Flamenco Shawl

I am making an All Shawl by Doris Chan but as I saw from a fellow Ravelry lady it can be made flamenco style by adding more ruffles. Since these photos were taken I have added a third ruffle. The colours are not as bright as they appear on the photos. The bright Orange is more of a burnt orange.

I have finished most of the shawl and until 5 minutes ago it was happily blocking outside in the sunshine as it has been quite a lovely day today. Then it suddenly went very dark and down came the rain and I had to rush to rescue the shawl and my washing from the downpour. Hopefully I can take more photos of the shawl tomorrow when it is completed. It has gone too dark now and so the colours will appear even brighter with the flash.

Last night I started another baby matinee coat in Lilac for new baby Veronica when I was at the Knit Club in the Kings Arms Salford but it is so dark in there that I am seriously considering ordering one of those lights on a headband from Tesco that are meant for handymen and wearing it whilst I crochet in the snug. Someone worked out for me that 4.41kg was around 9lbs 11 ozs so she is quite a hefty young lady so I am making this matinee coat a larger size.

I have decided that I am not a girly girl. I just cannot master the art of painting finger and toe nails. I am OK with painting a skirting board or a door but fiddling about with midget brushes is not my thing. I am too impatient anyway and ages after I think everything is dry I still manage to ruffle up the varnish. Sigh. Perhaps I was never meant to be ladylike.

I have just come back from my 4th visit to the osteopath. My knee is still sore but it is slowly getting a bit better but as my niece pointed out yesterday with all the degradation of my knee I am only postponing the inevitable by waiting 6 more months to decide whether to have a new knee. I discussed it with my osteopath and he said that I do need to be slimmer than I am at the moment to make the operation a success so I think I should concentrate on improving my walking and than maybe going back to water aerobics when I can walk from the station to the Leisure Centre. Improving my overall fitness will help to shed some pounds. I am not eating any more than I used to I have gained weight purely by being so inactive over the last 12 months since my spinal operation. When I wasn't walking about then I know that I should have been eating less but that is OK in theory but not in practise. I still felt as hungry as I used to and found it next to impossible to cut down. Plus I think that the more often I was in the house the more I looked for something to eat. When I was out and about or doing the garden food went to the back of my mind but when I am watching TV and crocheting then food comes to the front of my mind. The TV adverts don't exactly help. There is a food advert every commercial break so it enters my subconscious mind that I need food when I don't.

Iced Knee Anyone?

I went to the physio/osteopath yesterday. I limped in and almost walked out which I will take as a sign of improvement. He read my hospital letters and then examined my knee and deduced that there is a lot of inflammation in and around the joint which has to be got rid of before I will feel any significant improvement. He did a lot of gentle massage with a bit of subtle pressing as if he was trying to manipulate something in my knee back into place although I didn't feel anything move. He then did ultrasound waves on it for 5 minutes. I have had this treatment before many years ago on my hip. It doesn't feel like anything is happening but it breaks down things inside I presume inflammation etc. He then did a bit more massage followed by 5 minutes attached to a machine that sends mild electrical impulses through the muscles.

My knee felt much easier after the session was over. He advised me to get some hot/cold packs and put them in the freezer. I have to use them for 15 minutes 3 times a day. I am wearing leisure pants today so I have had to sit in my panties (which is not a pretty sight) whilst wearing them. I think that I will wear a skirt tomorrow as I doubt the neighbours want my legs inflicted on them if they glimpse them through the bay window as they walk past! The physio asked me if I had taken glucosomene. I said I had but not noticed much improvement so he said to buy some Devils Claw. I asked for this with some trepidation at the pharmacy and although they don't sell it they can get me some for today. The lady behind the counter said her friend swears by it as it is a herbal type remedy specifically for swollen knees. I am at the stage where I will try anything once so I will call and get my tablets today and give them a whirl. If conventional medicine doesn't work then I am all for trying the age old remedies.

I have another appointment for Friday. I have decided to give this treatment a fair crack of the whip even though to be honest I cannot really afford to have many sessions. I am just at the stage where I am so glad that someone is taking my pain serious and doing something to try to help me. The physio said that he cannot understand why the NHS no longer do physio properly and just hand people bits of paper with a list of exercises on. He agreed with me that the list of exercises should come once the treatment stopped in order to keep the knee flexible over a long term period.

The crochet has hit a bit of a stop as I was out most of yesterday. I did get to the Salford Arms Knit Club last night courtesy of my niece who kindly gave me a lift there. It felt so nice to be back there as I haven't been for quite a while. Not as many there as usual but we had a good time and it was one of those laughing type nights where we all had a really good time. There is nothing like a good laugh for making me feel better. Apparently the pub has a laughing club that meets in another room every Monday but we didn't hear much laughter from them last night. I think the Knit Club out laughed them! Rachel met them a couple of weeks ago and said they looked a very sombre lot for a laughing club.

The crochet photos today are of a turquoise cardigan that I have crocheted for Sylvia's foster baby from some of the wool that I got from my Freecycle donation bag. It is another of my very old Sirdar patterns. I have put a photos of it just in case it is still in production under another number.

The child's bolero has finally dried which to me proves that it is either all cotton or has a high percentage of cotton as it has taken almost a week to dry on it's blocking boards. I will put some photos of it tomorrow.