Ending January

Gosh, this week has felt long, but it did have a lot of good moments in it. On Sunday I went to knit group and there was a good group there, and it was nice to be back in that space with those people. I've almost made it to the halfway point on my blue scarf, and I'm looking forward to starting the second ball soon. After knit group I took the bus down to one of the local thrift stores, and while I didn't find any of the things I was looking for, I did find an elephant humidifier! I've always loved this model, and with the air in my apartment as dry as it's been the past few weeks, I was super excited to come across him in the home electronics aisle. 

I also went to my favorite thrift store after work on Thursday. I haven't been in a few months, but I'm so glad I made the trip out there, since I found the raincoat of my dreams! I've been looking for a quality raincoat for probably at least a year, and while I really wanted a classic yellow one I was prepared to be content with any well-made raincoat. I'm so thrilled, and I'm actually looking forward to the next time I have to run errands in the rain.

I haven't made much progress on the baby quilt this week, but I'm definitely planning on putting in a few hours over the weekend. I only have eight more episodes of GBBO to catch up on, so I'm going to have to figure out what to queue up next to keep me entertained while stitching!

A New Project

How come a four-day week after a long weekend always feels longer than a normal week? We've had a couple of super cold days here, and the air in my apartment is so dry that I'm shocking myself every time I touch a light switch. I have two pots of water going on the stove to try and get some humidity, but it hasn't reduced the static yet.

After banging out a bunch of knitting last week, I've slowed down a lot this week. I'm mostly focusing on the scarf, since I need the needle it's on for the body of my green sweater, but I've reached the point in "long rectangle" where it's hard to get in a good groove and make significant progress. I'm well over halfway through the first of two balls, so it is coming along, just more slowly than the first foot or so.

Part of the reason knitting has slowed down so much is that I've picked up a big non-knitting project with a deadline! I did quite a bit of knitting for my friend's baby, but I knew since their pregnancy was announced that I also wanted to make a baby quilt. I found this cross stitch quilt kit at the secondhand crafts store back in the fall, with a beautiful pattern of sunflowers and bees. I put it in the quilting frame on Monday and started stitching, and while I wish it was going quicker, I've been able to stitch enough every day that my progress is definitely noticeable. 

Part of me imagines that I'll get this finished before the baby gets here, but the smarter, more realistic part of me realizes that this is a big project to finish in less than two months. It's fine, it's not like the baby will know if it wasn't finished by their birthday.

Back in the Saddle

Happy Friday! I got my right hand stitches out on Monday, and my hands are doing well. It's still easy to overuse them, but I'm taking it pretty easy (and also doing my OT exercises). As I thought, I'm able to knit again, and oh boy does it feel great to be back. I finished the Newborn Vertebrae that I started for my friend's baby back before my first surgery, and I cast on a scarf and a sweater for myself.

(I can't believe I've knit this much of a sleeve in three days, it feels absolutely wild.)

My best friend brought me this yarn from Ireland when she went there in 2014 (!!!!) and it feels so good to finally be knitting it up. I've had a few false starts with this, but I'm so pleased with this pattern and I'm actually really enjoying knitting it.

I also busted out a quick hanging basket for some of my office squishmallows. My desk was Too Cluttered, so I looked up instructions for how to make a granny square, finally figured it out, and one skein of kitchen cotton later (plus some extra in a different color to tighten up the edges because my gauge is all over the place), these guys have a new home on the wall by my crafting bookcase. I've never actually managed to make a granny square before, despite trying every couple of years, so this was really satisfying to whip up!

I'm looking forward to a three-day weekend here. I'm especially excited to go back to knit group after over a month and a half away!

A New Year

Happy January, friends! I had quite a busy end of 2024, so lots of catching up today!

Firstly, my left hand carpel tunnel release is healing very well, and much more quickly than I anticipated! It'll still be several months as the scar tissue settles down and the nerve endings around the incision settle down, but I'm very pleased with the results so far. The incision site itself is still tender, especially when I'm resting that part of my palm on something, but I am massaging the scar tissue and am hopeful about its continued healing. I had my right hand done last week, and much to my surprise the recovery has been easier than the left side! Usually the dominant hand is worse, and I don't know how much of this has been just knowing what to expect, but I've been very pleased with how smoothly this recovery is going. I get to take off the surgical dressing tomorrow and I'm very excited to get the stitches out next week. 

I finished my mum's Christmas socks back before my first carpal tunnel surgery, and they were well received! She and I both love the colors in this pair, which I knit up just using my plain vanilla formula:

I went out to my mum's for Christmas, and the whole family was together, which was nice. I took a Greyhound, as it was significantly cheaper than flying, and the experience made me really hope that next time I go back I either have my own car to drive or money to fly! It wasn't awful, and most of the time I did have two seats to myself, but it's still almost 21 hours each way in a narrow bus seat, and even overnight the bus stops and the lights come on every couple hours to let passengers on and off. Fortunately, a few nights in my own bed fixed me up, even if my poor sleep schedule took over a week to re-regulate.

I got back home in time for the third night of Hanukah, so I decided to (very halachically) just light the candles for nights one through three back to back. Coleslaw even got her own Chanuka gelt from my sister!

I did manage to do a little bit of knitting for a couple days in the week leading up to my second surgery, so I'm feeling good about being able to start knitting again in another week or two. I tension my yarn with my left hand, so as long as I can hold a needle in my right hand I'm not too worried about the strain on it, but I think at this point I might just wait to get my stitches out, just in case. I've been missing knitting, and while I have a couple quick projects to finish up for my friend's baby, I'm itching to cast on a sweater project for myself.

Since I haven't been knitting as much, I've been doing lots of puzzles! I'm hoping that I can keep my table clear this year and have puzzles going more regularly, because I do enjoy working on them and I miss having them out when my table is covered in doom piles. 

In a surprise to no one who actually knows me I absolutely over-prepared for my carpal tunnel surgeries and my freezer is still chock full of prepared meals and apple cake! I always think it's better to have more of what I might need rather than risk running out of something, so I'm not too upset.

Last Friday was my sixteenth "diaversary," and I can't believe my diabetes is old enough to drive now! Longtime readers of the blog might remember that my diagnosis anniversary is a sort of second birthday for me, and I always have cake to mark the date. Two years ago I bought a frozen cake because I was in the middle of moving, and this year, for only the second time in sixteen years, I also had frozen cake since there's no way I can bake with my right hand in stitches. I had planned on getting cupcakes from the gluten free bakery, but they're still closed for the holidays, and I was lucky to find one gluten free chocolate lava cake in the supermarket so I didn't miss the occasion!