2011 FO #5: Alpaca Abyssal

One of the pleasant side-effects of recuperating from a major illness is massive amounts of time sitting around on my arse.  I'm not fit enough to go back to work yet*, so after I finish the two hours of exercise I have to complete every day my time is my own.  This means lots of time for watching movies, cooking shows and knitting up a storm.

Here's a little something I whipped up last week:

I wanted a scarf that was squooshy and soft and made out of stash yarn (another benefit of not being able to go out when I want is that I can't go to the wool shop whenever I feel like it...this is definitely a good thing!).  I had some gorgeously soft baby alpaca left over from my much-loved and often worn endpaper mitts, and when I saw this shawl last week, I knew what I had to do.




I used the grey as a contrast colour on the feather and fan section to use up as much stash yarn as I could.  I also changed the body of the scarf from stockinette to garter stitch to maximise the squooshiness.

 It was a quick, easy knit that sits perfectly, looks fantastic and makes me feel good about reducing my stash and spending too much time sitting on my arse.

Pattern: Abyssal Shawl
Yarn: Baby alpaca bought in 2007 (!!!)
Notes/modifications: Listed above.

I really love this shawl!

* I would like to go back to work.  I worry that my brain is shrinking a bit from underuse!  But I am taking a glass-half-full approach to my rehab and looking at the sunny side.

Back home again

It's been almost two months since my last blog post and I'm happy to share that I am finally home!  I was in hospital for over two months and it was a hard, hard slog.  Here are some things I learnt while recuperating:

1. I understand why reality TV contestants spend so much time talking about their 'journey'.

It's sounds very cliche, but my time in hospital felt like a personal journey or quest, like heroes took in mythology.  I think it feels like a journey because so much life-changing stuff happens in such a short time.  Five days after my accident, my entire day's tasks consisted of sitting up, sitting on the end of the bed for five minutes then lying down again.  To complete this task took almost an hour and involved tears, painkillers and much much pain.  Every time I stand up unassisted now I remember all the hard work it took to get me here and I thank my lucky stars that I have made it as far as I have.  It's only been three months but I feel like a different person because of the 'journey' I have been on ;)

2. You find out who your real friends are.

Some of my friends are superstars and some of them will never hear from me again.  I'm glad this happened so I know who my real friends are :)

3. Appreciate your freedom.

Even now three months after the event I still can't do what I want to do whenever I want to.  I can't drive or walk very far yet, so most outings involve taxis and wheelchairs and working around other people's schedules.  I miss the freedom to do what I want when I want.  The thing is, for me it's only a matter of time until I have it back again.  For some people, a simple accident means the freedom to do what they want when they want is lost forever.  

4. My cat may have missed me a little bit (maybe) but she loves the present I brought her back from the hospital.

I'm glad to be back!

Navel-gazing and Friday Firthday

Warning: This post was written late on Friday afternoon after a long tiring week of physiotherapy and a long day of doing not much except thinking, therefore it is introspective, whiney, contains navel-gazing and excessive discussion of the filmography of one particular English actor. Read at your own peril!

It has been four weeks and three days since I broke my leg and four weeks and one day since it was operated.  In some ways it feels like the time has flown by (four weeks have passed already?) but mainly it feels like I have been here forever and the life I lived before is a distant dim memory.  Right now I want to be home with my little family so much it hurts! However, I will be spending all day with them tomorrow and all night with them on Monday night, so I am much less entitled to complain than most of my co-patients, many of whom have lost limbs, been in here for longer than me and are not likely to leave as soon.

One of the hardest aspects of staying in a hospital is that there is absolutely no alone time at all.  From the moment I wake up until I close my eyes at night, I am in the company of nurses, patients, physios, therapists, people.  The nurses constantly check on you.  This is good – it’s their job, they’re supposed to make sure you’re okay and still breathing and your pain is manageable, but I have never spent so much time talking about moving my bowels.  The last few days I have started escaping to the toilet just for the silence, although I only get 15 minutes silence before a nurse knocks on the door asking if I’m okay!  I’m lucky that I have lovely women in my room and the nurses are friendly and competent, so at least the interruptions are well meaning and kind and my antisocial tendencies are accommodated as much as possible.  I am basically just a big whiny sook J

To break up the tedium and take my attention away from my self-indulgent complaints, I am instituting a new tradition called Friday Firthday, where I watch something containing the delectable Colin Firth.  Last Friday I watched The King’s Speech.  Although (taking into account all the interruptions from staff and fellow patients) it took me four hours to watch it from beginning to end, I enjoyed it immensely.  Today I’m watching A Single Man.  Checking out IMDB I actually own a few of his movies (The English Patient, Pride and Prejudice, Love Actually).  I was surprised to see he’s been a few crap movies (What a Girl Wants, anyone?).  I’m leaning towards something light for the next one (A Christmas Carol or The Importance of Being Earnest), although Pride and Prejudice is a classic than can never be watched too many times...  Does anyone have any recommendations?

ETA: I really enjoyed A Single Man.  I thought it was visually spectacular and very reminiscent of Mad Men, which I love.  Colin Firth's performance was fantastic and I was interested to see a grown-up Marcus from About a Boy.  However, I think it's important to tell anyone before they watch this that the film opens with a dead dog.  I wish someone had warned me!

A slip and a fall...

Picture this: a thin stream of water from a slowly dripping showerhead rebounds off the floor of the shower and pools on the bathroom floor. A young woman, relieved to have finished a difficult project, relaxes on the couch watching a Hitchcock movie.  Onscreen Paul Newman is grappling with a German spy, fighting for his life.  The music swells to a typical Hitchock-ian crescendo as the call of nature becomes impossible to ignore.  The young girl pauses the movie, rushes to the bathroom without pausing to turn on the light and predictably slips on the puddle.  The screams begin...

Two weeks ago I was that young girl (please, I'm in pain and I'm allowed to pretend that the phrase 'young girl' still applies to me). In a completely stupid and avoidable accident I broke my femur and my pelvis, and I've been in hospital ever since.  I spent two days at the Alfred in their Emergency Department, and my advice for you is, if you have broken your femur or your pelvis, don't go to the Alfred Emergency Department. My highpoints were the total lack of doctors and buzzing the nurses only to have them come to my bed and say 'What?' or 'You right?'. Once a nurse thought my request was so inconsequential walked away while I was still talking!  After two days I was operated on and transferred to a trauma ward, where the doctors were still largely absent but the nurses were totally fantastic.  Maybe they filter all the rude ones to ED?

I am currently in rehab, trying to get back enough strength to regain my independence.  I am at Caulfield Hospital and the staff are great, but it's hard to rely on other people to do every single thing for you. I can't get myself a drink or a cardigan if I'm cold or pick up my books from the library.  Thank God for the Internet and my iPhone, because without them I would have gone crazy 13 days ago. Also, I doubly thank God for my wonderful support network, who have been fabulous to me.  My injuries mean that I can't live in my own flat for the moment, so I need to rely on the help of others to pack up my house and move, and I don't know what I would do without my friends and family.

On the plus side, I have done LOADS of knitting. I have finished two shawls and am halfway through a third.  I started a pair of socks yesterday because the shawls are moving across the needles so fast I'm worried I'll run out of things to knit!  If only I could block and photograph them as well...

Finally done! 2011 FO #4: New Start Shawl

Last year when I left one job and headed down a new pathway in my life, I started a new shawl.  It's only taken me nine months (!!!) but it's finally done:

As per usual, Lucy helped out as best she could during the blocking process.  

Finishing this shawl did cause me to evaluate the last nine months.  I certainly have not achieved everything I wanted - my work, though interesting, is infrequent, leading to weeks where I am crazy busy intersected by days watching repeats of Friends and Sex and the City.  I have lost weight, but not as much as I wanted.  Overall, even though I have some way to go, I am certain that I am on the correct path and heading in the right direction. Yay me.

Enough navel-gazing - here's the vital statistics:

Pattern: Bitterroot Shawl from Knitty

Yarn: Patonyle, three full skeins in black.  This sock yarn is terrible for socks, but perfect for a lovely, soft, drapey shawl.  Go figure.

Notes/modifications: Knitted the size large exactly as written.  The pattern was clear, easy to understand, and completely stress free.  A very nice project.

2011 FO #3: Scraptastic Needlefood Socks

It has now been autumn for two days, and in that two days it has been cold, windy, wet and wintry.  Last time I checked there was supposed to be a season between summer and winter rather than a precipitous drop in the temperature?  So I thought it was fitting to show the socks that I knitted to warm my tootsies in the recent Summer That Wasn't.

 I started these socks last year as a way to use up some small amounts of Needlefood hanging about my stash.  I love this yarn but I keep on giving the socks that I make out of it away! I used the 20g of Plumberry Ambrosia for the heel and toe and then did two-row stripes using 27g of Meet me in the Frozen Food and Red Hot Chocolate.   In the interests of creating a spectacular-looking sock without any jarring colour-shifts I started the colour change on the foot of the sole and then, after I turned the heel, shifted the colour change to the inside of the calf - one on the left and the other on the right.  However, the two different colourways blend so perfectly that I needn't have bothered - it looks like the body of the sock is made from one colourway.

The sock itself is pretty straightforward - CO 20 stitches with Judy's Magic Cast On. Increase to 64 stitches.  I knit for about 4cm after the toe finished.  Then two-row stripes, a short-row heel, 2x1 ribbing and then Jenny's Surprisingly Stretch Bind-Off.

I have used a variation of this two-row pattern a few times lately.  I might write it up, just for the experience.  If all things go as plan, I will need lots of writing experience rather soon! (more on that later...once difficult decisions made and plans confirmed)

Really, there's not much more I can say about these socks, except that a summer which requires you to knit socks to keep your toes warm is a really shitty summer.  Shame on you, Summer 2010-11, for being so darn cold!

2011 FO#2: Holden Shawlette

Last Sunday I was in the rare position of having a whole day and the house to myself.  Since I believe that just because a person is alone doesn't mean they have to sacrifice any standards in terms of food, I whipped up a half-batch of my favourite crepe mix, used a single-serve package of frozen berries and some vanilla icecream  to make my own delicious breakfast.  Yum!

I then took the opportunity to do some housekeeping...knitting housekeeping, of course.  Bah for using my precious alone time to clean - as if!  I finished up and blocked my Holden Shawl...

Helped, of course, by Lucy.

Pattern: Holden Shawlette

Yarn: The purple 4-ply gifted to me by Yarnivirous.

Notes/Modifications: I knit the shawl exactly as written.  If I were to make it again I would make the stockinette section larger, as the shawl is a bit on the small side.  Otherwise it's fast, easy and quite pretty.