these paws have been keeping me company.....

Wow. It's been a month since I last posted, and I want to take a minute to thank all of you who wrote comments with advice about dealing with arm pains, Carpal Tunnel, and RSI - I haven't had the chance to write back to many of you personally, but your advice has been very helpful - thanks so much....

The better part of the last three weeks have been spent in a stupor - I finally got a diagnosis after a series of blood tests which showed up a critical Vitamin D deficiency - so I've been off work, and pretty much all other activities, and spending a good amount of couch time, sleeping, and watching practically every episode of 30 Rock I could get my hands on!



It's been pretty brutal actually - in addition to the pain in my arms, I've been struggling with an overwhelming exhaustion that only really made itself clear to me when the pain in my arms started to subside - suddenly I realised that I have been living in a fog for god knows how long, and slowly coming out of that fog is nothing short of a revelation.....

So, after a steady diet of massive doses of vitamin supplements, enforced rest, and at least ten minutes lying out in the sun every day (on doctors orders! ), I am finally feeling remotely human again. And no small part of that is finally being able to knit and sew again.



There's nothing like having your favourite thing in the world taken away from you to make you realise how important this stuff is. This whole time, my whole life actually, I thought that my creative side was a choice, that I chose to make things, to study art, to paint and draw and sew and knit because they were things I enjoyed doing. But after not being able to use my arms for a relatively short period of time, I have realised that this is not a choice. I make things because I have to. Because I would go crazy if I didn't. Because this is what I do.

I have no doubt that if I'd had to go another week without my hands, I would have turned homicidal, no question. Its an interesting perspective to have on something that most other people see as a hobby, no?

I have more to say on this topic, but that's a whole post in itself.

With every day of vitamins I gain some more energy, so I'm hoping that that energy will also flow down into the blog, and perhaps I will finally be able to make my presence felt here a little more than I have been.

And in that spirit, I finally took the photos of that steeking tutorial I've been promising for months now. Woo! Anything that combines knitting and single malt is a good thing in my book....



And perhaps, if all goes well, I'll even have photos of the six or so jumpers that I have knitted this year.... amazing.

More to come, sweet peas - I promise. Thanks for sticking around while I lost my shit. I really appreciate it.

xxxx