Monday, January 4, 2021

A Finish!

I finished Dennis’s sweater and it is completely blocked and almost dry. Excuse my unorthodox way of drying the sweater. Space is limited here in the RV. I had it laying on the bed until last night, but obviously it had to be moved we could sleep. It was almost dry by then anyway, so I just moved it to the sofa with a towel under it. He wants to wear it tomorrow, so I’m hoping it will be completely dry by then. It has been raining for four days straight. Most of our snow is gone and it’s been between 35 and 40° during the day. Hooray! I don’t mind the Seattle winter at all. Better rain than snow in my opinion!  We ended up with 12 1/2 inches of snow from the storm last week. The dehumidifier has been doing an excellent job of keeping everything dry in here and the windows free of ice.

Anyway,on with the sweater details. This is the Adirondack Pullover by Elizabeth Morrison. It is a paid for pattern on ravelry. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the Cobblestone Heather colorway. I had about 4 yards left out of 13 skeins. This was the fourth sweater I have knit with this pattern using 100% wool and I really enjoy it. It’s Dennis’s favorite sweater pattern and the one he requests me to make for him time after time.

Miss Piper let me know that she had outgrown her mittens I made her last year. She got a new winter coat so I made her a new pair last night and mailed them off to her this morning. I hope these match well enough.

I came across this meme online and although it says crochet, obviously it can be used for knit blankets too. I’m sorry it’s a bit blurry but I thought it might be useful to some of you too.
I wanted to share this photo of our Montana grandson snowboarding last week. Our granddaughter took it for us while they were skiing and snowboarding. They live fairly close to the ski area. You don’t see me write much about them on here or post photos because they prefer not to be online, but I thought this one was anonymous enough that you wouldn’t be able to identify him. Uncle Alex is pretty proud of him. He apparently skateboards just like Alex does. He is in the middle of a jump here.

As I was making Piper’s second mitten last night, I started having consistent shooting pains down my left hand from the base of my thumb through my wrist. It had done that a few times last week also, but went away when I slept with my wrist brace on. Dennis has made me promise no knitting or crocheting for at least several days. Can you imagine that? He thinks I’m getting carpal tunnel from so much knitting. Oh my Gosh! What would I do if that is the case?  It’s not like I have nothing else to do. I can always find something to clean or tidy up and I have several books to read, but I had several projects all lined up that I wanted to start working on. I guess they will have to wait.  Have any of you had anything similar happened? Any advice?

Otherwise we had a very relaxing weekend. We basically did absolutely nothing. We watched church services online and several movies. We also watched the entire three seasons of the Netflix series called “Broadchurch.” It was very good. If you like detective stories and mysteries I think you would enjoy this one. We got our umbrellas and boots out and we took Chloe on several walks every day.  All in all, we’re liking this RV living.

Take care and I’ll talk to you all again soon.

Blessings and hugs,
Betsy

25 comments:

  1. I like it! Knitting is a superpower if you ask me.

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  2. The sweater you just completed is so beautiful in its simplicity. No wonder Dennis likes it so much.
    I don't know much about carpal tunnel but I have those pains from time to time and in my case it is arthritis. It's possible the symptoms are the same.
    Love that verse from John.

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  3. Oh Betsy I can't picture you not knitting! Yesterday I did a naughty thing. I put on an audio book and I decided I crochet while I listened. I planned on only listening for an hour and ended up listening and crocheting for three hours with small breaks to make and eat dinner or get a snack. Now my right wrist is mad at me and I hurt. I hope any advice your friends here share will help me too.Happy New Year dear friend!

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  4. Congrats on the sweater finish! That is quite the accomplishment and it looks great. Man knitting is always hard on the moving parts I am sad to say. Why do they have to be so darn big....lol.

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  5. I am so impressed with not only your skills, but the great speed you have in getting things done with yarn!! Sounds to me, like you have arthritis...I so need to get back to crocheting as if I do so several times a week, it DOES help the pain decrease...however, I figure doing so for a half hour or so a day is enough...no doubt you have been doing a lot, eh? Hope your pain goes away!!

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  6. Wow Betsy, you seem to be quite the knitter. Your husband's sweater looks great. How did you guys end up RVing? Do you have a house somewhere too? My husband wants to RV for the winter next year....it's in storage now until May. Do you tow a car too? I don't know much about it. Do you stay in one spot all the time? Just wondering. Take care.

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    1. I'll tell our story next post so newer readers will know how we ended up here! Thanks for your interest. :-)
      Blessings and hugs,
      Betsy

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  7. My carpal tunnel was my thumb going out of place and it was very painful. I had surgery on one the other I got a shot about a year ago and it has been ok since then. It is still sore some times...I like working with lace weight yarn it is easier for my bad thumb... I found that when I was doing the 4 ply double strands for the wildlife rescue nests I had lots of pain...so I stopped doing them. Try some warmth and what ever arthritis pain med you have maybe Ecotrin:)

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  8. Congratulations on finishing Dennis’ sweater in record time. The pattern looks like a classic so no wonder Dennis requests it. I loved watching Broadchurch and wish there were more episodes. Rest your wrist for a bit.

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  9. What an incredible job on the sweater finish! It is very manly. I'm sorry your thumb area hurts. Dee is right about breaking up your time with stretches in between knitting time. No marathons any more! Beautiful ski boarding shot!

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  10. Beautiful sweater finish Betsy and what an awesome picture of your grandson. I have had pain in my elbows when I sit and knit for a prolonged period of time. And if I cross stitch for too long, the arthritis in my fingers flares up. This aging stuff is not for sissys!!! I hope you hand/wrist is feeling better.

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  11. The sweater is wonderful!! And your grandson looks like a pro.

    My story is that once I was cutting out a huge number of quilt pieces I needed for a class I was teaching, using a rotary cutter. My hand and wrist was becoming more and more sore, but I kept cutting. Then I used a ruler and pencil and drew 1/4" stitching lines on a few hundred pieces. To make a long story short, I ended up with trigger finger in my thumb and two fingers of my left hand and two fingers on my right hand. Several years of steriod shots and two hand surgeries before retirement. If I had not attempted to work threw the pain and stopped when it hurt, could I have avoided all this? We will never know. What was the final activity that lead to the surgery? Well, I volunteered to make 50 pie crusts for a church group selling pies for Thanksgiving. Mixed all the dough in the morning in roasters (my recipe makes 20 crusts) and rolled and crimped everyone in an afternoon. . .

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  12. i"ve had carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists for pert near 30 years and now also have it in my left thumb. Never had insurance to take care of it so just lived with it. It can be darn frustrating, not only because of the pain (and some of that are the sudden shooting pains and muscle contortions) at times because it causes me no end of trouble holding things and just plain daily doing things. It can sure make my crafting quite a long drawn-out process because of having to stop constantly. I just handle it best I can. I don't write anymore if I can help it -- using the laptop is MUCH easier, so any letters (or other things) are done that way. // Dennis' sweater looks GREAT! You're so fast at knitting things! // You take care of you, my friend!! Prayers for your wrist! Hugs!!

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  13. Nice sweater for sure! I learned to crochet some years ago but haven't done much of it since then. I started knitting while in 4-H years ago and my mom knitted too. Sorry your wrist is sore. Maybe knit less time per day and that might help. It was raining quite a bit Fri and Sat. Nice today even though there has been rain. I'm getting things cleared off table and Christmas decor gone soon. Have a good week, my friend! HUGS!@! :.} Becky

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  14. The sweater and mittens are so lovely, but I imagine Dennis is giving you wise counsel by encouraging you to not knit or crochet for several days. A few years ago I used thin flexible knitting needles for a project and ended up with pain in the palm of one hand. I concluded that the repetitive motion I was using resulted in the pain. I decided to not use that pair of needles again. Rest and massaging my palm eventually helped it heal. Thanks for the blanket size chart! Such fun to see your grandson's skill! After online church services yesterday I was able to walk in the sunshine around our complex and today it rained much of the day so I dashed out between raindrops to take care of the trash and get the mail...I am wondering if we will get any snow down here this winter?🤗💜🙏

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  15. Bravo on finishing Dennis' sweater, it'a gorgeous.. but I'd love to see it being modeled by Dennis. :-) Piper is so lucky to have such a talented and generous grandma, I also hope the new mittens look nice with her new coat. I think taking a few days off of knitting and crochet is a good idea, but I hope that does the trick and you won't have the pain anymore.. I can't imagine you having to give it up forever. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  16. Betsy, THat is an awesome photo. If you want to, you can go to miicreative and have them make it a paint by number for you. It takes a couple weeks/one week? for them to get it to you. They have ready to paint scenes for 11.99 and they are fun. I usually go through all my patterns on Ravelry or in my binders, whenI have to take a knit/health hand break.

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  17. Lovely sweater. I wish Dave would wear sweaters so I could make him one.
    For the wrist pain, if you don't already and it won't interfere with any of your medications, try taking some vitamin B6. I had that same problem in my mid 20s, and a lady at a craft fair recommended it to me. She said she was supposed to be getting carpal tunnel surgery, and the xray technician told her to give it a try before getting the surgery. And it worked! I dont know how or why, but it worked for me too!

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  18. I have had that pain before Betsy and it really hurts. You need to rest and keep that splint on night and day to give your wrist and thumb some rest. Love the sweater for Dennis and of course that amazing snow boarder.

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  19. Ahh doesn't sound good re wrist pain, may need ti have Dr check it out. My hands okay mercifully, but for some reason my feer really are playing up even though it's summer here.
    Love your sweater knit for Dennis and Miss Pipers mittens too, your grandson is an amazing snowboarder too.
    Thanks for sharing, and may God bless and keep you and all whom you love safe and well.
    Prayer hugs, Shaz in Oz. X

    {Wonderful Words of Life - Shaz in Oz}
    {Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}

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  20. Congrats on finishing the sweater. Since Dennis keeps requesting the same kind, it must be nice and comfy. I think if I was making the same pattern, it would still be different each time. I'm not very consistent in my pattern reading, stitching or tension. I have lots of pain in my thumbs and wrists of late. If the pain gets to be too much, I will rest a bit. I've got a good eucalyptus gel that I sometimes use when it's really bad. Looks like your grandson is doing great with the snowboarding. Take care.

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  21. I hope your arm/wrist feels better. I have the same issues in my right hand. I think it is from so many years of typing so much. Dennis' sweater is just amazing. You do such beautiful work.

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  22. That is a fabulous photograph of your grandson and he looks so professional! Olympic style :-) That does sound painful...Dennis is probably right rest will help. This could be the time to learn a new craft so it gives you time to rest your hand. Gorgeous sweater and lovely cosy mittens for Piper :-) Take care Amanda x

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  23. Betsy, try knitting with fingering weight yarn. A sock or shawl. I can only knit with worsted for about a half hour before my carpal tunnel starts acting up. I can knit with fingering weight for hours.

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