Adventures in Crafting and Post-Covid Long Covid

 So…along with the inevitable recovery from the second bout of Covid (it’s horrendous. I thought it was bad before I had had covid again and now I’m back to three hours of unconsciousness if I decide to shower. Joy. Send an email or read a document? Ditto). Today, I’m feeling knocked out because I decided to stitch up the playsuit from the vintage pattern and… I might have forgotten to check my new measurements (though I recently checked them and they were as they usually are). It DOES fit, only the pockets (macgyvered from another pattern) are pulling and muggins here decided to completely finish the seams BEFORE checking the fit (as I could, reasonably, have reduced the side seam allowance to maybe 3/8 without affecting the overall fit). I can get them on. I can sit down without the seams straining. I do need to work on this pattern again, especially if I want to sew it up in anything more robust for winter and, in all honesty, it might work really well in a substantially thick knit without much stretch (not that I know how to sew knits. I am scared of them and I don’t have a properly serviced and working serger). It was a worthwhile experiment, but I’m going to tinker with the pattern again - which is Simplicity S9792 vintage from Jiffy range. The pockets came from a tunic/dress McCalls pattern as it didn’t have internal pockets with the pattern. I just have to find buttons, sew on suitable sized snaps (which I don’t have) or skirt closures (which I like and do have) but safety pins will do for now and if it comes to it, I’ll just sew buttons right through all the layers of fabric. My zip installation….worked. It’s been a while since I put one in and it kind of shows a bit. I am pretty sure I was using the zipper foot - again, I should have checked. I also need to hem the legs and work on the back legs pattern a bit.

I do like this pattern, not least because the zip fastening makes it really easy to get into, which is importantly if you’re disabled. The shoulder design is also useful if you’re expecting to have to spend time on IV/post surgery and with chronic conditions, opting to buy patterns which are easily adjustable to these considerations is important. Same with being a wheelchair user. I’ve found the Cashmerette advice in the book Adjusting the Curve to be really helpful with this. Increasing the seat (aka over the backside and up to the waist) is really important (I was already doing this with my sway back, but now I need to increase that more), but I’m also now having to adjust for the overhang at the front (something I think was MAJORLY affecting the playsuit at around the hips), adding leg length to account for sitting in a wheelchair and so on.

In other news, my experimental Knickerbockers worked really well and I’m very pleased with them! I’m toying with the idea of not bothering with the whole closure on the leg thing, though it did work, and just using elastic and coming up with some kind of fake button tab thing. Though it does work and looks cool! 

Anyway, I’m off back to check the fit of this thing as I wait for a drain engineer to come out on an emergency and hem the legs. Later! 

Well, it’s been a while

 To be honest, I had not realised it’s been almost a year 😲. I’ve been busy with long Covid advocacy and it’s exhausted me to the point of relapse. And I have Covid again. Somehow. I’m so cross, as I’m Covid cautious. One of my cats had to be put to sleep, but I have welcomed two ginger ninjas who Archie is happy to be around.

We have had a change of government, after one of the worst winters & springs in terms of politics. I’m not hopeful about the new government, but at least they’re not Tory. Same rhetoric on disabled and chronically ill. And the disabled & chronically ill with Long Covid are currently not well enough to challenge this effectively. Not with everything else we have to do.

I’m currently having to buy a whole lot of new splints and shoppers. With my pension being 1/3 of my former income, even having full ADP and a bit of ESA, it’s not really enough. I also need to fund a power add-on for my manual wheelchair (what I need isn’t funded under motability). I can’t just get cheap splints. I’m managing with a new thumb one, but it will need a decent new one soon, plus I need two to deal with my dropped foot and spasms issues.

I do have a cleaner back. This is a huge relief. I’ve at least got a clean home twice a month. I am still waiting to see a social worker (nearly 18 months at this point) for a personal assistant assessment. I’ve also been diagnosed with sleep apnoea secondary to Covid in 2020, but the waiting list to be seen for APAP is long. PoTS is an ongoing issue. My local trust still refuse to permit prescription of medications for MCAS, even with a new letter from one of their own recommending it. Speaking of which, I now have to get my records updated, as you need them for benefits stuff. I absolutely hate this - I don’t understand why the agencies can’t access these records themselves.

Due to all the work I’ve been doing for the Scottish Covid Inquiry, I’ve not been able to do anything much else at all. Craft took a back seat, my other LC projects also did too. I’ve taken part in some research projects and studies, but social media is a low priority and recently my hand tremors and cognitive dysfunction started again. That’s frustrating beyond belief.

I did shorten some old PJ pants into shorts, not that the weather is good enough to use them, with two more sitting waiting to be done. I have cut out pattern pieces for planned makes (the fabric has arrived and been washed). Then I realised the big ironing board is in the cupboard behind the new cat litter tray… 🤦🏻‍♀️.

So that’s me. I’ll write a post on how I manage symptoms as a lone person on bad days soon. When I feel a bit better and I have more energy.

So….in about another year then? 🤣. TTFN 

Crafting and Other (Long Covid) Updates

 Seeing as I FINALLY got down and cut out my knickerbockers, following a MacGyvering of two Simplicity patterns, I thought I’d drop in a post to update on various crafting shenanigans. 

As I can’t remember (read: didn’t bother to check the last post), over the last few weeks, I’ve finished my trans inclusive pride flag blanket replacement, knitted (frogged and re knitted) a rainbow dog jumper for a neighbour (from blanket leftovers), a cardigan in black, red and grey for my GP’s new baby (also from said leftover yarn) and started both a Sirdar jumper in Jewelspun (which I thought had wool in it, which will teach me to check properly) and my first pair of socks of the season in Cascade heritage solid and print. Why both? Because this tunic sweater is the biggest garment project I’ve knitted, I know it’s sometimes a good plan to knit something smaller, so you finish things. I set myself at least ten rows of the tunic sweater every day to knit, which is probably about 5cm. I also like knitting small things. Especially socks. I do have a sock yarn problem, so it’s probably good I’m keen on knitting them, huh? 

In terms of socks, I am aiming this year to get at least a pair finished by the end of the month and the Cascade Heritage print is possibly the thinnest yarn I’ve ever knitted with, but it’s incredibly soft. The colours reminded me of the Hocus Pocus witches, just in a more pastel colourway, without being actually pastel. I’m using a sage solid for the rib, heel and toe and it looks lovely. Given this is how what I like to do, I’ll almost certainly get a second pair out of this yarn (like I did with my Christmas socks for myself last year - someone was most pleased to get a pair of socks big enough for their feet!). The pattern I’m using is the one I knitted up in a lovely, now discontinued, cashmere sock wool by Debbie Bliss and, I regret to say, I fiddled with the pattern, resulting in a pair of socks just a smidge too small for me, so they were also passed along to a grateful recipient. Hand knit cashmere socks, with a lace stripe down each sock! She was pleased, but so am I to be finally able to knit my own pair!

I weakened and bought some Opal sock yarn yesterday in a 6ply, which I’m either going to knit slipper socks out of or just some socks. I’ve got some excellent patterns for thicker socks, so I’m looking forwards to using up the lovely pure wool I used to knit the greyhound jumpers over the summer, along with some slipper soles from Regia and Bergere De France - yes, I do want some new slipper socks.

I had a LOT of sock yarn leftover from last year in some prints and block solids and I then decided to buy yet more sock yarn - as of today, four of the six balls have arrived from Lovecrafts and Hobbii (though one colour way IS going to almost match my tunic sweater when it’s finished, so…). Look, I have a problem. A sock yarn problem. I know I do. But I’ve got patterns and a determination to not buy any more now. Promise. 

As I’m now not well enough to work, I am enjoying knitting and pottering. I’m slowly managing to sort through things a little at a time and I know that once I finish the sitting room I’ll feel much better, same with the kitchen. I recently was gifted an air fryer, which I’m very excited about.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, these socks aren’t going to knit themselves, nor is the tunic sweater. Sewing needs to wait for another day…

In terms of Long Covid, things are much the same; waiting for appointments, having others, waiting to hear about decisions on benefits, though I am now in the Support Group for ESA, which means they think I’m not well enough. Just another two and the pension to go. Knowing I’m relatively financially secure will make a big difference to my anxiety levels. However I am still facing selling my home. Sigh. 

Do take care.

Life on Hold. Again. And Again. And Again.

 I think the absolute worst thing about living with Long Covid is the fact that it is so unpredictable and that you cannot catch a break; I distrust the days where I feel I have energy. This is because even if I pace myself well, chances are I am cruising for a crash. I don’t know why. I probably should have put off an impromptu visit yesterday, given I had a LOOOONG set of MRI scans on Monday, but hey ho, it is what it is.

This means progress on that short cloak and re-patterning the regency short stays (even fan-lacing the new ones) has halted, as has the rejig of the petticoat, as well as the ongoing plan for a new regency dress (that’s more 1790s-1805 in design. Sort of). 

I have done a LOT of knitting though. I’ve finished two cardigans for cousins’s babies (cursing the fact there’s now ANOTHER one in the same family line. Not really, but I feel I must knit), knitted up a sweater which, despite my following instructions, does NOT look like it will fit a 9 y.o. - which led to the rushed buying of some expensive wool (in the sale!) to knit up a pair of FANTASTIC fox socks, complete with ears and bad embroidery for said 9 y.o. This meant that I could finally get on and knit myself a pair of winter thick socks ahead of the impending sad event that is the disposal of my entire sock wardrobe due to the sodding fungal nail infection that took hold following Covid. Oh yes. Everything’s gotta go and I get to disinfect my shoes every time as well. New slippers, everything. I also completed a pair of leggings for myself, forgetting my rule of using a smaller set of needles to handle my crap tension, so I may undo the top and reknit several rows with a) double rib and b) needles at least two sizes smaller. They’re being held up with two garters made of very cheap elastic and it’s now a long term plan to design my own pair and I have IDEAS. 

So this morning I won’t be doing my singing thing, as that leaves me tired and I also need to do SOMETHING with our Change petition, which is a campaign for key workers who caught covid, developing Long Covid (as a result of their jobs) get compensation. The recent news release of the IIAC makes it really hard for people to actually get Industrial Injury Benefit, unfortunately, plus a lot of us are getting turned down for pensions too. 

I am trying not to despair. I’m looking at the towel I want to get finished that’s been sat on a needle for two years. I’m planning to do the 13 row pattern repeat, one block a day. If I’m lucky, this means it will be finished next week. 

So, couple of phone calls to make, explaining I can’t accommodate either the costs or impact of travel and can we please do either video or more local appointments, pretty please, with cherries on top. 

Sigh. 

Peace, out.

PS I cannot add photos, due to there not being enough disk space. Sorry and I’ll try and post the, on the blog later on.