It is incredible to think that I haven't written in this blog for six years. I guess I'd rather be knitting than writing, right? Except of late, I have been doing just the opposite. I have written a novel, dusted off two novellas from years ago that could be published under one cover, and am working on a YA short novel and something called The Detective and Doreen which is stalled right now because I have to write a courtroom scene and I don't want to. But, regardless, my blog writing has dropped to nil. I'm still knitting, but not as much.
In November, 2022, I developed acute sciatica while my husband and I were at his mother's house being caregivers. We were there for just over a month, and into the second week I was in so much pain, every movement had me whimpering. Visits to a local chiropractor and physiotherapist did nothing, and the strong meds I was prescribed when we finally got home likewise did not alleviate my suffering. I joined a pilates class and the instructor very strongly recommended her osteopath-acupuncturist, who managed to get the inflammation of the sciatic nerve to subside with three needle treatments. I was able to wean myself off the prescription drugs and only took acetaminophen as I needed it. It has been more than two years and I still have sciatica. It's not acute anymore, and I'm not crying with every movement, but I live with daily pain. The small little aches that had suddenly gone quiet when the sciatica was screaming are back, though, and cause me more problems than they did. I'm convinced all this is related to whatever brought on the sciatica in the first place.
The first thing to suffer was my knitting. I could not sit and knit for hours on end as I had been used to. I had brought with me a sweater I was working on for my husband, from fingering weight yarn. I finished the back and held it up to him and realized it was never going to fit. So I ripped it back to balls, found a different pattern, went to the LYS for different needles, and started again. In the end, I think I knit the sweater three times. When it was done, my husband tried to try it on. It was not to be. It fit me. Then I washed it and blocked it and it grew so that it fit my son, but he didn't want it. He's not a fan of V-necks, which it sported. In the end, I detached the sleeves, turning them into leg warmers, and knit garter stitch edgings around the armholes to match the button bands, producing a vest. I have no idea what to do with this thing. I don't want it. It doesn't fit my husband, and my son doesn't want it. I suppose I'll just put it in the church rummage sale, which seems like a sad thing to do with something I spent so much work on. I made my husband a pair of socks from leftover yarn, and there's still enough to make myself a pair of knee socks if I want them. I'm just so sick of this yarn that I don't even want to look at it any more.
But I have made other things in the meantime, just not as enthusiastically as I once did. Cowls, fingerless mitts, shawls: pretty things. I cast on the other day for a MKAL that I'd been postponing for a while, an Estonian lace shawl from blue silk lace with beads and nupps, and when my son was over for dinner this evening I showed it to him. He was very dismissive. I knit so many shawls, pretty, lacy, frivolous things, that he seriously can't tell the difference between one and the other, except by colour. I told him that when I started knitting after years of not knitting, I made the decision I would knit what gave me pleasure, and pretty lace does. I'm not looking to clothe people. If the above-described cardigan fiasco is any indication, I shouldn't even bother trying. I will knit what pleases me and makes my knitting friends ooh and ah. It's something I do for myself and no one else.
Having said that, I can now post some FOs that I'm proud of. Two brioche shawls, one that I gave away to a friend, and one that was a test knit which I think I'll keep for myself.
Entwined Queen's Shawl by Julia Decker
modelled by my friend Valerie
modelled by me
Purple Kiss (Ishq) by Nidhi Kansal
