2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I am not going anywhere today so shan't be Knitting In Public (although I shall always treasure the time I was standing on a crowded frantic busy rush-hour Platform One at Wolverhampton, and a frazzled exhausted woman dashed along and suddenly stopped, gazed and then told me she felt completely different now, how soothing it was to see me standing there just calm and serene and knitting, and that she thought it was a public service and every station should have one!!)...

... but I am very glad that I am now able to knit! My old spinal problem has been having one last effort- now that so much of me is now fitter and stronger once more (although very very overweight), my shoulders decided to stage an attention-seeking series of twinges which gradually reduced my range of movement, so for some months I have had to have Mr E help me dress and undress, have to be very careful what I wear when I go to swim and even so, occasionally have to ask for help, and have been unable to knit at all... finally, thanks to an excellent physio, I am now able to knit for 5-10 minutes if I am very careful to ensure my shoulder-blades are rotated back and lying flat before I start and do stretches afterwards! 

@Laura_Elsewhere, I feel your pain re your shoulders.  (I’ve recently knitted myself into a knot on my left shoulder.  It gives me tinnitus, too). I’m so glad you can now knit!

Love your story.  My Knit in Public story is that in ?2017, I got tickets to the Women’s World Cup Cricket Final at Lords.  (They were only £20!). We had front row seats.  It was the end of July, gloriously sunny, England vs Australia, and I knitted on my sock throughout.  Two weeks later, we went to our first football match of the season and the chap who sat next to DH said he saw me knitting on television!  He asked me what I’d been knitting, so I showed him the socks I was wearing. 

- Pip

Cherryfudge

That sounds so painful... thank goodness for physio help. I suppose it's easy to underestimate the strain we put our bodies under with even small things, perhaps especially with small things, and it has a different impact on different people. It's lovely to hear you are getting better and back to knitting!

CapricornLass

Glad to hear that the physio is helping though it must be annoying to be knitting for only 10 minutes at a time!

Laura_Elsewhere

Thanks, everyone! It has been several months since I could knit at all, so even just the ten minutes feels great! 

My spine collapsed in my mid-30s, turning out to be a major problem probably starting in very early childhood- now in my mid-50s, this is the last bits of lifelong "everything in the wrong place" stuff... once I get the muscles strengthened *in balance* so it's not all being pulle dout of alignment, then I should have better posture than I have ever had, and finally no major pain, which will feel rather welcome...! 

thriftwizard

Gentle {{{hugs}}}, Laura, spinal problems are no fun at all. Hope it's all behind you (sorry!) soon. 

Sidetracked again here - the arrival of a rather large & ancient rug loom has meant a fair degree of re-organisation! It will enable me to use up large quantities of old bedding & curtains, much more quickly than the twining loom, once I've mastered warping it up. The first curtain - a stunning 1960s red, pink & orange striped affair, twin to the one that gets flung over the cockatiel's cage at night - has already been washed & dismantled, ready for cutting into strips. Good job I've got until December for the little quilt!

And oh dear, @Cherryfudge, that recommendation really isn't going to help me thin out my vast book collection! But I will enjoy it hugely...

Cherryfudge

thriftwizard said:

And oh dear, @Cherryfudge, that recommendation really isn't going to help me thin out my vast book collection! But I will enjoy it hugely...

What's this about thinning out a vast book collection? Are you backpacking across Europe? Can you no longer get through the door? If neither, keep and nurture those books! You might read them some day and they save you having to redecorate.  

The loom sounds very exciting - please send photos as the work progresses!

Laura_Elsewhere

Cherryfudge said:

What's this about thinning out a vast book collection? Are you backpacking across Europe? Can you no longer get through the door? If neither, keep and nurture those books! You might read them some day and they save you having to redecorate.  

In my case: I can no longer get through *any* doorway in the flat and much of the furniture is buried under books...

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

In my case: I can no longer get through *any* doorway in the flat and much of the furniture is buried under books...

An excellent excuse to backpack across Europe, perhaps? Give yourself the duration of your trip not to add to the collection... they will be appreciated all the more when you return.  

P.S. Doesn't have to be Europe. 

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Thanks, everyone! It has been several months since I could knit at all, so even just the ten minutes feels great! 

My spine collapsed in my mid-30s, turning out to be a major problem probably starting in very early childhood- now in my mid-50s, this is the last bits of lifelong "everything in the wrong place" stuff... once I get the muscles strengthened *in balance* so it's not all being pulle dout of alignment, then I should have better posture than I have ever had, and finally no major pain, which will feel rather welcome...! 

ETA:  I am so sorry that you’ve had to live with such pain, and for so long.  Big hugs, Laura.  

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Cherryfudge said:

What's this about thinning out a vast book collection? Are you backpacking across Europe? Can you no longer get through the door? If neither, keep and nurture those books! You might read them some day and they save you having to redecorate.  

In my case: I can no longer get through *any* doorway in the flat and much of the furniture is buried under books...

I am convinced you are related to me, @Laura_Elsewhere.  Like you, I have lost control of the books…. 

Going back to Worldwide Knit In Public Day, this is me and my sister at Twickenham today, before kickoff.  I managed to knit 30 rounds on my new sock during the match.  No comments from strangers, sadly, about me knitting in public.  (Final score, Northampton 25 Bath 21.)



- Pip

dND

Another spend to declare!

I only went to the store to get a rotary washing line but managed to leave with not only the line but a pair of navy blue cotton/linen Regatta shorts! So that's a 5 coupon spend I believe, bringing my total to 14.

While pegging out the laundry - not on my new line as I have to clear the garden before that can go up - I can see that I will be visiting the nation's knicker seller before too long as well. 🤣