Back in October, pain did me in...
First it was my right wrist—a varicose vein developed in my
wrist—and the pain was horrid. I stopped knitting and restricted
other activities as well.. I started looking for the Crafter's
compression gloves (Lion Brand is one supplier) Time, rest, and
eventually a pair of compression gloves did the trick. I just found
the gloves, last week—by then my wrist was feeling much better--(but I
will wear the gloves to prevent future problems.)
Secondly, I ended up with a pinched
nerve in my neck that sent waves of pain down my left shoulder and
arm. This hasn't passed—but I have been working on it, too. First
I am careful how I move (and more importantly, how I position myself
as I sleep) and I have been working on range of motion
exercisers—These have worked, and while not yet pain free,
everyday, is better and better.
Meanwhile, in an ongoing project, I
have (finally!) gotten my bathroom painted. All the old
accessories, (shelves, and storage stuff) have been cleaned—but not
all of them have been returned to the bathroom (or replaced yet.)
All of these things were acquired piecemeal, or as impulse
purchases, or as recycled stuff—and I am not putting in holes to
mount these. Some are going to be re-used, some recycled—and some
new ones will be purchased—but I haven't decides which or what,
right now, I haven't found the “right stuff” for replacements,
so the redecorating isn't complete. The bathroom looks better already
with the painted completed, a new cotton pique shower curtain, and a
replacement towel rod was found and installed. Small changes, but
significant. More to come!
Work is also going on in my bedroom,
too. It started last year (May) when I bought a new bed, and was
gifted a new coverlet. Since then, I have added a new wing chair.
The plan is to remove the wall paper ( an Laura Ashley print that I
hung when I first moved here 15 years ago (it's time!)) and painting
the room a new color—One wall a dark teal accent wall, the
remaining 3 pastel turquoise(that is a paint color swatch on the chair. White and Cafe au Lait (the color of
the coverlet) will be the accent colors—I already made the chenille
neck roll (white and dark teal)—that perfectly matches the chair- a bit of good luck! I always love it when plans work out so perfectly. I have some new
art work (it needs to be framed) for the room too. I also plan to
knit some edging for the new sheets—Embroidered sheets with hand
knit lace edging are a small inexpensive (a bit time consuming, but
not really too time consuming) details that will be the finishing
details. I especially like lace edges on my 100% cotton sheets. In
the summer I don't use a coverlet, and the lace makes a simple bed
look elegant. That has been something I have done for decades--
So, now that I am feeling better, I am
getting back to working on my pink alpaca cardigan sweater. It's a
top down seamless one, with no real pattern, just a plan. The plan
is: seamless circular yoke—in garter, that features a button band,
(and 5 buttons) Below the armholes, a lozenge shaped garter and lace
pattern—I will knit the body of the sweater first, and then make
the sleeve until I run out of yarn—I'd like long sleeves—but I
won't be upset if I only have enough yarn for ¾ length sleeves.
So far there are only 8 rows of the 32
that make up the pattern on the body of the sweater, --so you'll have
to wait a bit to see how the pattern works out. But here is a idea
of what I mean by lozenge shaped—a double pointed arrow sort of
shape. The lozenge will be staggered/off-set as they are in the
image, too.
So lots of little bits of
progress—Nothing yet completed... just a little progress here, and
there and everywhere.
