Wednesday, June 28, 2006

RSI - Yarn Withdrawal

I am suffering terribly from the need to stop knitting and crocheting. I have had severe RSI since I made those shawls for my friends for gifts. Oh my. My hands wake me up constantly at night with tingling and pain. I took a few days off when we went up to Anacortes, WA this week and that seemed to help. I used ice and tooks NSAIDS. Coming home it is much harder - my gorgeous yarn is all around me. My UFOs tempt me incessantly.

Since I've been home I've done quite a few rows on the afghan I've been crocheting, trying to pace myself - only a few rows, icing in between... but I also have had to work, I have scripts to write and some fairly heavy computer/mouse work these days. And today my hands hurt hurt hurt and it is advised that I take more than four days off ... I should take a week or weeks! Oh my god - this has been such a huge part of my life - writing blogs, reading blogs, researching yarns and projects etc. Lately I've been considering making an afghan for my best girlfriend - who is allergic to wool. Any suggestions of yummy non-wool afghan yarn? I've been price Berrocco Plush and Softy (quite expensive) and wondering if there are equivalents from Bernat etc. The planning is so much fun and now I am wondering what I can do -- here is a pic of the afghan I've been crocheting - I am so close to the end. I do wonder if crochet is particularly bad for the hands - I can do it so quickly and it is very RSI likely.

The good news is that I am close to finishing the scripts I've been working on - about ethics and sexual harassment. And I just learned that two of my videos have been selected for special consideration and discussion by the American Psychological Association at their national conference in August - the videos I did about grief and loss, and harassment and bullying on the internet. So once I finish those scripts I can do a little less computer time -- I was so looking forward to sitting on the beach and working with yarn, watching my kids play in the waves. Guess I'll need to get off my butt and jump around with them instead! That's the positive side of my yarn withdrawal -- oooh this is so hard... Any support or suggestions are welcome!!!

Also, to update on the whole Kitten Rescue thing: the snowshoe kitten purrs and is relatively affectionate, however she can't wait to get back to her buddy, the tuxedo, who is very skittish - still. This whole mange thing has been terrible since it means we have isolated the kittens and limited contact.
It has not been the experience I was hoping for, and now my family (hubby in particular) is so soured on the experience that I don't know if I'll be able to foster the kitten babies that I was hoping for.

Any suggestions of what to do when you can't knit!!! I am really at a loss.

Here is a pic from our Father's Day brunch - proud Daddy with Beautiful First Son, Grant. We had a great day.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe to save your hands you could get/make a triangle loom. Then you can still enjoy the beautiful yarns and make beautiful things but you'd be using your hands in a different way.

Hannah said...

What a lovely afghan! I too am wishing your hands are better soon!