Friday, January 31, 2014

Progress

I've been home two weeks now. I'm making progress--I've graduated to a cane and moving around well. I've begun outpatient physical therapy and am working hard.
I'm also finding time (and energy) to stitch. I've made a lot of progress on my blue crewelwork piece. I put it away last spring with just a few motifs completed.  I decided I needed to put something light behind the palest stitching but couldn't decide what.  Fabric would fray, felt was too thick. I finally decided to use a couple layers of used drier sheets...handy and free, non fraying. They're under the pale yellow areas and you can see them basted down for an area that will be pale blue and green.
I began this scarf last summer and then on Thanksgiving found a dropped stitch a few rows back. Then, looking, I spotted another error. I tried to just unravel a bit, but quickly realised I don't have the skills to put it back on the needles in pattern.  And I decided it was a bit too wide.  Soooo, I unraveled the entire scarf and began over.

I understand the lace pattern better now and am much more relaxed knitting it.  I've added lifelines to help when I make another error and they also help with the anxiety.  It's coming along well and I'm nearly back to where I was before starting over.

We're still in the seemingly endless cycle of snow, very cold, more snow, more cold.  It's nice to be warm and snug!  I hope you're keeping warm and able to use the quiet winter to do what you love best.

2 comments:

terryb said...

So glad to hear you are healing well after your surgery. Good luck with your rehab regimen.

The idea of using the dryer sheets to block the dark background in the light colors is a great hint. (I'm mentally filing it away for future use.)

I can certainly commiserate on the lace scarf. One of my goals in my knitting is to learn how to read my stitches. I'm getting a little better on the simple lace pattern I've been working, but anything more complex would be a real challenge.

Jenny Woolf said...

The crewelwork is beautiful! what lovely colours. I am glad you're recuperating so much better. I dropped you a note yesterday, nothing to say here, we feel in a state of suspended animation!