Saturday, April 26, 2014

Kick in the Boot

A week ago Friday I took the afternoon off work to go to a class at my LYS on spinning wheel mechanics.  It was very helpful.  The teacher explained how to care for the wheel and about the different factors that go into determining the twist.  He then pulled out a bunch of different fibers and let us practice.  We started with Blue Faced Leicester, followed by Shetland, Polworth, alpaca, Polworth-silk blend and finished with pure silk. My sample is below.  I have a bit more of each fiber.  I might spin it all and then do a quick scarf.  I might just leave them all as singles and see how it turns out.


Or I could use the technique for my Navajo plied scarf.  Here it is.  It is finished except for blocking.  I'll do that today.


I finished the gauge swatch for my Custom Basic Black sweater.  I am trying to apply what I learned in Amy Herzog's Knit to Flatter class from Stitches South. Next step is to sit down with the pattern and calculate my adjustments.


That isn't going to happen just yet.  I'll admit to a bit of uncertainty and doubt.  I'm having thoughts like "I don't want to invest all that time into a project only to have it not fit right on me again."  I need to muster up the courage and dive in. While I'm trying to convince myself, I am going to work on a linen top.  I bought the linen and pattern the other week at Stitches.  It is a very simple pattern.  Two rectangles with a little patterning on the sides.  It should work up fast.


I won't be doing much more than knitting this weekend because of this.


Thursday my ankle locked up on me.  The official diagnosis is Achilles tendinitis.  It was the strangest thing.  I had been sitting at my desk working for about an hour.  I got up to retrieve something from the printer. When I took a step, I got a sharp pain on the back of my left heel.  Each step after that was excruciating.  Friday I went to a podiatrist.  I am on a course of steroids and have to wear this boot for 10 days.  I am not allowed to do any sort of exercise that involves my legs or feet.  That includes stretching.  I'm going to check out You Tube for chair aerobics.  It will make me feel like a senior citizen, but I need to do something. I'm already going stir crazy.  Fortunately it is my left foot and not my right.  I can still drive and use my spinning wheel. When I go back for my recheck, I am going to ask for advice on how to prevent this from happening in the future.  I don't want something like this to happen again.  

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