Surprise, No Surprise

No Surprise: Thanks so much for the tremendous amount of experience, advice and support for the trouble with my foot.  I appreciate the advice to: listen to the doctor, ignore the doctor, see a PT, see a chiropractor, put ice on it, screw ice and put heat on it, stretch it, keep it still, rest, exercise, take supplements, take arnica, take anti-inflammitories, avoid anti-inflammitories like the plague, and get or don’t get a brace. I read them all, I’m grateful for them all, and it should surprise you not one little bit that I’m going to go with the advice of the doctor who has actually examined the foot in question. Partly because the foot was in his presence (and that has to be a help in diagnosis) and partly because it feels right, sounds right, and appears to be helping.  I’ve got a huge advantage over you guys in that it’s my foot, and that makes it easier to tell what to do.

Surprise: While walking continues to be absolutely craptastic for my poor foot (and I am avoiding it, following the “don’t do it if it hurts” rule) I was shocked to discover that riding my road bike is almost fine. A more experienced rider said that he thought it was because the cycling shoes are tight enough to add support, and maybe he’s right, because my foot feels so good in the shoes that when I put them on, I thought about wearing them all day.

Surprise: I rode 116km on Saturday (that’s almost 73 miles, for my American friends who are as good at Kilometres as I am at miles) and it wasn’t awful.  I was tired afterwards, and I made liberal use of my E-Tomic balm that evening, I won’t pretend I didn’t, but I was surprisingly not too sore or stiff the next day, which bodes pretty well for the Rally, except for the part where I have to be fine with that for six days in a row. I’m trying not to think about that part, and really, it’s not my foot, but my arse that’s worried.

No Surprise:  On Friday night, rushing to make some real progress on the baby blanket, I re-proved a law I’ve been spouting for years, which is that more experienced knitters don’t make fewer mistakes. We make larger ones faster – which is exactly what happened when I decided to convert trinity stitch into the round without giving it enough thought.  I pulled the stitch pattern up out of my brain, thought about how it alternated active rows with purl rows, decided quickly that the purl rows were the wrong side rows, when you work it flat, and replaced them with knit rounds to work it in the round. Easy. I might even have chortled a little.   This chortling was replaced with despair about FIVE six-hundred plus rows later, when I realized that this simple “fix” had indeed broken the stitch pattern.

backwardstrinity 2015-06-22

Yup. My quick and easy solution was so quick and easy that I didn’t realize it would face the little trinity bobbles the wrong way.  The whole stitch pattern was reversed, because (dammit) those purl rows I replaced were actually right side rows. Not wrong side rows. It took me more than an hour to fix it, and at the end of the night I was further behind than I’d been at the beginning of the evening.

forwardswardstrinity 2015-06-22

I’ve fixed it up now, realizing what has to happen (those purl rounds need to stay, it’s the active rows that need to be altered) and I’ve got the whole thing working again.  I’m almost ready to move to the next pattern – or maybe the edging. I’m going to see where the spirit of the blanket moves me at the end of this section. There’s one more thing I’d like to add in, and I don’t think we’re approaching bedspread size yet.

No Surprise: There was no time over the weekend to get the Karmic Balancing gifts up, unless I took a pass on Father’s Day, which seemed like a super bad idea. Let’s do it now, shall we? Everybody remember the rules of the game? You help with the rally, any way you can.  You can donate to anyone on Team Knit:

Me

Jen

Ken

Pato

Or if donating isn’t in the cards for you, you can tweet, link, tell a friend, send an email… anything you can do to help is amazing. After you help, you send me an email to stephanieATyarnharlotDOTca (not the .ca NOT .com) with the subject line “I helped” and  your name, address and whether or not you spin, then every so often, I re-allocate great knitter and spinner stuff, drawing from amongst those emails.  The four of us appreciate this help more than we can tell you. (For more info on what we’re doing and why, if you’re a little late to the party, read this.)

First up, great gifts from Denise at Neese’s Pieces.  She’s got a whole group of beautiful little quilted bags that she made with her own two little hands – and inside each one is a co-ordinating set of stitch markers – also made by her, right down to the lampwork beads.

neesespieces2 2015-06-22 neesespieces1 2015-06-22

Aren’t they lovely? I hope that Sherry M, Dawn H, Lisa B, Debra T, Margaret C and Christina D all love them.  Thanks Denise!

Riki has two presents, both lovely.  First is two 200gm cones of pure Thai silk (Riki lives in Thailand)  either lace or fingering weight, in the colour of  Carolyn Sue J’s choice.

Thaisilk 2015-06-22

Then there’s this bit of amazing, 500 gms of local (to her)  mercerized cotton, about DK weight …

Thaicotton 2015-06-22

and Brooke M  will choose the colour for that too!

 

Next up, a different sort of gift, but perfect for this. Who can appreciate something hand made better than a knitter?

laurenshanging 2015-06-22

Lauren writes: “I used to own a yoga studio, and we had these quilted hangings decorating the studio walls. When we closed I sold some and gave some away, but they have soaked up their share of good karma over the years. They are made from recycled cotton saris, different on each side, made by Indian woman employed by the fair-trade folks at Asha Imports.”  I hope that Lisa D loves it completely.

Lauren also has this beautiful laceweight to pass along. (She’s feeling generous today, I can tell. Isn’t she nice?)

laurensyarn 2015-06-22

2 skeins Claudia Handpainted Laceweight, 100% Silk about 1100 yards/appx. 100 grams, Pink colorway: Lipstick, Blue colorway: Antique Jeans. They’re both headed to live with Jeanette W.

Next, Tanja Lüscher went nuts.  She’s got 10 copies of her Stories of Inspiration Ebooks. The ebook contains 7 beautiful shawl patterns. She’ll be sending those to: Mikayla M, Shellie S, Amanda H, Kat K, Leslie C, Martha M, Cindy C, Laura C, Erin D and Lori B.
tanyasbook 2015-06-22

She’s also got 2 free patterns for anything in her Ravelry Shop (except for Daddy’s Prayer Shawl) for ten other knitters, and those are: Kate G, Mary Kay C, Kimi W, Anne W. Laura R, Christine L, Athena D, Cathy W, Rosane M and Elaine T.

tanyapatterns 2015-06-22

Finally, last but not at all least, Katie Weston is here to make some spinner very happy.  She’s offering a 6 month subscription to her Time Travellers Fibre Club – the 100g option!
timetravellerclub 2015-06-22

This picture is “Tudor Dress” and it’s from a previous month.  Isn’t it lovely?  I sure hope that Jennifer K thinks so.

Whew! That’s 31 gifts, and I’ve emailed all the lucky knitters. This one is going to go put her foot up and knit the heck out of a blankie.

43 thoughts on “Surprise, No Surprise

  1. Glad the foot will stand up (!) to cycling. Knitting an Irish Hiking Scarf in the car today, I nearly cabled a non-cabled row. Silly! Mistakes happen even to our beloved Harlot! This quite able, but not as able as you are knitter still goofs sometimes. 🙂

  2. I still urge to you take it easy with the cycling, and make sure that the doc knows what you’re doing with the cycling. That sort of information is really important in a treatment plan…. just in case something happens, they need to know about that.

  3. Thanks Steph, and thanks Denise! All the bags are cute, and I adore lampworked beads. I used to work in stained glass, and I promised myself when I finished a wall of windows for my house, I’d get a beginner’s lampworking kit. Instead, I learned how to knit, and my house still doesn’t have its wall of windows. /o\

  4. I think you have a type in your email directions. It reads “not the .ca” and I think it should be “note the .ca”. Also re your foot. I think you should consult an athletic therapist who can see your actual foot and consider athletic taping. Since you find the support of your biking shoe helpful, the taping likely will be too.

  5. I struggled with tendinitis a few years ago in my ankle-and I know you’ve recieved a LOT of advice, but if you haven’t used it before I highly, highly suggest Voltaren gel. It may be over the counter there-it is in the UK but not in the US-and it really made a world of difference as to how much time I was able to spend on my feet which I know is very important to you with the rally coming up. I’m thinking good thoughts your way as hard as I can!

  6. Don’t cycling shoes also limit the amount that your foot can flex? That might be part of it. My husband cycles all the time and I see that clomp, clomp, clomp thing he does. Maybe support + limited flex = happier foot = win/win!

  7. Heal well, foot and “experienced knitter’s” pride – As usual, you are strong, inspiring, and just cheeky enough to make us all love you that much more… Thinking good thoughts for training and finishing the blankie.

  8. What if you just pushed the bobbles thru to the other side?
    That’s what I’d do. (Cause I’m lazy).
    Feel better soon!

  9. My sweetie had a bad run in with the belt loop on a pair of jeans in a laundry pile on Saturday night. Two broken toes. I (actually he) feels your pain.

  10. same thing here – walking less fun, cycling totally fine. Apparently it is the calf muscle not pulling as much. Have fun with the rally!!!!!!

  11. Your foot is stabilized in the bike shoes, and when you’re clipped into the pedals it’s in an ergonomically correct position (caveat: the stud at the local bike shop set you up correctly when you bought ’em). Ride safely and listen to your foot. Looks like you’re almost home free on the blankie. It’s gorgeous.

  12. Just make sure that “I’m fine on the bike” isn’t stubbornness superseding reality. I agree with Trish and still recommend finding someone who can tape it for you, biking or no biking.

    No one here wants to read the post “I’m crying because I trashed my foot because I didn’t want to let you down so I did it anyway.”

    • That’s just how things are in Canada. I do knitting gauge by the inch, but needle sizes in mm and yarn weight in g. Most people us km instead of miles since that’s what the road signs all say (for distances & speed limits), but we’ll often use imperial measures for certain things.

    • It’s because, as someone famous but I forget who said years ago, “Canada is going metric one inch at a time.”

      We all do it. Miles for some things, km for others, inches, kilos, pounds… I’m working on teaching my kids both systems, because the reality in this country is they will need them.

  13. Many thanks to you and Denise for the lovely bag and beads. Even bigger thanks for your commitment to the ride and the cause. I hope your foot heals quickly and you have an epic ride this year.

  14. Bigger mistakes faster? I make big mistakes at several speeds. Then I put the knitting in a bag and ignore it for weeks. What I admire is that you always seem to get back on the bike and keep knitting (or even riding) no matter what. So I’m going to remember this and go look for that messed up sweater I can’t seem to finish.

  15. I have been dealing with the same tendonitis in my foot for almost a year. I do spinning on a bike for at least 4 hours per week, and per my foot doctor, it is the best exercise I can do without further injuring my foot. I do wear a brace, and I can now walk 20 miles per week. I have occasional flare ups, but the pain is certainly manageable, and I refuse to let it stop me. But the biking is totally fine due to the low impact nature of the exercise. Hang in there!

  16. Smart lady; considering everyone’s best of intentions, you should listen to your own body (and the doctor you trusted to examine your injury).
    Ride safe, and knit well; it looks like Katie and new little one can only wait for so long. Best wishes to all for the soon to be new arrival.

  17. So happy to hear your ride went well! And sorry to hear about the blanket, but don’t babies usually wait to be born until you’re done? I’m sure I’ve heard you say that. Katie probably doesn’t want to test the theory though…

  18. Thank you, Stephanie and Tanja Lüscher for the patterns! I’m going to have some fun knitting my choices. 🙂

  19. I gasped when I saw the pix of the ‘wrong side’, that was supposed to have been ‘right side’…my husband asked what was wrong. he he. I’m glad your foot has found something it can do for you while it heals (heels…har har)… terrific.

  20. I don’t know how you managed to fix it in an hour. That would have set me back for days. Good luck with the rest! 😀

  21. Hi Steph,
    I’ve just recently begun following your blog, as a knitter and a cyclist, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. At the moment, my husband and I are in the middle of a cross continent, tandem bicycle ride, starting in Vancouver and hopefully, finishing in Halifax. Three weeks before we were due to leave, I hurt my neck. It got better, with the help of drugs and a physiotherapist, but I understand your concern about injuring your foot so close to your big ride.
    I started the trip with yarn and needles for 2 pairs of socks tucked into my gear, but it didn’t take long before I realized my romantic notion of knitting across the country just wasn’t going to happen and I sent my project bag home.
    Hoping for a speedy recovery for you, and a great ride to Montreal.
    Jocelyn

  22. Take it from someone who has had foot problems for five years – never ignore the pain! I did, and now my foot issue is chronic. And, having just done my best to see some of your lovely country, I realise just how much I’m being held back by it. Really hope your foot problems heal quickly!

  23. Talking about your foot reminded me of my teenager sending me a picture of a friend’s wounded foot – they were enjoying spring break at the beach. The caption read: do you think this needs stitches? Imagine the advice you would get if you posted a pic:)

  24. Pingback: Long Milliskin Ooh La Leggings | Beansy B.

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