Happy New Year, yeah, I know I'm late

Hope 2017 is treating everyone well so far.

I'll start with a roundup of 2016 in knitting:
I completed 27 projects!! That's a personal best that I don't see happening again too soon. Needless to say my stash is more than a little busted after that lol

2016 saw the publishing of three new patterns via my Ravelry shop. And the designing of three more that I hope to release this year (also the seeds of 4 others are currently germinating; stay tuned).

And what's on the go for 2017, you might be asking.

First and foremost, I have those three as yet unpublished patterns and their four friends to introduce to the world. I'm trying to find a charting system that will play nice with Google Docs, which is where I type up my written instructions and all the important information (gauge, size, yarn, etc). I'm trying to cut down the number of files a person needs to download for one of my patterns. Currently my patterns have a file of the written stuff and another for the charts. I'd love to combine them as I think that'll make my ebook easier for knitters rather having to find which chart they need for which design. That's my goal anyway. Once I have that figured out, I'll be putting out a call for test knitters via the Ravelry Test Pool group. Hoping to have the first three patterns up and running before June.

What else am I up to? In my personal knitting, I've decided to focus on color this year. My stranded colorwork is abysmal at best. With that in mind I went looking for something to ease my way into the twisted strands of multicolored projects. Then someone, I'm not remembering who, tweeted the link to an MKAL (mystery knit along). A different kind of an MKAL as it's a "quest" format. And it's being done in double-knitting.

Are you familiar with the technique of double-knitting?  I had learned it some time ago but hadn't thought about it in ages. It's a twist on ribbing or possibly brioche where you're knitting a two sided fabric that mirrors itself. Let me insert a picture to show what I mean:

As you can see, the colors and designs are reversed in both color and facing.  This is done at the same time while knitting in rows. Isn't that neat? I had forgotten about the technique completely until I started reading the thread for the MKAL. This also resulted in me searching for the designer (Tania Richter) and adding a "few" more projects to my queue ;) Do take a look at her designs on Ravelry. She's also on Instagram as @aetherfang

So I've gone down a bit of a rabbit-hole with the Yarn Quest and double-knitting. In my defense, I had to wait for more wool to arrive to start on the next patterns for the series.

So that catches me up on what's going on with my knitting :)

On to health news! And happily there is news to report: I finally got into physio!!! 19 months after injury, 12.5 months after the referral, I finally got in!

I've had two sessions so far and I have a short list of exercises to do at home as well as a list of things not to be doing (looking at you bending forward and sitting longer than 15 minutes at a go). I'm just happy to be moving forward and hopefully getting back to myself sooner rather than never.

And on that happy note, I'm gonna call this post complete :)

TTFN

Off Topic, Sort of. A Dance-y Look at my Health

Off topic in that this post isn't about knitting. On topic because it is about me and my life and that's kind of what this blog's about too, sometimes.

I'm still waiting to get into physio. I think I've mentioned that as an aside a couple times. Thing is, I've been waiting to get in since December *sigh* I'm beyond frustrated with the system at this point.

But I have something behind me that a lot of people don't. I have dance training.

That might not sound like a big thing, but if not for it, I don't know if I'd be walking at all right now. Because my dance training (13 and a half years of actual instruction) gave me the knowledge of the benefits of stretching.

So, I'm putting myself through a slowed down (roughly half an hour to 45 mins) and no bounce version of what we used to do before class. I'm really focusing on sitting up and keeping my posture straight. And I take some of the sideways moves a bit easier on my right side. I'm not trying to make my existing injury any worse!

I was doing some stretching now and then. I wasn't really committed to it though. Now, I'm more driven to do it. I'm starting to believe I'll never get into the physio program at the hospital here and if I don't take care of myself, who will? So, I've stepped it up and I'm making it part of my day. Right up there with my little daily walks.

I'm only into day 2 of my new routine but I already feel better. Like I'm doing something instead of sitting around waiting for something that might never come. Focusing on the positive has never been one of my strong suits (I've often said I'm a realist with pessimistic tendencies) but doing this has me feeling positive :)

From the time I got hurt (last June) until December-ish, I gained roughly 25lbs. I know it was because of going from being active to being a lump. When everything you do, including breathing, hurts you, you tend to not want to do anything. That doesn't mean I was happy about it. In February I started paying better attention to my situation. I determined to start walking a bit every day. That's paid off; I'm down roughly 16lbs!! That has me feeling better too :)

So, that's where I'm at: down about 2/3 of what I absolutely want gone weight-wise, and working on improving my muscle flexibility and a bit of stamina too. I confess, I was trying to do some toe-stands this morning. Which I realize might not be the wisest thing to do in barefeet with one foot having no feeling from the ball up through the toes lol But if I don't try things, how will I know how far I can do? And this is why I'm back to taking my full compliment of meds. I hadn't been taking one of them on a regular basis. But stepping up my activity level and the humidity lately has me back on everything. Better that than pain I could scream from, I say.

So that's it from me today. The sun is shining on my corner of my Island and I'm feeling better than I have in quite awhile.

TTFN