No Market, But Plenty Work

It is Sunday, a month into the Market season, and I am not there. Moreover, I have promised myself not to return until my health is better. I have been struggling with the physicality of it. I could continue to struggle, and beat myself up every Sunday, but I don't think there's enough profit in it. I will miss it, but not the fatigue and pain.

The truth is that I have many other ways to work right now. I've sold my first pattern and it is available here at Cherry Tree Hill Yarns Supersock Store. I've completed several other patterns that I will put up for sale in my Etsy store and on Ravelry, where I am "Tempeh". The patterns that are currently for sale include a pair of women's mitts with cuffs at the fingers (the gold and red multi-colored ones above), a pair of men's textured mitts, a baby/toddler hat, and several women's hats.

I was approached a few weeks ago by a local photographer, Tony McDaniel, to make baby hats for use at his photography sessions. I had a ball designing cute little hats, and I will do more as needed. That job is pure fun! Tony's website makes me regret that I didn't follow Dayna's growth with regular photos. He and his wife, Leah, are extremely creative in their photo shoots, and use natural home settings so that the kids are in unique surroundings.

I have a custom design opportunity that will be a top-down, red, linen/cotton poncho style jacket. I've got it ready to go in Knit Picks Cotlin, and I'll probably release that pattern when I finish the piece.

One upcoming job has sentimental roots. I've been asked to complete an afghan that was started by an elderly women whose health has since declined. It is a beautiful cabled piece and I'm looking forward to picking up the needles on that one.

All this means that while I will miss finishing the Market this spring, I can be plenty busy while I wait for my painful ribs to heal and make myself capable of a little more exertion. It's all good.

Peace.

Celebrating Mother's Day and Writing Patterns

This is the day that occurs each year when I say "Why do I live in southeast Tennessee?" It is the day when I realize that, once again, I have to become accustomed to sweating. It is the day when I notice that 90% of my wardrobe makes me too hot and I have to rush out and purchase more short-sleeved, loose, light-weight, natural fiber clothing. (I don't know where it goes from one summer to the next, but I know that when the cool clothes are gone, it's an emergency.) I flew to Catherine's (a shop for big, beautiful women like me) and came back with seven tops. That'll hold me for two days.

While the heat has been creeping up on me, I've been preoccupied with work. Funny how much I talk about "work" now that I'm officially disabled, but it's hard to call my hobby anything else when I've taken it to such extremes. I don't have to make googobs of money to feel useful. Last week I sold my first pattern to a yarn company. You can see my mitts midway down the page on the right at the Cherry Tree Hill blog. I also began an association with a photographer, Tony McDaniel, providing baby hats for his photo shoots. In addition, I took on the task of completing an afghan begun by an elderly woman who can no longer knit. None of these things will actually keep me in summer clothes, but it feels so good to be branching out and using my skills in a variety of ways.

One friend has been urging me to write a book of my patterns. It is an interesting possibility. At least I'm beginning to write patterns down, and keep track of design ideas. It requires me to be a little bit disciplined and less scatter-brained, and that's a good thing.

I'm watching Seinfeld again because I canceled all my "excess" cable due to economitis. I feel sheepish admitting that I'm enjoying it. Who needed all those extra channels? I have some new ones, like the Create channel, and I'm catching up on old sitcoms that I never knew existed. How cool is that? Hmm. How dorky am I for thinking that's cool?

I had a birthday lunch with a good friend yesterday. We had been talking about it ever since February. Cinco de Mayo is close enough, right? Maybe by the 4th of July we'll get around to celebrating her March birthday. We're on top of it. Speaking of celebrating, my girl and I will be kicking it some place fun on Mother's Day. We've had some kinda year. We double D deserve it.

Peace.

The Way It Goes on a Bad Day

This is how it goes. Your medicines are getting low. You call in for refills. One of your medicines needs prior approval, the pharmacist informs you. They will call the doctor's office and request it. Two days later, you drive to the pharmacy. None of your refills are ready. The tech doesn't know why. Please come back later. You drive back later, and one medicine is ready. The Medicare drug plan denied approval for the other, and it costs $243 for half a month's supply. "Never mind." You take the other and go.

The drug you can't get is Lidoderm, a newish pain medicine that works well for you. You slap on a patch, the lidocaine soaks in through the skin and relieves the pain underneath for 12 hours. No addiction, no side effects, no fuss. You could take a huge dose of narcotic pain medicine and get the same relief, but it has obvious drawbacks - nausea, drowsiness, the risk of physical dependency. Unfortunately, the insurance company doesn't care. Lidoderm is expensive, generic pain pills are cheap.

You go home and get out the computer. You have to research this. How do you make an appeal to that Medicare Part D provider? Does the drug company have a patient assistance program for people who can't afford their medicine? Did your doctor say the wrong thing in trying to obtain the approval? Lots of angles to attack.

So today you have knitted and washed clothes and changed bedclothes and cleaned up the kitchen. You made salmon patties for dinner. You let the dog in and out, in and out and fed her. You bathed, cleaning the bathtub after. You did the appropriate maintenance to live in your home and care for yourself. All this with severe pain in your joints and no patches.

In addition, you have taken all your meds, watched your diet, logged your activity and exercise.

This is why people with chronic illness get depressed and discouraged. It's not just about knowing what's wrong and how to fix or manage it. It is about mind-numbing interactions with people who don't give a damn that their mistakes make your life miserable. It's about dealing with businesses that have all the power over your health and won't use their deep pockets to give decent care without it being legislated and enforced. And about trying to keep your finances together after more people who were selfish and greedy used your money to line their deep pockets and drained your resources.

Today my ears are ringing (they have been for two years), my sacroiliac joints hurt, my bath made me tired, and my brain is holding too many thoughts. I had to get my joy from my daughter, my new power tool toothbrush, knitting baby hats, and still being alive. The margin is very narrow.

Peace.

Continuing the Afghan (Part 3 in series)

Wow! I've been absent from the blog for a month, and things have changed radically. Physically, I'm back. The rituximab helped every lupus symptom, including my energy and the sacroiliitis. I can put my feet on the floor without pain. I'm back on my stationary bike and I've lost five pounds. Onward!

Prep for the Market continues, and I've signed up for a number of sessions early in the season. I'm nervous about this Sunday's opening. I've added a few display pieces to make my setup easier, and I'm leaving a couple of things at home. Big trial. I made a short stack of baby blankets and added some baby garments.

In the midst of the Market prep I noticed that Cherry Tree Hill was looking for designs for their new yarn, Fingerpaints. It is a self-striping sock yarn, all merino, in yummy colors. I chose the Morning Glory and whipped out the Muffin Top Mitts that you see in Cheryl Potter's company newsletter here. I'm so excited to see my design in that spot! The yarn is fun to work with, and mitts are such an essential for me.

I haven't forgotten that I was to finish the afghan posting here. I finished both of the red panels, whipped out the stockinette stitch gray center, and duplicate-knitted OSU on it. The connection between the panels is created by making a row of single crochet on each connecting side, then using single crochet to stitch them together. It makes a nice raised seam that is decorative and sturdy. No worry about loosening of a sewn seam. That's it in the photo above.

News flash: I'm knitting MYSELF a sweater from Noro's Taiyo (cotton 40/silk 30/wool 15/nylon 15). It's a gorgeous colorway with greens, browns and pinks, and I'm happy to have my hands back on their incredibly beautiful, organic yarn. Something to show soon, I hope.

I'm back! That includes back to writing. Peace.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

I'm separating my lupus woes from my afghan series so I can concentrate fully on getting good pattern instructions out for the latter. I'm suffering on the former front, and I can't wait to be better. I have pain in several joints, including the metacarpal-phalangeal joints of my hands (where the fingers meet the palm). Those joints are swollen and tender and a bit reddened, looking like the rheumatoid arthritis joints that they are. My mom's hands looked like this before they took on the typical RA deformities. My knees ache and have sharp pains at unpredictable times like the lupus joints that they are. My sacroiliac joints are incredibly inflammed, so walking and standing is torture. Meds only partially suppress any of this, so I am a cranky hurting person.

I'm finally allowed to return to my rituximab therapy, and I had one IV session yesterday, to be repeated in two weeks. Oh joy. Seriously. I'm happy, just don't feel like smiling right this minute.

I've continued knitting during this flare (surprise!). I have my mind on completing custom orders and preparing for the Chattanooga Market. That means I'm knitting a wool hat and scarf, a custom afghan, and cute little summer hats at the same time. Must look a little schizophrenic from the outside. Right now I'm focused on spring/summer items for the Market, so the striped hats are a major step in that direction. They are knit in elann.com Esprit, 98.3% cotton/1.7% elastic, an easy care comfy yarn that knits well. It's identical to Cascade Fixation which gives me an expanded color range if I need it. I'd love to offer some little sleeveless pullovers for kids in the same yarn. We'll see. My colors were chosen by a kind of rigid formula of my own making. It has pushed me into some nice color combos that are new for me. I made each color combo in at least one adult and one child's size, so one can choose to match their offspring. They are simple enough that I'm willing to make more custom sizes if needed.

Peace.

Continuing the Afghan (Part 2 in series)

I read last week's post about Starting an Afghan, and realized there was some vagueness to the initial instructions, so I will reiterate in more formal pattern fashion:

Materials: Approximately 15 balls of Knitpicks Shine Worsted yarn, one size 9 circular needle, at least 24 inches long, one yarn needle for finishing work. Yarn can be divided 10/5 balls between two colors, or 5/5/5 between three colors.

Finished measurements: Approximately 40 x 60 inches, measured hanging but unblocked.

Stitch pattern 1: Multiple of 8 stitches. All RS rows: *K2, P2, K 1x1 RC, P2 and repeat from * to end of row, ending with P2. All WS rows: Purl.

Cast on 72 stitches in first color. Purl one row (WS). Begin stitch pattern 1. Continue for total of 40 inches, ending on wrong side row. Cast off on right side using K2P2 pattern.

There. That's better. The photo shows the almost completed 20 x 40 inch panel. (In the last post, I measured the panel at 18 inches wide, but with continued handling it relaxed to 20 inches.) I'm very pleased with the pattern and its fancy ribbed effect. The piece drew many compliments as I finished it in the chemotherapy suite yesterday. It is incredibly soft and comfortable to the skin.

My gray yarn still isn't available, so I've cast on another 72 stitches to repeat the red panel. I will use the gray yarn to make a center panel. The gray must contain a good-sized area of stockinette stitch so that I can duplicate stitch "OSU" (for Ohio State University).

To be continued.

Peace.

Starting an Afghan

I'm on a knitting high this morning. I just finished the third of four afghans, and I am starting the fourth. I thought I would walk through this project as I do it. It will help keep me on track, and explore some of the thinking that gets me into a new piece.

In general, my afghans are 40 x 50 inches. I'm not fiendishly obsessed by the numbers, but that's about what is expected for a full size throw. As always with a custom project there are some guidelines from the client. This throw is for an Ohio State University fan, and therefore it will be red and gray. I made a striped OSU baby blanket for the same client, and she liked it, so I am using the same yarn. This keeps me in the realm of the familiar. I know how this yarn acts and approximately how much it will take. The yarn in question is Knitpicks Shine Worsted. It is 60% pima cotton, 40% modal (beechwood fiber), has a lovely sheen, good stitch definition, and is soft as a cloud. With the amount I need for an afghan, the price is right, too. I don't have to charge an arm and a leg to cover an expensive yarn choice.

There are always other factors that influence my knitting. In this case, I ordered the red yarn first because I was also using it for another project. Meanwhile, the gray sold out, and I have to wait a few weeks to order it. This makes knitting the afghan in strips not only a nice design feature, but an essential time-saving factor. I can knit all the red strips now, and add the grey once the remainder of the yarn is available.

Last week I ordered a stitch dictionary - 400 knitting stitches from Potter Craft. I have paged through it, admiring various stitches, not really studying any particular one but letting them soak in and broaden my scope from the patterns that I've used frequently in the past. The last afghan I made had a diamond/triangle pattern (see the photo of the gold and black throw) that evolved without much thought. This time, I decided to swatch. I wanted a ribbed look but something more complicated than just a flat rib like knit 5-purl 1-knit 5. Lately I've been in love with cables, but a complex cable is beyond the scope and price of this piece. (Yes, I charge for extra complexity.) I decided to rib as follows: *K2, P2, 1x1 RC (right cable), P2 and repeat from *. You can see the red strip that I've worked so far, and a close-up shot. By the way, the gauge with a size 9 needle is 16 stitches to 4 inches and 24 rows to 4 inches.

A small digression: I measured gauge using Knitpicks combined needle sizer and gauge measuring device. It has a clear strip over the ruler that magnifies your swatch, making it very easy to count stitches and rows. This is one of the handiest knitting tools I've purchased, and it was only $2.99.

It just so happens that the strip I showed you was knitted from one ball of Shine Worsted. Measuring it I get about 18.5 inches x 5.5 inches. I can use this information to check whether my supply of red yarn will be adequate. In the case of this particular piece, I can also finish out my red yarn and order enough gray to make up the difference. Knitting one color at a time is helpful that way - your strip width can always change to accommodate the yarn supply. Some might ask why my initial strip is so wide - after all, 18 inches is a big chunk of 40. I'm avoiding the "scarf phenomenon", my term for the time wasted when you are constantly turning a piece of knitting to start a new row. It's just not practical to knit a bunch of narrow strips. You want a piece wide enough to keep your rhythm going and spend more time knitting than turning.

Questions are welcome. I'll continue until this piece is finished.

Peace.