I have tried to keep up with the spinning without a whole lot of success. I believe it was a mistake to buy almost a pound of the same roving because it truly becomes boring spinning an almost monochrome fiber, bobbin after bobbin full, then plying. It is a lovely heather color somewhere between blue and purple and I like the finished result--but it is hard getting there, and I tend not to be terribly disciplined when to comes to boring.
In addition, when I came down with the bronchitis, I had to stop weekly injections of Enbrel, which I had been taking for rheumatoid arthritis. Over the course of weeks from early January to now, I have noticed a return of the pain I had in my hands and other body parts as the "benefits" of Enbrel wear off. I have to guard now against using my hands/wrists/elbows/shoulders too much, lest I trigger an inflammatory response which prevents me from enjoying my usual activities. Of course, one could question why I simply don't go back on the Enbrel. Well, there is a problem: Insurance copay for Enbrel is close to $300 a month (total price for Enbrel is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,300 a month), and without financial assistance from a foundation somewhere, I can't begin to afford it. My doctor's assistant has been working on finding that assistance since last Fall and so far, I've heard nothing regarding her finding it. I can go each week to pick up one injector, but that is not a long-term solution. And quite frankly, I have never been comfortable taking a med that costs that much because the perceived benefit to me is not all that great. When I was on the Enbrel, my hands felt pretty good, but the rest of my body continued a slow, downward slide and I felt worse on it then I did prior to starting it. Since being off the Enbrel, I have felt better than in a long time. But I do have to deal with the pain in my hands and not take on as much as I once did. So my production output is slower.
But there is good news as well: I have begun making Entrelac chemo caps. In a way, the pattern is becoming more and more my own, because I have adapted an Entrelac pattern to my own way of working. All the directions I've found so far for working Entrelac require you to turn your work after each row--eight or so stitches--and purl back. I find that tedious, time consuming and clunky. For years I have knitted Entrelac by knitting a row, then reverse knitting a row. In other words, I knit across and without turning the work, I knit back. In fact, I am in the process of teaching some others how to do this type of Entrelac knitting and have come to the conclusion that I won't teach anyone to knit Entrelac unless I first teach them to do Reverse Knitting (RK). It is surprising how easily the skill is picked up, once the principle is understood, and how freeing it is not to have to purl back! I RK on almost everything I knit that requires a return purl row. I just don't turn the work. One of my students grabbed hold of the skill right away and took off knitting hats for donation to Babies in Need.
We use a very soft yarn to make the hats for obvious reasons and all hats must be acrylic (I once swore that I would never knit with acrylic again, but that was before they began doing some pretty good stuff with the yarns. Not as good a wool, ever, but better than before). I also used bamboo for a hat and that was very soft, but I think that with wear, it will get looser and looser and have to be tossed in the wash to make it tighten up again, like cotton. Oh, yeah, I did a few hats in cotton as well.
Pictured is the current hat, knitted with Deborah Norville Garden yarn. It is Draylon microfiber (no clue as to what that is!) and is very soft, but I think it will come out wearing like the bamboo hat, getting looser and needing to be tightened up by washing/drying. And notice that cable sticking out of the work? It is a Knitpicks Harmony cable needle with interchangeable tips. I absolutely love working with it. The tips are lace tips (sharper), not regular tips, and that makes a great deal of difference in picking up stitches. I highly recommend their Harmony needles.
I will definitely work harder at keeping this blog more updated than once every five months! I do have a life to report on.
