, but of course, in the theme of this week there are no photos!

Today I’m going to be trying to problem solve a friends tension when she crafts, everything she does is far too tight… wish me luck!

Well the Drugs DO work, and Workshops have been confirmed!

Posted on January 25, 2013 by honey

Well the drugs *definitely* work! I could have cried with joy today when I carried the shopping in without a second thought. Ah, the simple things that we take for granted. I missed you.

The drugs I am on are a bit of cocktail, and one of the ones I have to take is a massive dose of Vit D (I’m clinically deficient, who knew?!) once every 4 days. Combined with the steroids, this seems to have the effect of making me a bit, well, wooshy..

My thought are on a bit of ‘go fast’, which has resulted in my braining spinning on project ideas, teaching ideas, design ideas all day. Unfortunately most of them fly across my head that fast that I haven’t been able to note them down, but some of them I have, and they are real zingers! More to come on those at a later date – but one of them involved some serious maths

The physiotherapist on Monday was, erm, interesting. I now have to submerge my arms up-to the elbow in water as hot as I can stand and do a series of stretches three times a day. For six weeks. I’ve been going a week and I’m already bored of it. However I also get to play with Play-Doh three times a day so it’s not all bad. I also now ‘have to’ swim once a week, and I’ve been given permission to go back to using light weights in my gym workouts, so hopefully that will help combat the slight ‘balloon animal caricature’ that’s happening to me. More interestingly she also gave me permission to ‘return to normal usage as much as possible’ including my crafting – so I am now trying to fit in at least a little every night upto an hour when I have time. You can’t see it from where you are, but I have a very happy face!

This comes just in time as we have confirmation of at two teaching dates with Purlescence:

13th April – Beyond Scarves and Granny Squares – Crochet 102 (Shaping)

Beyond Scarves and Granny Squares will take you from ‘beginner’ to ‘confident’. Teaching loads of techniques to expand your repertoire, increase your confidence and improve your skills, we’ll be talking about those little secret ‘tricks of the trade’ along with the more conventional wisdom gained from my 30 years of practical experience. We’ll be covering

Starting – how to get a pretty cast on edge and how to do away with foundation chain
Couture Touches – such as how to get rid of “that” gap at the edge of your work, useful stitches to know and how to change yarn
Shaping – how to do shapes other than squares, rectangles and circles, lots of increases and decreases
Short rows – what they are
Gauge – *why* it’s important and when we can ignore it
Blocking – how to do it and why it matters

You will need:

to be comfortable in the basics of crochet – holding the hook & yarn, chain, Single Crochet, Double Crochet (American terminology)
a crochet hook of type and size of your choosing (we recommend a 4 – 5mm)
about 50g of light coloured yarn with a nice twist (so it doesn’t come apart too easily or split) of a weight to match your hook (we recommend a 4ply or DK weight).
A pencil/pen and notepad

We won’t be making anything specific in this class, just having a play with techniques in an informal, fun, environment. If you have any questions or want any advice, please feel free to contact us.

15th June – Tunisian Crochet 101 – Complete Beginners

Also called Tricot, Shepherds or Afghan, even Queen Victoria was smitten with this fascinating form of crochet. Tunisian combines crochet and knitting ideas to create a unique fabric which can be dense and warm (perfect for mittens!) or light and lacy. You can easily combine crochet or knitting with Tunisian to get stunning effects, but you don’t need to know either to be able to do Tunisian!
This one day workshop will give you a solid grounding in the basics of Tunisian in a fun and informal environment with a teacher who first picked up a Tunisian hook in 1985.
We’ll be covering..

Getting started – what is this strange tool and what do I do with it?
The Basic Stitches – including tunisian simple, tunisian knit and tunisian purl stitches
Combination stitches
3 Colour Tunisian
Casting off

We will be producing a beautiful stitch sampler during the day, which you will be able to take away to show off your new skills.

Depending on time we may also look at two projects you can start in class and finish at home.

You will need:

no previous experience at all
a pen/pencil and notepad for notes
a mid sized crochet hook if you have one (I’ll have lots of spares if you don’t)
You will be provided with all tools and yarn needed for this course.

If you have any questions or want any advice, please feel free to contact us.

Places on these courses are strictly limited, to make sure I give you all the time you deserve, so book early to avoid disappointment.

With the addition of at least three more workshops in 2013 – Crochet 102 (textures) , a half-day hairpin lace and a half day broomstick lace later in the year, it’s going to be a busy year. I am super excited, and churning out swatches as fast as I can. I can’t tell you how happy I am to not only be teaching the more advanced crochet techniques that so many courses neglect, but also to have to opportunity to bring the lesser known crafts of Tunisian, Hairpin and Broomstick to everyone. Tunisian is tipped to be the big ‘in thing’ for 2013, so now is a great time to learn with lots of exciting designs coming out from the big designers!

It’s going to be lots of work over the next couple of months getting ready, but I’m *really* looking forward to it.

Snow Day!

Posted on January 18, 2013 by honey

Right now it’s snowing, and according to the forecasts it’s settled in for 24 hours at least. I know this is no big deal in 90% of the world, but in London you might as well have announced Armageddon – the supermarket this morning was full of people panic buying beans, soup and long-life milk because they might not be able to get to the shops tomorrow. It started at 7am and we have a little over an inch settled nearly 9 hours later. Yes, a whole inch, and to listen to local radio you would think the world was ending. I know, crazy isn’t it?

What that means for me is some serious ‘snowed in’ crafting time. Ok, I’m limited to what I can realistically achieve, but I can get some more swatches done for Crochet 102 and maybe even sneak in a few rows of knitting while sitting in front of my open fire with a large brandy. It would be hot chocolate, except one of the tablets I’m on doesn’t let me eat chocolate! Which sadist of a pharmaceutical company came up with that one?

Ah, knitting I missed you! The steroids have appeared to have kicked in, and despite having gained 4lbs in the last 4 days and I’m starting to look like some strange drug-induced freakish balloon animal chipmunk my hands have been pretty good.

Good enough that I have been able to do a whole FOUR rows a night, the last 3 nights, on my Jan Sweater. That equates to a massive distance of about 4cm growth – but growth it is, and to mix metaphors a bird in the hand is better than a kick in the teeth. Or some such. Of course my brain has since gone on a flight of fancy as to how much knitting I could now do and catch up on and that complex cabled sweater in lace weight etc… so I’m having to be very strict with myself and that frivolous part of my personality and set very specific limits so I don’t accidentally injure myself or make things worse. Some is better than none no?

I’ve also had a phone call today to let me know that ‘an opening’ has occurred and instead of waiting 3 months for a physio appointment, they have a slot on Monday! I have an MRI in early February and it’s all go!

I’ve been hinting and promising the last couple of posts about teaching in 2013. I can’t reveal dates and suchlike yet, but I can definitely confirm that there will be at least one course from me (in conjunction with Purlescence) this year. Crochet 102 will take you from ‘beginner’ to ‘wizard’. Well, OK, maybe a bit below that – magician? I’ll be covering LOADS, including how to get a pretty cast on edge, how to get rid of that gap at the edge of your work, how to do shapes other than squares, rectangles and circles, short rows, gauge (*why* it’s important and when we can ignore it), blocking and texture! There maybe more, but that’s where I’m up to in my notes so far. There’s more obviously that I’m keeping secret – and there may even be enough for a Crochet 103, as if I put in everything I want to Crochet 102 then the only person who will be able to keep up is me – and that’s a bit pointless. If you want something specific or want to know if something will be covered then feel free to comment.

If you missed out on last year’s Crochet 101 (Complete Beginners) and would be interested in the course running again you can contact me, or Purlescence direct.

Right now I’m going to get a hot drink and stare out the window for a bit…

Got to hand it to them..

Posted on January 11, 2013 by honey

Well, after the disastrous meeting with the registrar in November, and my GP getting on my side, I got a call to see the Consultant on Monday 7th January.

Over Christmas I had 5 days where I didn’t touch a computer, and January 1st dawned, bright, early and only slightly hungover to discover absolutely no pain at all. I was delighted, only to have that hope dashed on the 2nd January when it all came back again. So the idea that it is triggered by crafting or typing would appear to be nonsense.

However, my meeting with the Consultant went *wonderfully*. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and she carefully and thoroughly went through everything. She even tested how dry my eyeballs were.

The upshot of the Consultant appointment is that she is referring me for an MRI scan of my hands and wrists (to double check we haven’t missed anything in the ultrasound scans), she sent me for x-rays of my feet and hands (in case there was something showing in my feet that wasn’t giving me pain) and is referring me for hand therapy (which I think is some form of physiotherapy). She has also put me on six weeks worth of steroids. The lowest dose she can get away with, to see if it makes any difference at all. Of course steroids are nasty creatures so I’m also on a stomach liner and calcium tablets to counteract some of the side affects. She tells me that steroids are a bit difficult as they cure everything, but are evil. Currently the hope is that a short course of steroids gives my body just long enough to sort itself out.

Naturally, having found somebody who takes me seriously and is moving things on, she goes on maternity leave next week – so my next appointment will be with the locum consultant (I asked if I was going back to the registrar, and got the distinct impression that he had been told off for signing me off).

I had a GP appointment today to get my ‘scrip for the steroids filled, but also to get the results of the blood test I had done before Christmas. It appears that my vitamin D is ‘low’. Therapy levels is over 72 (I don’t know what unit they are using here), insufficent is classed as 50 – 71 and deficient is below 50. I’m at 42. So the GP has also prescribed me a high dose Vit D supplement. 20,000units per tablet (my multivitamin comes in at a paltry 250units and claims that’s 100% RDA) which I have to take once every 4 days for weeks, and then a lower 1500unit tablet every day for at least 6 months.

My Chiropractor also has me on mineral supplements – Copper and Magnesium.

So from tomorrow morning i’m going to rattle! 3 steroid tablets, a stomach liner, copper, magnesium, and a Vit B or Calcium tablet (I’m not supposed to take those two together).

On the plus side I have carte blanche to eat as much cheese as I like!

All in all very positive and things seem to be moving forwards. I’ll let you know….

hands on

Posted on December 15, 2012 by honey

Life gets in the Way

Posted on December 15, 2012 by honey

OK, I’ve been good and written two LONG blog posts. In fact the one I’m going to post now I wrote 2 weeks ago and haven’t posted it because I wanted to include photos. But I’m giving up, I haven’t had chance and I’m at the point I want to get the post up so that I can do the follow up info – which I also have written up. So apologies for a long post without photos – I will get to them, I promise….

I can’t believe I haven’t updated since the 4^th November! I keep promising myself that I’ll get the camera out and photograph the bits I want to share with you, and then life gets in the way. I have so much to update with you, this post is going to seem a bit random – so apologies in advance!

First up a ‘hands’ update – the consultant has announced (as of the 15^th of this month) that it’s probably ‘mild tenosynovitis’, I’m not in *that* much pain (says who?!) and rheumatology only deal with arthritis (utter nonsense) so there is nothing more they can do for me. I asked for referral to physiotherapy, but ‘there is no clinical proof it works’. I asked for referral to a nutritionist – ‘no clinical proof’. I even asked about steroid injections – guess what?, yeap. ‘no clinical proof’. The recommendation is for me to have total rest, don’t use my wrists/hands at all but they weren’t prepared to sign me off work. The consultant also recommended I take naproxen (along with a stomach lining medication as naproxen is nasty stuff for your liver) for at least 12 months. It works on a “cellular level” don’t you know – though it won’t help with the pain at all. He couldn’t write me a prescription, just a note for my doctor to write one. The upshot is = Go back to my GP, so I’m back to square one. I was shaking with suppressed anger by the time I left the consultant meeting.

However the chiropractor does seem to be having an effect and my wrists have been slowly improving over the last couple of weeks, so fingers crossed for me. I’ve had a couple of ‘good’ (almost normal) days which have made me realise just how much this has been affecting me, but the ‘bad’ days are nowhere near as bad as they were – so hopefully we are finally in to the ‘healing’ phase.

We are firmly on the slippery slope to the annual round of liver testing known as Christmas. A season which challenges my ability to process vast amounts of alcohol and rich foods, and makes me gain weight just as I want to look my slimmest in all my party frocks. As a result I’m ‘out’ more than usual and therefore doing a bit less crafting than usual. I wouldn’t change this for the world, it’s great to catch up with people I haven’t seen in months and I do love the whole sparkly event in all its kitsch-ness. You’ll see more of *that* in my next post!

Coupled with the less crafting I was already doing because of my hands, me being out three or four evenings a week means my crafting time has been almost non-existent – not a good state when you are trying to finish a baby blanket! I’m a lot further along than I was though, and with a tail wind I am on target to get it done by my own self-imposed deadline of the 20^th December. If I don’t it’s no big deal – the baby isn’t due till February.

I have moved along on a few projects though. I finished my ‘stormy clouds cowl’ and am delighted with it! I’d been terrified of this yarn. Partially because it was gifted and I’m always a bit scared that I won’t do gifted yarn justice somehow, and partially because this particular yarn was hand-spun. I enjoyed making this, 4 short little rows each evening and I’ve been wearing it for 2 weeks. It’s just long enough to go over my head and holds its shape well enough to stand guard against chills and drafts over my collar. It’s beautifully soft, and because I know the yarn was hand-spun by a dear friend I feel like I have a secret hug around my neck, which adds its own little warmth. I had just enough of the grey yarn to add a crochet border on one edge (once the cream had run out) so I even feel like I have two looks for the price of one – depending on which way up I wear it! I keep meaning to wash and give it a light blocking, but I haven’t got that far.

I’m now working on finishing a thrummed muff – which is about to celebrate its first birthday. By ‘finishing’ of course I mean “I must get it out of storage and pick it up again”. I promised it to my niece last Christmas after she saw me working on it, but then my hands interfered and I haven’t picked it up since March. It’s an easy project, and done purely to learn the technique. It’s made in best acrylic and very cheap (quite possibly acrylic) multi-coloured fibre. This means it’s perfect for niece as I’m not that attached to it, if her mother throws it in the wash it’s not the end of the world, and it’s a fun little project – I still have my muff from when I was even younger! However I’m not sure I am up-to doing a meter of icord to make the neck strap – any ideas?

I’ve been doing a little more of my continental cowl as well, and am almost at the ‘competent’ level. I love collecting techniques and skills, and I have found that I now know three different methods of knitting that adjust my tension very slightly from my ‘default’ throwing or ‘British’ style of knitting. Portuguese style (where you ‘wear’ the yarn around your neck) gives me a slightly tighter, but very even tension, and Continental style gives me a slightly looser, and not so even, tension.

“Why is this useful?” you might be asking yourself. Well, it’s all to do with gauge. When I finally get around to making something where the fit actually matters I’ll do a gauge swatch. If I am fractionally out on my stitch counts I can change techniques rather than needle size to see if that helps! See. Cool.

I’m also holding my Portuguese, Continental and Backwards knitting in reserve for the day that somebody tells me I’m “doing it wrong”. Apparently this happens a lot to knitters – but it hasn’t happened to me yet.

With my current lack of desire to take on a bigger project, I’ve been absent-mindedly playing with some Tunisian crochet ideas for a possible workshop in 2013, and I’ve been plugging away at the swatches for a Crochet 102 class planned for early 2013. Yeap, you heard it here first – I’m confident enough about my hands/wrists to have actually started planning the long promised intermediate level classes. And you read that right too – classes plural! The fun I am having with this is a separate long post in itself!

Written down it seems like I’ve been doing LOADS of crafting – but in what amounts to nearly a month I have four 6” swatches, finished a small cowl, about 1/8 of a different cowl, half a Tunisian dish cloth and just over half a baby blanket. I’m aware that if I had started those projects this time last year, they would all be finished by now – along with working on a more major project such as finishing a sweater or getting at least one of the lace knitted shawls I have queued mostly done. Frankly I’m just grateful I can do anything at all at the moment, and I’m enjoying the bits I can do.

the interconnectedness of life

Posted on November 4, 2012 by honey

this is a ‘hands’ update, so feel free to skip if you aren’t interested..

on the recommendation of the lovely man who did my carpel tunnel tests, I got a recommendation for a chiropractor and had my first appointment on Thursday evening. After avery comprehensive question session, I was assessed for my posture (“surprisingly good”) and she found a few points that weren’t ‘right’ – including a slight kink in my upper back, a rightwards ‘twist’ in my neck, inflammation in the tendons in the palm of my hands and ridiculous amounts of tension in my forearms. (hardly surprising giving I’ve been ‘holding’ my hands in a particular way for 6 months).

So, she prodded and assessed and did a couple of popping and twisting of joints and I have my second appointment on Thursday this week. She made a point of telling me we were going to take it easy and she had done a couple of ‘minor’ adjustments – but that my body is so full of inflammation that even those might cause a lot of pain over the next few days.

Friday morning I ached in my hands and wrists (but I expected that) – but by Friday evening my hands hurt, but so did a point in my right shoulder blade. By Saturday evening I couldn’t turn my head and moving my right arm resulted in crippling, immobilising pain. Last night was ‘interesting’ in terms of getting into bed and getting any sleep – but I finially managed to find a position which wasn’t awfully painful and got some kip. This morning I’m aware I need to be slow and cautious in my movements, but it’s not a 1/4 as bad as it was… fingers crossed!

Progress despite the obstacles

Posted on October 26, 2012 by honey

This week will be a week of posts, as tomorrow I am off to my favourite LYS, Purlescence, to do a workshop on Continental Knitting and Norwegian purl! So I’ll write about that soon.

However, right now I want to update on a couple of other things. First, in this post I want to let you know what I’ve been upto. Plugging away slowly I have managed to finish a crochet shawl, and a knit shawl and start on another small project.

First up I finished my recuerdos de la niebla shawl. This seemed to take forever, as I am used to crocheting much faster than my hands currently let me. That and the never ending ball of yarn. Seriously, the pattern said use about 50% before starting the border. I used 75%. Then I did three rows of border. You are supposed to get 7 rows of border total, so I weighed how much I used in row 4 – 4grams – and I had 23 grams left. 20/4 is 5 rows plus a little bit left over. I got 11 rows. And another 2 rows of SC across the top edge before giving up with another 4grms of yarn left. Not entirely sure how that works, but that is why my beads aren’t on the last row of the edging, but 2 rows in. I think it worked out pretty well!

After that marathon, and my hands being a pain, I wanted a project that was quick, that was knit and that used up some of the yarn that I had been gifted in the last 12 months. After lots of fussing and indecision I went with the beautiful ‘the age of brass and steam kerchief’ (a free pattern on Ravelry), done in the gorgeous DK weight Debbie Bliss Andes. I had been gifted 2 skiens last year for my birthday in a lovely deep, dark red. The beaded sections were a bit of pain (literally) but easy enough – particularly if you decide to knit together and *then* bead the resulting stitch. My first beaded row I tried a pass2, pass 1 over, bead the stitch and then knit it. It worked, but not as well.

Once blocked the yarn bloomed slightly, softened even more and is just the right size to sit in the V of a coat and give lovely warmth. The yarn has lovely stitch definition as well, and it was such a joy to work with I picked up some more in chocolate at the Ally Pally show.

Delighted with having a ‘fast’ project (a little under two weeks all told) I wanted another one. I have some gorgeous yarn staring at me, and a hankering for some cabled fingerless mitts, but I’m not quite there yet, so instead I broke out another gift.

I was given some beautiful handspun last July, and have been dreaming of the perfect project. I wanted something that I could use both yarns together, and something that would show off the yarn. The grey is a thicker, bulky type weight and the cream a much finer closer to 4ply weight. A pair of 6mm needles, and a bit of ‘constructive swatching’ (known to others as ‘that’s not right, I’ll start again’) I’ve started a cowl.

I’m doubling the cream yarn to give a little weight so it’s similar to the grey, and I’ll go as long as I can before using a kitchner stitch bind off to have a seamless loop (hence the odd green bit at the bottom. It’s lovely and soft, and has a sort of ‘rustic’ look which goes lovely with my new full length wax jacket! If this goes well I think I might look at working some cabled mitts over a longer period of time!

Tuesday Fortnite

unraveling the yarn

Tag Archives: hand pain