The Cast is Off!

The cast came off yesterday, as planned. At first I was a little concerned, as it didn't look all that good to my untrained eye. But the Xrays showed that the bones are healing as expected, and should only need a couple of weeks more. The Doctor gave me a brace, but I only have to use it "as needed" and NOT when knitting or crocheting, which he said are good exercise. And without the restrictions of the cast or brace, I can knit without discomfort for longer periods. Hooray! He also suggested going for PT, which I know will help me get back to normal.

Besides working on my Taos project, I've started to catch up on my squares for the 2009 BAM/CAL project; I have between 4 and 6 squares to do for September and October. That should keep me pretty busy.

But the Taos wrap is still top priority; I really want to finish this. I am totally obsessing over it, partly because of all the lost time, and partly because one tends to obsess over Jane's designs. You just want to keep going until you finish. As soon as I make a little more headway I'll post a new progress picture.

Tomorrow's the Day!

Well, tomorrow's the day they take off the cast, and I hopefully switch to just a brace. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will really be back in business then.

In the meantime, I've gotten some more work done on my Road to Taos Wrap (also known as Sunset over a Mountain in the Desert). It's coming along pretty well, I think. I've been having trouble trying to get a picture with the true colors, but it's looking very much like my inspiration painting. You'll just have to trust me on that.
I'll report back after my visit to the Orthopedist tomorrow.

Cats Are #1

Cats Are #1,
originally uploaded by Meet The Breeds with AKC & CFA.

Knitting Again

Hooray! I finally am able to do some knitting in earnest. After 2 weeks of discomfort, I called the Ortho's office, and it was decided that the cast was probably too tight, and yesterday I went in to have it replaced. But the cast tech said it made no sense to put on a new cast when it's coming off next Tuesday. so he sliced it down the 2 sides to relieve the pressure, and best of all, cut away the part that was digging into the inner base of the thumb. The minute he did that, I knew it was going to be OK.

When I got home, I immediately tried both crochet and knitting, and I could do both. Granted, there is still a little discomfort, but nothing like the pain I was feeling before. There, I've actually said the word: PAIN. I didn't want to acknowledge the fact that it actually hurt, because I usually have a very high threshold of pain, and it bothered me that this hurt as much as it did. That usually means that whatever is hurting is pretty bad.

But the main thing is that I got about 4" of my Taos project done. I actually had gotten more done, but had to frog 6 rows of garter stitch, because the color wasn't right. I probably overdid it a bit, so I'll have to pace myself from now on.

Today I went to Tucson Yarn Company, my LYS of choice here in Tucson, and found some more yarns to possibly use in the Road to Taos Wrap, and started playing around with them. I'm trying not to do too much knitting at one time, so as not to aggravate the wrist; so I'm spending part of my time sorting out the yarns I have, and deciding which ones to use in what order. Not that those decisions are set in stone, but it helps to eliminate or add yarns until the mix looks good.

I've also done some crochet as well; I am so far behind on my squares for the 2009 BAM/CAL. I put in a little time on the September bonus square; but that's all I have so far. There are still the 2 regular September squares, the 2 October squares, and a bonus one for October, too. I'll have to see how many squares I really still need for the Afghan. I may skip some of these if I don't need them.

That's it for now. I'll be back when there's more news.

Home At Last

Since I've been home, almost 3 weeks (where does the time go?) things have been anything but normal. Until today, I haven't driven at all, and haven't been much out of the house for that matter. I got to see a local Orthopedist 2 weeks ago today. He took off the cast, did some new Xrays, and concurred with the Dr. in Los Alamos that the scaphoid was probably not broken. He then put on a new cast (a better Purple than the 1st one, and waterproof to boot)

I asked if I could knit, and drive, and he said yes to both. But the reality is, that while it's OK to do both, I'm not really physically able to knit, or crochet. Every few days I would try to work on my project from the Jane Thornley workshop in Taos, but it would be so uncomfortable that I couldn't get very far, and, in fact, usually had to frog what I had done. So I wasn't making any progress, just doing the same parts over and over. I had been putting it out of sight, thinking that would keep me from being tempted; but I would keep thinking about it, and go seek it out to try again. After taking one last stab last night, and still being very uncomfortable this morning, I had to admit defeat. It will have to wait a while before I try again. This is as far as I've gotten.

I didn't know about the driving, because until today I didn't try. My DH has done the driving whenever I needed to go anywhere. Which wasn't often: the above mentioned Dr.'s appointment, to the Synagogue for Yom Kippur, and out for dinner to celebrate my Birthday. But today, for the first time, I drove. I've always been a mostly one-handed driver anyway, so it wasn't too bad. Harry, the DH, came with, in case I ran into any problems. I didn't really, but got tired after most of the errands, so he drove to the last one and then home.

I'm due to see the Orthopedist again next Tuesday. He's supposed to remove the cast, and if all goes well, replace it with a brace. I assume that it will be less restricting, and hopefully I'll be back in business. In the meantime, I'm using my knitting/crochet time learning to use my birthday present: a much needed new laptop.