Focus

Dear Readers,

Sometimes I lose track of what is important in life and I need a little reminder.

Autism: The Spectrum and Functioning Labels

Dear Readers,

In today’s Autism post I want to talk about the Autism Spectrum and also about Functioning Labels.

Fully Vaccinated!

Dear Readers!
I am very happy to say that I am now fully vaccinated. I got my second dose on Sunday. Yesterday I felt a bit rubbish but today I am feeling much better. Just a bit of an ouchie arm. 😉

Art by me, using Canva

I hope that you are all well and having a lovely week!
Peace and love
Ellie
XOXOX

Vaccinations and blessings

Dear Readers,

Just popping in to say that Husband and I got our firsts vaccination shot for Covid-19 on Tuesday. We are both well and happy.

With the majority of my friends and family still living in South Africa I feel so blessed to be offered this chance to be vaccinated already. I know that there are many people out there who are less fortunate than we are.

In other news, it is just 2 weeks until the market that I am sharing a table at. I am both incredibly nervous and excited. I am slowly coming up with a list of things that I need to get done and have prepared before I will feel ready. If I manage to produce a good list I might share it here with you.

Keep crafty!
Peace and Love,
Ellie

Meditation Knitting Introduction

Dear Readers,

Today I want to talk a bit about meditation knitting. It seems to be a popular phrase these days, I have seen many articles talk about knitting as mediation but they don’t really go into detail. They just say that knitting is good for you and your mind. So I have decided to write a series of blog posts about mediation knitting.(I would like to note that although I have written this is knitting most of this applies to crochet too! )

Torture

Dear Readers

I hope that this never happens to you.

Poor Us

Hi Again,

So Jack and I are convalescing at the moment and feeling very sorry for ourselves.

A quick Aside

Hi again,

Okay this is going to be my final apology for not posting regularily. No this doesn’t mean that I hope to somehow magically stick to a posting schedule. This means that I am going to try and accept myself as I am and just acknowledge that sometimes I can’t post and sometimes this will happen for months in a row.

My medication (for anxiety and depression) has not really been working (probably because I haven’t been recieving therapy and medicine helps the symptoms not the cause.) Anyway I sort of recently got to see a Psychiatrist through the NHS who is adjusting my medictaion and who also informed me that it is pretty much impossible for me to recieve onging psychiatric talking therapy. (Cue me having to go and find a private therapist who doesn’t cost an arm and a leg).

I am still in the transition between old medicine and new. Things have certainly been a roller coaster ride but they do seem to be somewhat on the up.

I hope that you have all been keeping well,
❤ Love Diella

Artists Look After Your Hands!

Hello everyone,

Today’s topic is a more serious issue. I want to talk about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a medical condition due to compression of the median nerve as it travels through the wrist at the carpal tunnel.^[1] The main symptoms are pain, numbness, and tingling, in the thumb, index finger, middle finger, and the thumb side of the ring fingers.^[1] – Wikipedia

Before this year I had heard of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome but I had not really given much thought to it. But now my mother has recently been diagnosed with Moderately Severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and this had made me think a lot more about it. From what I have read it often effects surgeons, vets, typists. I.e. people who work with their hands a lot. My mother is also an artist and she is also a writer so she definitely uses her hands a lot. Unfortunately my mom didn’t experience pain, she only felt numbness and this caused her to ignore it for a long time. When I say a long time I mean over 10 years. But it has slowly worsened to the point that she can barely use her hands for anything anymore without them going numb. She is going to go for surgery this month to hopefully correct the problem, however had she been diagnosed when the problem first started there were other thing that the doctors could have tried doing without resorting to surgery.

I feel that this is something that many of us should be aware of as many of us use our hands pretty much all day. Many jobs these days require people to sit at a computer and do repetitive tasks all day.  I paint, crochet, knit, type, ect.

Some good things to do are to,

Take breaks! This is good for your eyes and for neck tension too!! I know for myself it is so easy to just get in the groove and work for hours but it is much better to take regular breaks. I now try and make my self some tea or coffee and then drink it sitting down in another room instead of drinking it at my computer or painting. That way I am forced to have a little break.

You should also try and keep correct posture, again this will help with your neck strain too. I often start off sitting straight but soon I slouch again, but if you are taking breaks hopefully this gives you a chance to remember and re straighten your posture.

Something I haven’t tried yet but that the internet suggests is wrist exercises. I guess you would just do this quickly during your break. 🙂

And lastly my final piece of advice is that if you are experiencing any pain or numbness at all GO TO THE DOCTOR! Have it checked out! For a lot of us our hands are our livelihood, as well as for a lot of artists being able to create is a source of happiness and sanity. I know my mom has been really struggling with not being able to do much.

So finally I will show you some presents I have made for my mom and I will be sending her way very soon. I know someone going from the UK to ZA so I know that they should arrive a couple of days after her surgery. I made my mom 2 pairs of wrist warmers/fingerless mittens. South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere so they are heading towards Winter now and I know that post operation areas can hurt in the cold for a long time after the initial operation.

The first pair are a knitted pair. I used a pattern called the Silk Garden Fingerless Mitts by Virginia Burrow. The only thing I did different was that I used 4ply yarn instead of Double Knit but I just held it double. I also crochet 2 little white flowers to go on but I am not sure if my mom will like them so I will include them loose and if she likes them then either my sister or my Gran can help my mom sew them on.

The second pair are a crochet pattern by Whistle and Ivy. I did quite a few modifications because my yarn was completely different and it wasn’t working up correctly. So I used the pattern more as a guide.

I hope that you have enjoyed today’s blog post and I hope that you find it helpful or interesting in some way.
Lots of Love
Diella
xoxo