being a diva is great…except for the mostly negative connotation

This has been a long and stressful couple of weeks.  Over the last months I have been making some changes in my life and came to a difficult decision.  Diva Knitting (the store) is going to change.  Into what yet I’m not 100% sure, but I have begun with a restructuring sale.  I am closing out all of the existing merchandise so I can evaluate where it is I’d like to focus my efforts.  It has been a great four years and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know my customers.  I’ve never promoted the store much on the blog since I want to keep a personal focus here, but I know some of my readers are customers as well so THANK YOU.  Over the next couple of days I’ll be consolidating categories as inventory dwindles to make it easier to navigate.  I may also do some additional price reductions so be sure to sign up for the newsletter if you haven’t already.  I’ll be sending out another email when/if additional markdowns occur.

As for knitting, Vivian is FINALLY finished!  Well, almost.  I need a zipper.  And apparently, a larger body.  I hate to admit it, but I might have to reconsider my feelings about wet blocking.  I’ve talked about it multiple times in the past and you know I always do it.  Well, this time it really bit me in the keister.  It fit pretty cute prior to the soaking although it would have needed a steam block at the least just to loosen it up and straighten it a bit.  After the wet block it is quite big.  I’ll still wear it but it’s a shame it doesn’t fit like it’s shown on the pattern, especially after all that work.  The shoulders and underarms in particular are too big.  I’ll be sure to post some finished pictures as soon as I can get a zipper!  In the meantime gaze at it’s cabley goodness.

When I posted “To Rip or not to Rip” I already had it in my head that I’d probably fix it.  I actually kind of liked the way it looked with the two different sides, but it was one of those things where I wondered if it  might bother me later.  Besides, I tend to look on these sorts of things as a challenge.  That coupled with just a wee tendency towards being a perfectionist made the fix impossible to resist.  There have been knitting situations in the past where I have let things go, based mostly on the amount of work involved to fix it.  Sometimes you have to balance the severity of the problem and ask yourself if it affects fit or drives you absolutely insane and weigh the amount of time involved to fix it.  Whether you are a “process” knitter or “product” knitter may also factor into the equation.  Had the mistake been in the other shoulder and required me to rip out both shoulders (would have to do this since it’s saddle construction) I’m sure I would have lived with it because I am pretty much a product knitter…and I am so ready to be able to wear this sweater!  Since it was the just finished saddle that was involved,  the task didn’t seem nearly as daunting being worked over only 16 or so stitches.  Fixes like this would give some people heart palpitations (my sister, for example) but it really isn’t bad especially if you’re working with “grabby” yarn.

First I ripped back until to just where the cable section was and replaced all the stitches on the needles.

Then, I took the offending section of stitches off the needle.

Next, I undid each row until I was at the row where I should have crossed the stitches.

Then I crossed the stitches in that row, using the last row of unraveled yarn and continued to work each row after that crossing where necessary.

Finally, I reworked the saddle until I was back where I started.  Voila!  Matching cables and a very happy knitter.

My happiness was short-lived.  Unfortunately the sweater still looks just like this.  Remember how I mentioned I was out of yarn but there was more on order?  Well, normally when I order from this distributor I get the yarn just a couple of days later.  When I ordered with about 10 days left until closing ceremonies I thought I had plenty of time to get the yarn, figure out my collar mod (since I’m not doing the hood), finish my socks and cast everything off in time to collect my second medal.  Wrong.  In fact, I still don’t have the yarn .  So much for the Knitting Olympics,  Once I realized there was no way I was going to get the yarn in time my mojo kind of left and the socks stalled as well.  Plus, I was in Arizona that whole time enjoying beautiful weather so indoor activities were put on the back burner in favor of lots of hiking and yoga (more on that tomorrow).

While packing for our trip last Friday, I was feeling guilty about not entering the Knitting Olympics.  It seemed a shame not to try a repeat after successfully receiving a medal in 2006.  At the last minute, I ran upstairs to check the stash for any yarn I didn’t have to wind and a project to which I didn’t need to give much thought…socks.  I quickly chose a pattern on Ravelry,  Snake River Socks by Judy Becker.  And, since I’m completely devoted to finishing Vivian right now I vowed to finish it as part of my Olympic challenge as well.

There are a few speed bumps in my Olympic endeavor this time.  First I am out of town which makes getting a lot of knitting done more difficult.  Second, I am out of yarn for Vivian.  More is on the way but that could cause a little additional stress.  Finally, after finishing the saddle shoulders (sweater about 95% complete now since I always intended to do a collar rather than hood) I noticed a little cable boo boo that unfortunately, is so easily fixed (rip back left shoulder saddle and then undo about 6 rows over those 16 stitches and rework the cables) that I think I have to do it.  Jim of course thinks I’m crazy and that no one will ever notice it.  I think I really have to fix it lest it drive me insane!  Guess I’ll be crazy either way, lol.  Opinions?  Requests to send me to the loony bin?  What would you do?

P.S. The socks are about 3.5 in each so far (2 at a time, magic loop).  My chances to medal are looking quite dim.

Well that was quite a long and unintended silence!  Where to begin?  Ah, well, since this IS still a knitting blog…on with the knitting!  I have been focused on Vivian (per one of the New Year’s Resolutions I have yet to share with you) which has produced significant progress. Funny, that.  If you work on something it actually gets done?!?  As you can see, the sleeves are attached and am a few rows into the yoke decreases.  I am on the 17th skein of Sulka and fear I need several more.  I’d like to get some more done on my upcoming trip to AZ but I’m not sure I want to haul this around.  Socks travel far easier  but if I take it I might actually have chance to wear it this season.  I’ll give that some more thought when I begin packing later today.

Just in case you wondered about the marathon in Jaunary, it was a success.  My dad finished in under 4 hours to qualify for the Boston Marathon at age 60.  YAY!  It was a little bit difficult to be around all of that and not be able to participate but the excitement of my father running made it much easier.  Phoenix and P.F. Changs put on a great event with the RNR series.  For being the largest one day marathon event in the WORLD (including 1/2 marathon participants) it was surprisingly well run.  It would seem that any event that big might have some problems, but at least on the surface and from our perspective, everything went very smoothly.

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m writing to you via Gogo wireless on a Delta jet in route to Arizona. Isn’t technology crazy? While catching up on my blog reading, I came across this great contest to win a Tassimo coffee system. It makes single servings in just a minute.

Go check it out and be sure to let me know if you win!

Part of every trip I take is getting my travel knitting together.  This poor Vivian sweater has been back and forth to Arizona multiple time and yet has languished  on the needles since December 18th of LAST YEAR. 1  It probably wasn’t the best choice for a travel project then either, cast on for last year’s trip to AZ around Christmas.  Our trips typically include plenty of relaxation time and knitting time yet I haven’t been able to force myself to pay attention to Vivian.  As you can see there are plenty of cables and multiple charts which require some focused knitting.  It would be great to have this beautiful sweater in time to wear for the rest of winter, so I’m really going to try to give it some quality time this trip.

Of course, I still need a mindless project for times when I just can’t do focused knitting so I cast on some new socks.  I chose the beautiful Veronica yarn from Dizzy Blonde Studios and used my typical Judy’s Magic cast on, 24 stitches each sock, US 1, magic loop.  I decided it might be good to knit something besides the monkey pattern again so I found an easy lace pattern; Coupling from Knitty.com.  I’m sure anything will be lovely with this yarn but I can’t wait to see what the yarn/pattern combination looks like a little further along.

I’m shocked I got in another post before Christmas, but I was inspired (or procrastinating) so there.  I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday.  I normally don’t do resolutions but I’m planning some big ones for 2010.  I’m going to share them here so I’ll have some perceived responsibility to work on my list throughout the year.  I’ll be posting a resolutions list soon and I’m looking forward to reading some of yours too!

1. Isn’t that one of the best things about Ravelry.com?  You know exactly how long your WIPs have been laying around.  Guilt helps get knitting finished. [↩]

I’m long overdue for a finished knit item!  Somehow I stretched these socks into multiple trips and two months of knitting. They make me so happy that I may have gone a little overboard with the pictures. They are my first Wollmeise knit item.  I was never able to purchase Wollmeise at any of the updates.  If you’ve tried before, you know they sell out in like -250 nanoseconds.  I finally decided to go with one of their grab bags which are easier to get due to the cost (5 skeins at once).  I figured any I didn’t like would be easy to sell, but I needn’t have worried.  All of the colors are gorgeous, for which Wollmeise is best known.1  The yarn itself is nice, but really nothing special.  It is a little unusual though with 8 plys.  I think it might make it wear better than other sock yarns.  I’ll be sure to report on that after I’ve had a chance to test that theory.

Thanks again for all the support and concern over my knee situation.  Obviously, I’m no longer training for the Phoenix Marathon.  I toyed with the idea of still walking the 1/2 marathon, but Jim threatened divorce.  On a positive note, my father’s training is still on track so it looks like at least one Schnellenberger will be running on January 17th, possibly with a Boston qualifier time!  I’m looking forward to still being able to check out the expo and experience the marathon vicariously through my Dad.

On a daily basis I don’t have any pain as long as I’m taking the diclofenac.  I went off of it for a few days as an experiment and that was NOT good.  I’ve been trying to keep up some kind of workout routine by going to the gym, but I HATE the elliptical machine.  It’s not so much the fault of the elliptical, but I really just don’t like being inside.  My gym does have televisions and corresponding audio to plug into on each machine but it doesn’t take away the boredom.  The Kindle didn’t work either.  I’m looking forward to my time in Arizona so I can hike or bike every day.  I figure giving my knees a rest by not going to the gym will allow me to take full advantage of my time there (nice excuse for not working out, bah).

The weight loss has stalled in part I think from not running and in part from depression over the situation.  I’m holding steady though and that is fine for now until the holidays are over.  That said, I’ve lost a total of 15 pounds since beginning my “diet” 9/13/09.  Some have asked why I’m losing weight, I already look good, etc…which by the way is great for my ego and very sweet.  Just to reiterate, I was never overweight for my height and I realize I’m not “fat”.  However, I was 20 lbs heavier than I had ever been.  My weight prior to the surgery February 2007 was very steady for years and resulted in a nice wardrobe I’d still like to use!  Plus, now that I know I have osteoarthritis is is more important than ever to maintain a weight as low as possible to take as much pressure off my knees as I can.  I’d like to lose another 10-15 pounds but that will be more difficult with my new workout restrictions.  I still have some hope that after a rest, strengthening and weight loss I can return to a some low mileage running.

In case I don’t get to post again before next Friday, Merry Christmas!  I hope your holiday is safe, happy and filled with love and fibery goodness!

ETA:  Whoops!  I can’t believe I didn’t give the particulars!  One WHOLE skein (about 32″ left) Wollmeise merino superwash (weighed into two equal balls prior to start), toe up, Monkey lace, magic loop, two at a time. Cast on 24 for each sock. Short row heels with 10 left in center.

1. Notice how I totally avoided the preposition at the end of the sentence there? :P [↩]

Sorry, this wheel has been SOLD.

Selling my first spinning wheel only because I bought a new one. It’s an Ashford Traveller, double drive, double treadle, clear lacquer finish with two extra bobbins (total of 6) and lazy kate (does not come included with the traveller model). I’ve only had it about 2 years and spin infrequently. Works beautifully and I’d love to see it go to a good home…it was a great first wheel and easily portable.

There is only one “issue” I can see and it has been there since I put it together. For whatever reason, the screws that were sent were too long. You can decide whether to replace the screws. It doesn’t affect the function of the wheel at all and you really can’t even see them when looking at the wheel. Also, the original drive band broke, so I have a cotton replacement.

Same wheel new sells for $555. Value of extra bobbins is $22, lazy kate $20. I’m asking $485 which includes the shipping and insurance. Please feel free to ask any questions using my contact form. Even if you don’t want a wheel, maybe you know someone who does? Please spread the word so I don’t have to list it on ebay!

Well, today is another day.  I think it helped a little to get all of that out yesterday and I really appreciate the support I’ve gotten.  Of course I couldn’t totally let it go (and I probably won’t be able to for a while) so I did some more research yesterday to get a little more clear on the terms being used in osteoarthritis/chondromalacia.  Of course, I’m no doctor…this is just my understanding based on a lot of reading.

Chondromalacia in itself is not really a diagnosis.  It really is just a descriptive term for the condition of cartilage.  Chondro=cartilage. Malacia=softened.  If you have a mostly normal joint and get some chondromalacia under the kneecap that causes pain, 6 months of rest from the irritating activity might alleviate it and all the cartilage to heal somewhat (cartilage is notoriously hard to heal due to lack of blood supply).  If the joint stays inflamed, it can set up a cycle of damage that permanently affects the cartilage and bone which is what people commonly mean when they say they have arthritis.  The source of inflammation varies (eg. rheumatoid is auto immune, osteoarthritis is mechanical), but the end result is chondromalacia or softening of the cartilage and damage to the joint.  Some people can have a lot of joint damage and no pain, some can have lots of pain and little damage.  Currently I have lots of pain and moderate damage.  The the best way to prevent more joint damage is to use the joint in a way that protects the remaining cartilage, which most doctors think is non weight bearing exercise.  However, if you have healthy joints to start with don’t think that running causes osteoarthritis!  There have been multiple studies that show this just isn’t the case and that it may even be protective.  In fact, after reading these studies again it gives me hope that I may be  able to return to running at some point (especially if they get this whole stem cell thing down…there has already been some success with knee cartilage regeneration).

My short term plan is evolving as I am beginning to accept the reality of the situation.  I’m in pain.  That has to stop and since running makes it worse that has to stop too.  I’m getting older and I can can’t afford to be cavalier with my health.  I’m going to have to commit to  doing the physical therapy exercises to make the tendons and ligaments surrounding my knee as strong as possible.  I’m going to have to work on my weak hip abductors and imbalance in strength between my hamstrings and quads, all of which are classically related to knee pain and instability.  If I can successfully do all of that maybe I can return to at least some running without doing further damage to my joints.

In the meantime I’m thankful that I have supportive friends and family, have health care insurance and I can walk.  Being in that wheelchair last weekend gave me a taste of what life could be like and I need to be focused on how much I have and how lucky I am, not whining about my exercise routine.  Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you have lots to be thankful for too.