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Tips & Tricks for Craft-Related Repetitive Strain Injuries

The last day of February is International Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day.  Whether you knit, crochet, color, sew, cross stitch, embroider, or enjoy other crafty pastimes like diamond painting or LEGO building, you’ve likely done repetitive motions while in pursuit of your hobbies.  I reached out to Alyssa Cape from Alyssa Massage for tips, tricks and helpful hints on ways to keep our mobility and flexibility healthy so we can continue to craft for many years to come.

Me: Hi Alyssa!  Crafters (like myself) have a tendency to sit for long periods of time.  We can be hunched over our desks during activities like coloring, sewing or diamond painting, or spend many hours cross-legged on the couch while knitting, crocheting or doing embroidery.  Do you have any posture tips for long crafting sessions?

Alyssa: I’d put a small step stool or shoe box under the feet so the knees are slightly higher than the hips. This helps the small curve in your back from pinching and then your neck automatically goes forward. This way when your feet are slightly elevated, the pelvis is tilted back a bit so you can rest your back on lumbar support or pillow and your muscles relax. 

I wouldn’t suggest sitting cross legged, however if you do, switch positions often. Get up to drink some water and to walk around to give your body a break. 

There are multiple videos showing how to be comfortable while doing crafts like knitting or crocheting, like this one: 

Me: Crafters can be prone to sore wrists, hands and fingers.  Sometimes this pain can shoot up into the arm.  Should we be doing exercises to keep our hands, wrists or arms in shape?

Alyssa: Here are 2 links, one shows 3 stretches for carpal tunnel and the other is self hand massaging.  I do these myself as well! They can also be used for computer/ desk work.

I would recommend not to over-stretch as you can pull on the nerves. Nerves are like dental floss, they pass through the joints. They don’t stretch like muscle, tendons and ligaments. So if you feel tingling or burning in your fingers, stop!

Me:   How hard should we be stretching?  How often should we do them?

Alyssa: Do the stretches gently so you feel a slight stretch/ resistance and then stop. You’ll see mobility, flexibility and strength will come! Seeing a physiotherapist is also a good idea as they can provide you with multiple exercises and stretches and suggest the frequency of both as it’s different for each person.

Me: What should we do when in pain?  Is that the time to stretch?

Alyssa: I don’t recommend when in pain to stretch and self massage. Rest hands as much as possible.  There are thumb/ wrist/ arm braces that can be worn while crafting and at night as well to help stabilize the wrist during sleep.  

Me: Do you recommend ice or heat?

Alyssa: You can alternate heat and cold compresses 15 minutes each. Heat allows for more blood flow which speeds up healing and cold reduces blood flow for swelling and inflammation.

Me:  Any other tips?

Alyssa: A warm bath with 2 cups of Epsom salts really helps de-stress the muscles and then you can apply cold on the specific location. Drinking lots of water also helps with muscle soreness and tension!

That said- always consult with your doctor before doing any stretches or exercises to make sure there isn’t an underlying issue!! 

About Alyssa: 

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Alyssa has been a registered & certified Massotherapist for over 12 years.  She is professional, dynamic and intuitive in her practices and completely dedicated to your overall wellness. You can enjoy the benefits of preventative and ongoing massage therapy for your health and well-being by visiting her here.

Disclaimer: I reached out to Alyssa on my own and asked for her professional advice to share here today. There was no compensation given on either part in exchange.


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cleared!

Apparently nothing I said last time came true.  Not only did I not tell you about Henri the next day, but I didn’t do the swatches I’d said either.  That night.  So here goes.

You might remember that  few weeks ago Henri had a horrible cough.  Then it turned into bronchitis and an ear infection.  He was ok for about 5 days (while I was home sick), then he had a fever, but no other real symptoms other than a cold, while Jakob had strep.  Then he was ok again for about a week.

Saturday the 17th we went out for dinner to Steak Frites with Yannick’s family, and were in the “party room” in the back.  I thought Henri’s cheeks looked flush and he felt a bit warm, but I attributed it to the closed-in room.  He was acting fine, so I didn’t think he was sick.  Sunday he was fine, but a bit flushed in the evening too.  Same thing Monday and Tuesday- fine in the morning, but reddish cheeks and a bit warm to the touch at bedtime.  On Wednesday the daycare was going to the cabane à sucre (sugar shack), both boys’ classes were going, and Yannick was going too, along with some other parents we know.  Wednesdays are my morning to sleep in, so Yannick got up with the kids to get them ready, and even though I was in bed all I could hear was Henri coughing.  Non-stop.  I got up and went to check on him- he didn’t feel warm, but his cheeks were still flushed and he couldn’t get through a few words without coughing.  But his attitude was great.  I gave him his blue puffer (Ventolin) and we decided he’d be ok to go on the trip since Yannick would be with him, but he’d keep in touch with me, and if needed they’d be back by 3:00pm and I could book an evening appointment at the doctor to get him checked out.

The only texts I received all day were “feverish”, “lethargic and can’t stop coughing”, and “he’s not good”.  I got him a 5:30 appointment at our clinic, and left work in time to go meet Yannick and the kids at the daycare and switch the kids into my car so Yannick could get to work.  I brought them home for a bit to play then we went to the doctor.  By this point Henri had 101.8 F fever, was very lethargic and LOOKED like he was having trouble breathing.  His breaths were coming fast and quick, the hollows in his neck were sucking crazy deep with his breathing, and he couldn’t talk and breathe at the same time, so every time he tried to talk he sounded like he was drowning.  It was kinda scary, except that his attitude was amazing- smiling, happy and silly.

At the doctor he was put on a Ventolin mask right away, which was the first time that’s ever happened.  He’s always been ok with just the puffer/chamber “as needed”, and the orange puffer (Flo-vent) only when the doctors told us to use it.  He was checked again after 10 minutes after the mask, and he sounded a bit better, but his lungs didn’t sound the same, and she thought he might have pneumonia but she couldn’t tell.  She suggested that I bring him to the Children’s Hospital for an xray.  (It was 6:15pm and all local clinics with xray machines were closed).  Before going to the hospital, though, she wanted me to fill an rx for Prednisolone that would work faster than his orange puffer.  Luckily my mom was free to come watch Jakob, so I brought the kids home, changed into something more comfortable, gave Henri a light supper, put him in his pjs, then drove down to the pharmacy then hospital.  We got there around 8pm.

With kids and breathing they don’t play around, and it wasn’t long before we were seated in the asthma wing.  I’d heard about it from Yannick (his first girlfriend had bad asthma and they’d often gone to the Children’s for her) and from a friend whose son has asthma, but had never been there myself.  Every doctor could see just from glancing at Henri’s neck that he was really struggling to breathe.  They took xrays and said he showed a light pneumonia on one side, and listening to his chest showed wheezing.

It was a long night, but to sum up: we were in the asthma wing reclining chairs until 4:30am.  They’d kept checking his oxygen levels with the finger monitor, and he wasn’t getting enough in.  You’re supposed to have over 100 saturation (or something), but when you’re sick they will accept it between 92-100.  When we got there he was at 96, then he went to 94, then 92.  At that point they kept checking and when he got down to 87 they said he’d need oxygen.  They put the tube in his nose then checked again and he was back to 92, but after removing it he dropped again right away.  After another attempt at removing the O2 they decided we’d need to be admitted.  Plus he was still wheezing this whole time, and getting Ventolin masks every 45 minutes.

At 4:30am they finally got us a bed in the short-stay unit, oh- and Henri was STILL up.  It was nuts- he didn’t ask for food or drink, he just lay in my arms watching Dora on the bedside dvd player, just lying there, occasionally talking back to answer Dora.  He slept for about an hour in the bed, I got about 2 hours in 10 minute bursts while holding him.  He was finally able to get the O2 tubes taken out at 11am, and by 3pm, after having received 1 dose of Prednisolone, 2 doses of antibiotics (in case the pneumonia was bacterial) and 8 Ventolin masks, he FINALLY stopped wheezing and I was allowed to bring him home.

That night and all of Friday were complete blurs as both of us tried to sleep as much as possible.  Last Monday (the 26th, 5 days after we were at the hospital) we had a follow-up with his pediatrician to see how he was doing.  Well, his fever was gone, but he was still wheezing.  We had to put him back on the Flo-vent puffer for the whole following week and go back in a week…which was today.  He was fine all week, though OBNOXIOUSLY hyper thanks to all the Ventolin.  Oh. My. God. is the kid hyper.  It’s insane.  Anyways, he’s no longer wheezing, so that’s good.  I still have to keep him on the puffer for 1 more week to make sure he stays clear, but at least this seems to be over.

If you needed proof that he’s fine, here’s a quick pic from last week.  Two happy, mostly-healthy brothers.  🙂

And here’s another one of my little music man, just hanging out, strumming his guitar and feeling the groove.

(I love this photo- he looks like a little hippie, or garage-rocker!)

–

So the first week I didn’t post was just ‘cus I had nothing to share, either home or knitting wise, then the last two weeks were just spent taking care of the kids.  At night I was too tired to do anything, even watch tv.  I didn’t get those swatches done any night last week at all.

But they are done!

Saturday night Jakob had a birthday party at McDonald’s for a kid in his class, so I dropped Henri off at my parents’ house for some one-on-one time and took Jakob to the party.  I stayed, and chatted with the other moms while he ran around and played and ate.  And while I chatted, my hands were busy under the table knitting on the swatch.  (I swear, I don’t even think anyone else noticed, not a single person asked what I was doing).

I finished the stockinette stitch part but didn’t have my sock yarn with me to cast on for my March/April socks so instead I just kept going on the swatch.  I switched to garter stitch and did a chunk in that so I could see how it blocks out.

That afternoon I’d swatched the blue ribbon yarn, but found it too crunchy to have on its own.  Mixing it with other yarns, though, worked perfectly.  A few years ago my LYS had a bulky yarn called Summer on sale.  There wasn’t enough of either white or navy to make myself a sweater, so I bought all they had of both colors and planned to use it together sometime.  That time is now.  (LOL).  Now that I have more yardage to account for, a new Ravelry search found me the PERFECT pattern, Flugel from the Knitty Deep Fall 2011.  Unfortunately I ripped my swatch back so I could cast on, so I can’t show it to you.

We spent the day up north yesterday, which meant I had 1.75 hours of drive time each way.  On the way up I cast on for my March/April socks, using the Regia Canadian colors from my stash.  My best quick-Google attempt found that this yarn is apparently called “Admiral”…so either we’ve got a new Canadian province, or it just refers to something Maritime-y.  Either way, blue is my favorite color and I love blue and cream together, so these will be for me.  I did the toe just so I can have it ready at the mindless-stockinette-stitch-can-knit-in-the-dark part.

I didn’t knit on the way home, because the roads sucked and I was too nervous to not watch.  Call me crazy, but if we’re going to get into an accident, god forbid, I want to see it coming- not be blindsided.  I don’t know how that makes sense though…but I get too uncomfortable to not watch the roads, not like as a passenger I can do anything though!

I had made Flugel progress that afternoon watching the big golf game with my inlaws while Henri napped, but I’m going to rip it out today and start fresh.

First of all, it’s too big.  I’m using a 5.5mm for the body to get the pattern gauge with my yarn.  I should have used a 4.5mm for the ribbing but couldn’t find one before I left so grabbed a 5mm.  I don’t like it- it’s too floppy.  And since I’m starting over, I’m going to modify the pattern.

The sweater is supposed to be knit in the round until the underarms, then flat for the fronts and the back, then seamed at the top and bottom of the sleeves (kind of like the Einstein jacket).  I’d already decided to change that and graft them to avoid the bulky seams.  Instead of doing the stair-step bind-offs on the tops of the arms I’m going to use short rows to keep all the stitches live and graft them shut.  I’ll have to pick up stitches to graft the underarms, but I still think that will be less bulky than seaming.

My biggest mod is that I am now going to knit the body flat instead of in the round.  My plan for my 3 yarns is to knit 6 rows white, 1 row navy, 1 row ribbon.  I can use the “slip-first-stitch” method for the white to avoid a jog where the colors change, but with only 1 row of navy and ribbon, it’s harder to avoid a jog when beginning each round.  I’m going to avoid it altogether by working flat and having all my yarn ends be at the sides, to be hidden in the seams.  By seaming the sides it gives it a bit more stability and structure which is good when knitting with a heavy yarn, plus I can control matching up the sides so the stripes match with no jog.  Win-win!


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and the results are in…

wed mar 7-boys home, back to dr tonight for them.  more swatching for shawl, blanket yarn pic

Kept the boys home again today.  They only had low-grade fevers last night, and I was thinking that they might be able to go to school today.  It was Yannick’s morning to get up with the kids, and when I got up I asked how they were doing.  He said Henri was acting fine, but Jakob seemed sick.  I took their temperatures and Jakob had no fever any more, and Henri’s was low-grade again (99.8).  You just can’t tell from how they’re acting!  I was debating sending Jakob to school but really didn’t want to go out if I didn’t have to, and right as I was thinking about it he had a mini coughing fit and sneezed a few times, and I realized it wasn’t worth going out to bring him there.  Plus we still haven’t heard back from his strep test, even the 24 hour results aren’t in yet.

Because they still weren’t well, and it has been 3 days since Sunday when we saw the doctor last, I called up to book an appointment.  It was 8:30 when I called (they open the phone lines 30 min before they open for booking “emergency” visits) and they were already booking for 2pm!  The entire day had filled up already!  I really didn’t want to bring them in during nap time, so even though it would suck to go out at night if it got cold, I decided to wait and call back a bit later when they had gotten closer to 5pm.  Sure enough, about 45 minutes (and 3 call attempts) later, I was able to book a 5pm appointment, meaning I could let the kids nap until the usual 4:30 then get them ready and leave and be there just on time.

They played well in the morning, and ate well even though I gave them a light lunch.  At nap time Henri fell asleep right away, and Jakob was still up and playing when I went in around 3:00 to ask him to be quiet.  I was DEFINITELY thinking that Jakob was feeling much better, and be able to go back to school.  Around 4:00 Henri woke up and asked if he could go play with Jakob, I said sure ‘cus I knew Jakob would love a partner to play with.  Imagine my surprise when 2 minutes later Henri came back saying he couldn’t wake Jakob up!  Huh?  Wake him?  I went upstairs to check- and sure enough Jakob was SOUND asleep across his bed.  Oy.

Before heading out to the doctor I took their temperatures again just to be able to tell the doctor what was going on.  Jakob had no fever at all (97.2 by the time I took it out).  His only current symptoms were a bit-more-than-occasional cough, runny nose and sneezing.  Plus the unknown strep results.  Henri, on the other hand, had gone up to 102.2!  The poor kid- his voice was “off”, his nose was really runny but thick, and he had the occasional cough/sneeze.

While we waited for the doctor I asked the lab if they had Jakob’s results- no.  They said to check with the doctor’s receptionists, which I didn’t do because I’d be seeing the doctor herself in a minute or two.  She took a look at Jakob first and said that his symptoms (fever and red throat first, fading to cough/sneeze) seemed likely that he had a virus.  If the strep test were to turn out positive, then he probably just had a cold on top of the strep, but assuming it was negative, he had a virus and once he’s fever free (which he is) and back to himself (which he isn’t) then he can go back to school.  Henri also seemed to just have a virus, though because his fever has been since last Friday or Saturday night, if it continued a few more days we’d have to do an x-ray to make sure it wasn’t a light pneumonia (even though he wasn’t coughing much).  Just in case, though, she gave us a strep test requisition paper and rx for amoxil so that if Jakob’s test were to come back positive, we could get Henri checked too, and then fill the rx without having to come back in.  She didn’t have Jakob’s results so she told us to check with reception.

That’s when it almost got comical.  We go out to reception and they say they asked the lab for the results, but she was busy and couldn’t tell them right away.  I asked if I should wait because should it be positive we’d have to test Henri, but the lab had just closed so they couldn’t even test him anyways.  They said that they were open until 7:30, so if Jakob’s results did come in before they closed they’d call me, and if positive I could come back with Henri the next day to be tested.  So I get the kids ready to leave and RIGHT as we’re about to walk out they say they have the results!  Jakob’s 5 minute and 24 hr tests were both negative, but the 48 hour one was positive.

Huh?  Now that the kid has no fever and only a cough & sneeze as symptoms, which are NOT symptoms of strep, NOW he has strep?  Okay…  Well, can they test Henri, since we’re still here?  Nope, she tells me, ‘cus the lab really is closed.  But another lab nearby is still open.  It was 5:45pm, the kids hadn’t eaten supper yet, and I didn’t want to feed them before Henri was tested in case swallowing food would slough away any bacteria from the back of his throat.  If I’m paying for a strep test, I want them finding any and all available bacteria!!

The rest of the next hour and a half was a “hurry-up-and-wait” blur.  First we drove to the other lab, near the local hospital.  After a short wait Henri had his test done, then we had to wait 15 minutes for their quick-test results.  I tried bringing the kids to a cafe next door for a soup and cookie, something for a light supper, but they were closed.  The only thing open during the wait was a depaneur, so the best I could do to tide them over was get them each a drink (no sharing right now!) and a big cookie for the 3 of us to share.  The 15 minute test was negative, so now we’ve got to wait.  Since Jakob’s test was positive after the long growing span, I won’t know for sure until at least Friday if Henri has strep or not.  Which means we’re home for the rest of the week.

We couldn’t go home yet, though, because we still had to fill Jakob’s amoxil.  I know from past experience that it takes about 10-15 minutes to fill that rx because they make it only once the order comes in (I assume), but I really didn’t want to get the boys home 10 minutes before bedtime and THEN feed them.  So we hit up a McDonald’s drive through for some nuggets and fries, and I fed them while sitting in the waiting chairs at the pharmacy.  Not the best meal in the best place, but the best I could do at the time.  By the time the rx was filled and we got home, it was 10 minutes past their 7pm bedtime.  Oy.

I think the rush of activity wore them both out, because once they were in bed, neither one got up again.  They both passed right out.

–

If I get back to the crafting, which is why most of you are probably here, I did more planning of swatches in Excel.  I did work up a quick swatch to test out decrease angles for a little motif I’m hoping to include in the pattern, but since I’m hoping to publish this pattern, I can’t actually show any photos here.

Instead I’ll give you this photo:

I figured it would be a good idea to have a group pic of all the yarns used in my sparkly woven blanket before they were used up in the blanket.  Because I’m striping them randomly it’s not easy to tell from the project what the yarns that went into it looked like, so this will be my reminder.

I hope you’re all healthy!


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silly faces!

The boys were home again today.  Their fevers weren’t as high as yesterday, but you could tell they weren’t “well”.  Plus we still haven’t heard back with Jakob’s strep results, so I want to keep him home until we know for sure.

I had a follow-up doctor’s appointment for me today, because when I’d seen my doctor after the bad hernia incident, my blood pressure was higher than normal and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t staying that way.  (I was sure it was because of the incident, though).  He was only an hour behind schedule today, and I did a bit more swatching though I might rip it out ‘cus I wasn’t very happy with it.

Because the kids were home, but I had the appointment, I brought the kids to my parents’ place for their nap.  Neither one slept, of course, because they were too excited to be “out”.  Still, besides being sick, they were in great moods, and we had some fun being silly with my camera.

Nice enough…

Silly face time!!

They had supper there and played for a bit so once I got them home I was able to get them right into bed.  I got a bit of work done and decided to just call it a night.  I’m going to get into bed with my phone and play video games until I pass out.  I’m so hooked on some of these games that getting into bed with a few hours of nothing to do but play seems like the biggest luxury right now, and I’m going to take advantage of it!


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two sick kids

sun mar 4- skip swimming- kids sick.  to dr, jakob maybe strep, internet store meeting.  jakob face pic, henri sleep

We skipped swimming this morning because of the kids’ fevers last night.  I wasn’t sure if it was worth bringing them to the doctor, and then I took a closer look at Jakob’s face, and saw this rash.

It wasn’t raised, or itchy, but bothered me, so we called up and got both kids an appointment at 10:30.  Turns out that Jakob’s fever and rash could be signs of strep.  Couple them with the fact that he had a very red throat, and even though he wasn’t complaining of it, he had to do a strep test.  (Weird that symptoms of strep are so different in kids vs adults!)  Henri only had his fever with a runny nose, so they said he probably just had a virus, and if he started coughing again I could give him his puffers before bringing him back in.  Though, both kids would have to go back if they still had fevers in 3 days.

The lab, unfortunately, was closed for the weekend, so we’d have to come back the next morning for the strep test.  Wonderful.

For 2 sick kids, they were in great spirits, and you couldn’t tell from their attitudes that they were sick at all.  At least- until bed time.  They both napped in the afternoon, and then when bedtime hit they crashed again.

Henri fell asleep so fast that he never even moved after I tucked him in- just put his hands under his cheek like this and fell right asleep.  😦  Little sweetie!


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trache-whaa?

This is what I’ve knit today.  During my wait for my doctor’s appointment, I was able to cast on and complete the short-row toe for my 2nd Celery sock.  I was also able to work a few rows of the sock foot, before getting restless and lightheaded from coughing, and switching to a magazine.  I then had time to read 3(!) magazines.  Why?  Because my doctor was running THREE(!!!) hours late.  My appointment was at 11am, and I was finally out of there about 2:30.  Ugh.

He says I have tracheitis, kinda like bronchitis but in the windpipe.  I remember having this a ton when I was at my old job about 8-9 years ago, I’d get coughing fits that wouldn’t ever end…but I don’t remember feeling “sick” with it too.  In any case, unlike the bad bacterial kinds I read about online, he says mine is viral.  There’s not much else to do other than wait it out, but I can take hycodan syrup for the cough, and use a bronchohaler (sp?) inhaler to help me breathe, ‘cus the problem I’m having now is that when I start coughing I can’t stop for a few minutes, and in between coughs I can’t catch my breath to breathe in to give me the air to try and cough out to stop coughing.  (Does that make sense?)  The hycodan makes me very loopy, so I’m only going to take it before bed because during the day I need to be able to drive to pick up the kids from daycare.  The inhaler makes me feel like I just had 10 strong coffees all at once, I feel so jittery and amped that it’s like my arms are shaking and I can’t calm down to knit.  So because of that I didn’t get any knitting done once I got home, ‘cus I took the inhaler right away and it messed me up for the rest of the night.  Then I took the syrup and was both hyper and hazy…lalala wooo


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ugh

I can’t take it any more- I called the doctor.  It’s time to go in, whatever I’ve got isn’t going away any time soon and I can’t take all this coughing.  My hernia(s) popped out today…though at least there’s good news there ‘cus it was no different from usual, so now I’m not paranoid any more about it hurting worse when it pops out…it must have just been something getting caught last time.  The bad news is that my doctor can’t see me until tomorrow morning, so I have to endure another day like this.  😦

Had some cuteness with the boys before they went to bed.  I’m trying to get my Jan/Feb socks done and was knitting while they were playing before bed, and they both wanted to play with my yarn ball.  I went down to my office and got them each their own little yarn ball (leftovers of Nordique from the guild’s swatching challenge) and took these pics of them.

They spent at least 15 minutes unrolling and re-rolling the yarn balls until it was bed time.  It was too cute!

This is where I’ve gotten to on the socks so far.  I just finished the first sock.  I got bored with the plain stockinette, and for the longest time I’ve wanted a feather & fan pair of socks, so I decided to wing it with these.  I did a 20-stitch repeat, and these are 60 st socks, so I only have 3 “waves” going around.  I’d like to rework it next time and have more waves so the socks come out more feminine…maybe on my next pair.  (The tie in the middle is marking the first row after working the heel, so I can count and make sure the 2nd sock has the same number of rows).


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missed meeting :(

There was an open house today for the local weaving guild and crocheters’ guild.  I had been planning all week to go, even though I would be going alone.  I was going to bring my loom, folded and tucked into my loom bag, and I was going to meet new people and maybe learn something.

That didn’t happen.  I spent all day on the couch.  Yannick took the boys to swimming so I didn’t have to get up and go, and I just vegged.  I felt so sick and knocked out.

I did get a bit of weaving done in the afternoon.  The boys napped and Yannick and I watched some tv, and I wove (weaved?)  Didn’t get much done, but at least it was something.

I’m now at 21″, and have finished my original 2 shuttles and started my new light and dark colors.  The “light” is an orangey-coral color, and the “dark” has some browns and creams.


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k.o.’d

Anyone catch the license plate of the truck that ran me over?  Oh my did I ever catch Henri’s cold.  I can’t quite decide if it’s strep, or bronchitis, or a sinus infection…all I know is that half of the day my ears tickle and throat hurts and I’ve got crazy headache/pressure, and the other half of the day is spent coughing my lungs out.  I haven’t coughed out the hernia(s) yet, but that can’t be far off.

Last night, no joke, I was in bed as soon as the boys were.  I’d already heated up a frozen onion soup (the ones from Costco are awesome) and as soon as the boys’ doors were closed I came to the kitchen, ate my soup, made a NeoCitran, drank it and climbed into bed.

I tried playing on my phone but couldn’t concentrate and was asleep sometime shortly before 8pm.  I know I woke at midnight when Yannick got home, and then was wide-awake and alert at 2am.  Coughing non-stop for 5 minutes will do that.  I finally had to get up and go get my big “armrest”-style pillow, put my pillow in front of it, and then put a neck roll pillow on top of that so I could sleep sitting up, because lying down was killing me.  I just couldn’t stop coughing.  Finally around 3:30 I fell asleep again.

This morning my headache is insane but the cough isn’t as bad because I’m upright.  I’m tired but don’t want to sleep any more and be up all night.  The boys just got into bed so my plan is to sit on the couch with this:

Hopefully I can finish one of these things before I finish the two others.

This pic is for Maaike, who’d asked me for a less “yellow from night time iPhone pic” photo of the weaving-in-progress.  I took this with the iPhone, but in natural sunlight.  Any better at seeing the colors?  You can see the 2 balls I’m currently striping on the edge of the photo in Wednesday’s post.