Ruched

Poke, poke, poke

I tried acupuncture for the first time today.  I was planning to tell the story of these little crochet samples but it's kind of sad and I have the urge to talk about something more personal, so I'm going to give it a try because my favorite blogs are full of personal stories.  I've always been a very private person, but lately I've decided to stretch against that a bit, so here goes.

I've had a splitting headache since Wednesday, and when I say splitting I mean it was so bad I was willing to try anything short of sacrificing my first-born.  I don't normally get headaches like this, they usually show up after a few days of taking painkillers.  I had surgery on Monday, hence the painkillers, which I stopped taking Wednesday because I assumed they were what was causing the headache.  I've seen my surgeon twice this past week for the normal follow-up appointments and he thinks this is "musculo-skeletal" pain, resulting from the way my neck was positioned during surgery and then sleeping oddly on an already stressed neck.  He suggested seeing an acupuncturist or massage therapist, so I called my local place and got an appointment for today. 

It was a unique experience, some of needles were painless, some felt like I was being stabbed with a needle.  It was also odd to have needles in my feet when my head is what hurt.  In the end it knocked the pain back about 75%, and that's a miracle.  I need to remember this the next time I'm reluctant to try something new, and also, I wish there was a "Blogging Under Stress" merit badge, cause I'd totally deserve one.

I love blogging every day, and I'm proud of myself for making time for something that's important to me and balancing it with the rest of my life.

Crochet Gift

I bought this hook for Byrd's grandma who is 94 and bouncing between a nursing home and the hospital.  She's spent all of her life on a working farm, working being the operative word so of course she's bored and frustrated and would like to craft, but she doesn't have a lot of manual dexterity these days.

So I think "Ah-hah!" when I see this hook at the Hancock's in Wichita.

At first I planned to package it up with a speed hook book, but then I realized she would need yarn too, and I don't want to choose a project for her.  Then I thought I'd get the yarn for the "ponchette" pattern on the package because that would be simple, but not yuck-o Lion Brand synthetic yarn, because that would be too simple.

While I was checking the website for a yarn weight conversion chart I found this speed hook shawl pattern.  Maybe I should send her yarn for that?

Then I realized she might appreciate synthetic fibers, they're very light to wear.  Whatever I choose has to be easy care too.  She's a little persnickety, and not always gracious when receiving gifts, so I shouldn't put too much time/energy into this because she might be mean, and I've probably gone way past that point already. 

Handy coincidence, the owner of a LYS in Los Altos was in my Rock Candy bracelet class last week and she was very friendly so I know she would help me choose something nice, plus it inspired me to hunt down the hook, which I had misplaced in January.  I bought it while we were in Kansas and lost it in the mess of unpacking.

What to do?  Any suggestions?  When we saw her last she said she wanted me to have an heirloom quilt, I'd like to stay on her good side.  Plus I do genuinely feel badly for her, I'd go nuts if I couldn't make stuff.

Crafty Sartorialist

I took these photos in the Wichita airport while we were waiting for our flight out.  I've never seen this before, maybe I'm just out of the loop?  Whoops, unintended crochet pun. 

Now that I look more closely at the photos, I think this is a combination of knit and crochet.  This gives me some (non-sweatshirty) ideas.