Knitting

I knit a lot. I learned as a child from my step grandmother, but only knew the knit stitch and I didn't do it for very long. I was very active and preferred dancing, mt biking, hiking and cross country skiing to sitting and knitting. I was always moving, I lived in the perfect area for that lifestyle too.

Well now that I have had to set aside most of those activities, ok all of them. I find sitting and knitting fits my life well now. I won't say it's easy or that it's not painful because my hands are definitely affected by my RA. I do find that it keeps my joints moving. 

A friend of mine taught me or retaught me how to knit, she taught me several others stitches than just knit. This helped me expand a lot. I have also used youtube to fill in some areas, there are some amazing learn to knit videos out there. 

I am the same way with knitting as I am with everything else in life, I over-do it all the time. I knit for too long causing more swelling and pain. If I were to just do a small amount at a time I do think it could be very therapeutic for my hands. 

I have found some things that help me with my knitting. The first is great needles. I find the metal ones get cold to easily and are painful to my hands when cold so those were a definite no for me. I discovered the Denise needle set, they are plastic and work great for me the yarn just glides over them. 

The second thing is a more recent find. A friend had suggested a while back that maybe a boppy pillow would help my shoulders sit more naturally while knitting. She was right, it has been an amazing help. For those of you who don't know what a boppy pillow is...it's a horse shoe shaped pillow that is used for babies. The shape fits perfectly around my waist and my arms relax on it while I knit. Very comfortable and takes stress off of several joints, mostly my shoulders.  

I have recently knitted my first sweater, which led to me knitting my second sweater. I never thought I would be able to knit anything so advanced as a sweater. I have done scarfs, hats, even blankets, but to me the sweater is the hardest skill wise. It was always Oh I hope to one day, but I never thought it was truly achievable especially with RA. 

I am incredibly proud of myself for trying it and sticking with it to finish two beautiful sweaters for my daughters. I will be knitting another one soon. So exciting. 

I have my rheumatologist appointment on Monday. I am knitting my Doctor a cup cozy as a reminder of why we must keep fighting my disease so hard, I need my hands, please help me. I hope she likes it. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog again. Hope you are all having a great day.