stashbuster | The Little Room of Rachell

Well, my thinking was that after nearly five weeks not doing any craft at all it was sensible to try a little of everything. You want to go to the initial physio assessment with up-to-date knowledge about what hurts and exactly where. I took the exactly part of it literally; this morning I drew 2 biro crosses on the areas of my elbow which hurt the most. I reckon people thought I was going in for cosmetic surgery as I have massive issues with….one of my elbows!

Last night with this in mind I’d started off with a bit of garter stitch knitting on my big stash buster blanket. I did two rows which is five hundred stitches. It all felt ok, too ok really considering that on my call with the medical insurance people I’d said it’s a pain level of 9/10 when I do anything, and 6/10 resting. It was back then, but maybe not so much now. It seemed common sense to move on to some crochet, just to properly test the water. I did four rows, or so, of the grape. Then swapped to the green and completed the block, while watching the penultimate episode of The BBC’s The Woman in White. So far, so good, which is fine, but have I healed myself and what will I say to the physio?

It all felt a bit iffy really this morning, but not so bad. Not a 9/10 anyway. Next stop was a bit of the dreaded sock, if this caused the problem before I should see how it feels now. Wow I did feel fuzzy about what to do and where I’d got to. Plus I had to look again at how to pick up the side stitches, where to put which needle and so on. I opted for a crochet hook then slipping them onto a second DPN this time. I’m now at the same point I’d got to before. Next time I’ll be breaking new ground, hurray!

I can’t tell you how much I loved my crochet time last night and the sock knitting today. All the focusing and concentrating on new skills again, the satisfaction I felt was immense. It was like after a session of meditation or yoga, complete calm had descended. I really miss my yarn.

I took my sock knitting when I went to see the physio this afternoon, just to show him how teeny the silly little needles are (I actually do love them) and how the yarn is wrapped around my fingers. I mimed the repetitive movements you make. I told him how I’d got too involved in redoing a section in April, totally immersed in the sock knitting zone for far, far too long. He laughed, but that’s ok as I saw him about 18 months ago when I had a knee injury, and so he’s got an idea of what I’m like. At least it wasn’t full on laugher like some years ago when I had to answer the ‘What caused this injury’ question and had to admit it was kneading bread. She laughed like a drain. That was a bit weird.

It was actually a pretty enjoyable appointment, I always like a good chat with nice people; I asked if he and his fiancée had got into using the new ice cream maker? I remembered she’d said they both needed to lose weight, then gave him an ICM for Christmas 2016. The they’ve made is chocolate with marshmallows mixed in apparently. Actually, he told me she’s now his wife and he looked pretty happy when he mentioned their August wedding. Later he was using jabby fingers stabbing them into my wrist, hand and elbow joint and bending the joints in various ways to assess the pain, he stopped with a concerned expression in response to my “Ow, oh my goodness!”

“Did it really hurt there?”

“NO, it’s your description of dislocating your finger playing rugby!” (It was sticking out sideways. He then paused to demonstrate and show me the resultant swelling. Ouch.)

When asked on the telephone assessment what aspects of life is your injury affecting, I’d tried to think of specific examples, without lazily responding “Everything.” Consequently he had quite a list in front of him: driving; holding the steering wheel, holding a handset to talk on the ‘phone, texting, lifting a kettle, or a watering can, any crafting and the last, which made him laugh (again): putting on mascara. Why is that one funny? One eye done and the other naked, might be more of a hilarious sight me thinks. It’s time for a ‘Men?! What are they like?! Huh!’ I reckon.

Good news first? I always request the positives to sweeten what comes later.

The good news: I called for an assessment Friday, I got an appointment for today Tuesday. Fast.

I’d exactly done the right thing resting it for so long.

He could see my thinking about testing it before the appointment, but it was not that clever a thing to do (it does really hurt now and I should not be typing this, but we bloggers ~~waffle~~ suffer for our craft. Wait, should I move this bit to the bad news part?!)

It is treatable.

I guessed correctly that it’s tendon stuff.

I have an exercise to repeat 30 times, on both arms. I already have a 1kg dumbbell.

The bad news: He’s booked up next week, so the first really jabby fingers “YOU’RE HURTING ME” appointment isn’t until the first week of June.

The 30 times exercise will aggravate it, it will become more painful, but alternating ice and heat treatments will help the healing. I’m not starting them until after the bank holiday weekend though. I did not tell him this part. Otherwise there will be much sighing and groaning over what should be a relaxed and lovely weekend.

THE BIGGEST BAD NEWS (which isn’t really going to surprise anyone, is it?) NO MORE CRAFTING STILL. Arggghhhhhhhhhhhhh. The lovely Lucy and I had a good chat after her comment on my last post, she really cheered me up and said she hoped I’d stay happy and would send me healing vibes. It worked because I have stayed happy. Rather than crocheting or knitting, I’ve bought some new plants and baked bread, visited some good places and had cups of tea with friends. I do miss all the moments where I pick up needles, a hook or I sew something, but I did do the right thing instinctively by stopping it all. It’s just not much of a craft blog when you’re not able to craft, it is? Thank you very much for stopping by to read and for your caring comments and messages on my last.

I will be back with my monthly Taking Stock post next week.

What about you? How are you doing? Did you watch the wedding? It was lovely, warm glow time here.

PS: Does anyone know where I put my hot water bottle???

Garter stitch stripes with 250 stitches a row is not as boring as I expected. I thought it would be a two row job at the most, each sitting and then the yawning would begin. Changing colours every other row seems to keep it feeling fresh, and with my citrusy lemon, lime and orange it’s definitely that! I’ll tone it back down with the next colour; otherwise we’ll need sunglasses just to look at it. I’m carrying on with a colour until the ball runs out, then grabbing another from a big bag. It’s a stashbuster so is going to have an ‘interesting look’, not my usual blend of colours. I tend to buy yarn only for specific projects and these are leftovers from blankets, and a few from a yarn kit I bought when I was new to crochet. There are a couple of colours that I dislike but I’m hoping blending them with others might help. If not, l’ll donate them to a charity knit group. I took it to an outpatients clinic on Monday, while I waited for someone, and the nurses all seemed to walk past smirking. I guess I was an incongruous sight as everyone else was staring at the wall or their ‘phone. No one had a book, though I guess some might have been reading an ebook. That old chestnut about knitting helping to calm and provide a distraction is so true, once you’ve got over the smirking nurses and disinterested stares. But I have to admit I thought taking my knitting while I waited might be nice for other people too. It would be my way of helping anxious outpatients. A Florence Nightingale of yarn. They could be soothed in the manner of those slow tv programmes; where you’re following the journey of a canal boat, or seeing someone hand turning a wooden bowl in real time. Maybe it would even provide distracting opportunities for them to talk about how they’d love to learn to knit, or prompt them to reminisce about their Grandma knitting jumpers when they were young. Serves my vanity right!

As for reading: I’m still going on with The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. It’s all going to connect soon and I’m quite intrigued to see how the four (or is it six?) characters share the story. I’m listening to The Plays of Alan Bennett and yesterday finished The Madness of George III, now I hope the next provides some lighter relief. Really I’m waiting for The History Boys. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the film and I’ve also read the play, there’s just something I love about it. The flowers were taken a our visit to Saltram House (see below) and garden, Devon, on Sunday on the way home. This week my body can’t understand why it’s not allowed pasty for lunch, cake for afternoon tea and cider before dinner…it’s definitely got the holiday blues. We walked 69 miles while away to try to balance these out. And because we love the coast paths around there.

If you’d like to share what you’re making and reading every Wednesday too, leave a link in the comments. Don’t forget to link back to this post on your blog, and use #yarningalong on social media, so others can find us and join us in Yarning Along.