Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Knitter Down!

Of course this would happen now.

I have three major time-sensitive projects going right now--a sweater [my first sweater!] for myself to be worn at the various and plentiful pre-wedding thingies; the wedding shawl [my first lace project!] to be worn, you know, at the wedding; and the toddler sweater for my intermediate crochet class that begins next week... and naturally my WRISTS DECIDED TO SEIZE UP AND REBEL.

Naturally.

And by "seize up" I mean "tingle and become numb and refuse to allow the making of stitches of any kind, dammit." Or doing any actual paid work, come to think of it.

I went to the chiropractor yesterday, and he suggested that my wretched posture might be the most to blame, though he did say I need to stretch my forearms more than I have been. My posture has never been fantastic (except for that one time I wore the corset...) because when I was in middle school (11, 12, 13 years old) and growing, I was one of the tallest girls and I kind of slouched and hid and the boobies were just embarrassing at that point and--well, slouching was the general outcome there. Now I'm not so tall (I'm 5'6") but I still slouch (my last doctor-measured height was 5'5"-- not good!) and therefore the wrist rebellion.

I'm not allowing myself to stitch all this week [it is completely making me nuts not to stitch... what did I do before I learned? Actually watch the whole movie? And the yarn is just begging to be worked up, and I hate to disappoint it], so that I can hopefully crochet up at least part of that baby-sized sweater before the class (which is a week from tonight) starts. If I rest and ice my wee little wristies this week, they can work nicely (I hope!) next week and I can start working on the time-sensitive projects.

And that is all for now because the typing angers the wrists. We must appease the wrists. Oh, does anyone have any suggestions for stretches or other wrist care? I'd really appreciate it. And so would the wedding shawl.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

With the physical therapy for the torn cartilage in my wrist they've had me doing the 'hand up and pull back' and 'hand down and pull back' stretches, and lots of ice... Blue Emu is great if you can find it. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a lot to do for wrists. Hope yours start feeling better!

Anonymous said...

From the sister who has had carpal tunnel syndrome for 8 years : do the stretches (of wrists, neck, and shoulders) often, get and move around often, consider purchasing wrist splints, wear wristies (like the ones you knitted) occasionally to keep the wrists warm and comfortable, and get The Beloved to give you more back and shoulder massages.

Anonymous said...

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. I wish I could help, but rest is probably your best bet.

You may have to hide all of your yarn from yourself this week, because if you see it, it will pout at you, and then you'll want to pick it up and comfort it, and then you'll suddenly find a crochet hook in your hand...

Yeah, the yarn can be evil when it wants. :-)

I hope you feel better soon! I can't wait to see pictures of the lovely lace!

Anonymous said...

i've heard that quickly hitting your wrists with a meat hammer can be really helpful for getting the kinks out.