Post 570 Hands and Eyes

I finished last week with my bandaged hand, 

As you can see, I stitched the bandage layers together. They kept slipping apart, exposing the cotton wool padding, so I found a couple of threaded needles (threading being beyond me) and stitched crudely with my left hand. Rough and ready, but effective.

Friends phoned to see how I was going and family checked in. In the evening I had a go at stitching left handed. Before the operation I had threaded three needles for the next round of the evil eye mandala - a straight stitch round, which I managed to complete. With a seated hoop I could move my left hand below and above, my right hand resting on the hoop. Not entirely comfortable, but workable. My left arm muscles got a bit of a workout.

By Wednesday the pain in my hand had subsided. I washed my hair under the shower left- handed.  My right hand, in a plastic bag, secured by two elastic bands, remained outside the spray. Later, I sat for a few minutes in the car, testing my grip on the wheel, before driving about 1km to the dentist. I had no trouble, no pain in my right hand gripping the wheel with thumb and two fingers. The bandage bulk was a nuisance, but not an impediment. My new dentist was running late but thorough, pleasant and efficient when we connected. My new mouth guard should be ready in three weeks.

On Thursday I saw my hand therapist who cut away the clunky bandage, amused by my stitching. The gauze covering the excision remains in place until the stitches are removed next Monday. She made me a moulded cover which protects the dressing and wound. I can take it off if I want a break, or leave it on. It’s a little sore, but not painful.

On my way home I stopped at Gorman in Rundle St, to check out a dress I’d seen online, then called at the Jura shop. I bought the dress and discussed a coffee machine glitch at the Jura shop. As always, they were super helpful, working out the problem and a simple fix, which I tried as soon as I got home. It worked! 

It was then I realised that the shield was not on my finger! Panic! I grabbed the apartment key and retraced my steps to the lift and the carpark. Through the car window I saw it, sitting behind the steering wheel! Clearly I need to pay more attention!  The shield appeared to be firm, but could easily slide off.  In my panic I had not grabbed the car key, so back upstairs and down again, eventually reuniting finger and shield -  and having a coffee!                                                                         

I am able to stitch with the new dressing. Although I can't use the affected finger, I can now use the middle finger and thumb to thread a needle and to pull a needle through fabric. That's quite workable, I can touch type, with the middle finger doing double duty. I have added a plaster to prevent the cover coming off!

The first Guild Certificate Course workshop for 2025 was on Saturday and I made the effort to attend. I've missed the last few and I miss the stitching and the people.  This one was taken by Carol Mullan on Huckaback, Creating New Designs on Aida Fabric .

I have done quite a bit of Huckaback, and have a bit of Huck fabric in my stash, but I was interested in the notion of designing on Aida. The requirement for the workshop was an A4 piece of Aida and assorted threads. I had used up most of the Aida in my stash but found a piece I’d bought from the Guild trading table - mat sized, 35cmx42cm, already edged with bias tape and centre marks tacked .

It was an excellent workshop. I enjoyed catching up with Guild friends I haven’t seen for a couple of months and Carol is an inspiring teacher. The problem was, while others were experimenting with small samples  of designs, it seemed a shame not to use the whole of my mat-sized piece, so I began playing with a border, intending to keep working my way into the centre. Fortunately, Carol pointed out that a border might be sufficient to achieve the design goals!  I lasted until lunch by which time my hands were both aching. It is, however, addictive and I returned to working on it that night and on Sunday.in between proofreading for my brother.

It was a long weekend here, 35C-37C each day and 22C overnight on Sunday. We ate outside on Saturday night, I stayed in on Sunday, venturing out to stitch with a friend on Monday afternoon. She helped me decide how to fill in the border of the workshop piece. More on that next time.

Final story for this week is a follow-up to our robbery. The strata committee have now viewed the CCTV footage which shows a lone male entering through a narrow passageway behind the apartment block, separating fence panels to enter the carpark, then dodging behind cars and lockers to avoid people as they go to their cars.

His theft from my locker is not caught on camera. However, he exits though our foyer, which is on camera. He has a stolen trolley, now loaded with my boxes and someone's fishing rods. Outside our front door is a small entry area. The lock on the gate has been jamming in the lock position, so was strapped open. A confused resident, blaming a visiting tradie, had removed the strap, shutting the gate. The thief finds the gate won't open, The apartment door has closed behind him and he is trapped with his goods.

Having come this far, he throws the boxes over the railing (right) into the garden, followed by the trolley, and then himself - all caught on CCTV. He picks himself up, retrieves the trolley, reloading the now broken boxes and the fishing rods. All this, however, has made a noise, and further along the road, our Strata president has come out to see what's going on.  As the thief makes away with the loaded trolley, the President gives chase. Thief abandons trolley and runs away! 

That's how my stolen goods came to be returned.  A report, and CCTV footage will be supplied to the police following the proper processes. 

The neighbour who shut the gate by mistake is a heroine!

I finished the second Evil Eye Kit, and have started on the third. Details in my embroidery blog.

I apologise for so many off-putting photos and anecdotes this week. For me the experiences were alleviated by some very satisfying stitching.

Maybe the mandala is working!

Post 567 2025 is heating up.

It was very quiet on the street when I went for a walk around the block on New Year’s Day around 11.30am. The nearby cafes were closed. I didn’t go as far as Hutt St, where I’m sure there would be more activity. The yellow cube at the far end of our row is A Prayer for the Wild at Heart, packed up and closed for the next week.

I don’t often walk past the Box Factory(which is a Community Centre directly behind our apartments) unless I’m going to a meeting there. Today I noticed this prickly pear growing in their garden, a fine specimen to see from the opposite side of the road!

KimoYES, importers of Japanese fabric, both vintage and contemporary, had one of their periodic clearance sales. I have ignored these for a couple of years now. In the past I have used their remnants to make gift bags. More recently I have used cotton fabrics, mostly from the Guild trading table, and I still have a good supply of these. I had, however, recently realised I have very few silk bags in my current supply. There’s a place for their feel and interest, so I ordered a few remnant pieces, enough, I think,  for 18 medium sized bags at a cost of about $3.70 per bag. I had hoped to post a photo but they will no doubt arrive while we are at Carrickalinga this week and be waiting at the PO next Monday. 

After posting last week I received the admission forms for my upcoming hand surgery. When I read them, I was horrified to discover I was not only required to have someone pick me up after the surgery, which I had anticipated (a friend had offered) but to have ‘a carer’ there throughout the procedure and staying with me overnight. This seemed a considerable burden in January, as people were returning from leave, or preparing for a return to study. On Thursday I phoned the surgeon’s rooms, explained I couldn’t meet the requirement and requested a quick consultation to see if the finger was sufficiently healed to cancel surgery altogether. By a miracle I got a time that afternoon. He was sympathetic and helpful. The knuckle no longer held fluid. It wasn’t urgent. His advice was however, to do the surgery while the finger was in its current non-inflamed condition. We agreed to postpone. I promised to discuss a suitable date with my family.

The next day I raised it with Katherine when she called in unexpectedly. Her immediate response was that January is, in fact, a good time for her to take a day off work, and to stay overnight! After several reassurances, I phoned the clinic. They had not reassigned the booking and reinstated it . On Sunday I spent 2 hours filling out the online admission form, Katherine has organised our transport - surgery is back on! A tiny blister has appeared on the joint, but won't, I hope, deter the surgeon.

While that might have been Much Ado About Nothing, Sunday, 5 January, was Twelfth Night, Epiphany, and the day for removing Christmas decorations. It was also my parents’ wedding anniversary. My mother was meticulous about adhering to tradition, so, in addition to filling out hospital forms, I removed Christmas decorations, put them away in their red box, reread all my Christmas cards and updated my Christmas card address records. The tree I bought is not looking too healthy. Along the stem, the needles are dry and brown.I’ve watered it as instructed, but it’s dropping needles. 🙏

On Saturday I had a phone call from my neighbour around 9.30am, to say the lift was out of order again, and the service company had been called. I had intended to go for an early walk, before the temperature reached its predicted 38C but decided against it. The lift was fixed around midday, well in time for me to go to family dinner. 

Meantime, I had a strange visitor.  It looked like a relative of one of the birds I had seen in the Square last week. It is a Rock Dove, a feral form of Columbidae, the common pigeon. This one stood stationary on my balcony for a couple of hours, moving to a slightly different position about every ten minutes.  It initially had an inflated neck, but that was less noticeable over time. I didn’t see it leave, and it hasn’t been back. It left behind quite a few droppings, unusual for birds on my balcony. Perhaps a form of heat stress? 

 

I've also been ticking off a few small jobs. One was testing the pouch I bought to hold my car keys while swimming. I wore it in the shower with a pen inside. The pouch got thoroughly wet, but the pen remained completely dry, so it's ready for the beach! 

I also posted an account of this Christmas embroidery to my embroidery blog

Sunday's sunset caught my eye, drawing me away from the repeat of Donaldson and Dodd.

While it can't compete with the Aurora Australis that was visible that night along the coast, it was beautiful and enhanced by the arrival of the bats for their nightly feed in the Moreton Bay Fig tree.   

Once again, the Catholic Cathedral sent its message in lights, dwarfed but not extinguished by the surrounding reflections of commerce.

Today I began packing for Carrickalinga, first deciding what embroidery and knitting to take, then the swimming gear, including sun and insect lotions, followed by clothes and a trip to the supermarket for the basic supplies we will need to get us going. I pick up my daughter and son-in-law from the airport tomorrow afternoon and drive straight there. We’ll be too late for regular shops. A big part of my preparation, of course, was clearing the boot of my car. That involved trips to the Salvos, to the bin and to the Guild. I’m just about there. I can finish packing in the morning before a thorough soaking of my plants. I’ve saved a few empty milk and soda bottles to upend full of water in a few pots. I'm only away 4 days but that’s enough to kill a few plants when it’s over 34C each day. 

Yesterday I finished Aquile . The account is in my embroidery blog. It’s far from perfect, but I’m satisfied. I’m taking knitting, an evil eye embroidery and the tassel knots for Aquile  to Carrickalinga. I can knot and socialise, so that’s my predicted winner but I’m not putting money on it.

I'll report next week!

Post 540 On the go

The highlight of this week was the Ukaria concert on Sunday afternoon, Voces8 and the Festival Statesmen Chorus. Both were fantastic. It is the concert I most wanted to go to this year, and since the friend I go with is in hospital, I drove up on my own, had my pre-ordered pie lunch, attended the Voces8 Q&A session and then the concert. Unfortunately I can’t share the program, which, as the result of workshops during the week, was not in the program, nor did I make a note of songs as announced. Voces8 ranged from plainsong, to an arrangement of Christ is the morning star from the grave of the Venerable Bede, to Dancing cheek to cheek.

The audience was totally engaged, the songs triggering memories, emotions, connections, energy.

The Festival Statesmen began with a very moving Loch Lomond. It evoked both joy and sadness, taking me back to 1972,  when Jim and I spent Sunday afternoons walking the old Roman road from Helensburgh to the Bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. I was struck by the insightful change they had made to the last line of the last verse:

But the broken heart it kens nae second spring again

And the world knows not how we are grieving. (from tho the waeful may cease fra their greeting)

It’s a powerful, expressive song, whether thought of in terms of the Jacobite rebellion or lost love. 

They finished their selection with Bridge over troubled water, also moving. 

The drive home at 4.30pm was a bit hair-raising, even on a choral high, with sections of the freeway journey heading right into the setting sun, but well worth it. I quite enjoy instrumental concerts, but it’s choral music that does it for me.

It’s been cold and fairly wet here this week, but on Saturday the sun came out, with a three day pause in the rain predicted,  so I washed my heavy Aran jumper. I’ve been wearing it a lot and it seemed to have taken on a slight grey tinge. It takes ages to dry and drips for a couple of hours, so better not hung inside. I moved it around a couple of times a day.

It took two fine days to dry enough to bring inside. After a night inside it gave me great satisfaction to fold it, ready to wear. I'm wearing it again now, as I post this.

We had a great World Embroidery Study Group morning on Wednesday. Pat has spent about 8 months reading about Embroidery on Knitting and shared her findings. We were spellbound. Focusing on what has been documented in Europe, she traced the history of embroidered knits back to the 15th century and showed us some extraordinary photos of embroidered stockings for both men and women. We learned about traditions of knitting by seafaring men and embroidery on knitted jumpers by Portuguese sailors. We also saw a surprising range of liturgical gloves, knitted and then embroidered. We were able to see and touch items from Pat’s collection (including the two on the far right). The blue coat is knitted and the embroidered panels appliquéd on by Barbara, while Keryn embroidered the jumper for her granddaughter.

We also adjusted our program for the rest of the year particularly to accommodate the Guild’s SALA Exhibition in August. I’m planning to enter the Early Women of the Book bags, along with the explanatory booklet I created, so on Friday I checked it over to see if there was more I  need to do. I only had one sample copy of the 8"x10"booklet printed. To get 2 more printed would cost me $80.  It is quite large and I don't have the software to alter the size.  It occurred to me that by scanning  the copy I could reduce the size to A5, which would be easier and cheaper to print. Once I had the idea, of course, I had to do it immediately. 

Some three hours later I had ordered 6 copies at a total cost of $41.40. When I picked them up on Saturday morning, I discovered I had inadvertently chosen black and white for the cover printing. 🙄

Colour isn’t critical, but more attractive, and it had taken me a good half an hour to get the cover colour right on the scan - then I’d ticked the wrong box for printing!  I think I'll live with it.

 After picking up the booklets, I did a big grocery shop, detouring to pick up a copy of a book I’d read about the same morning. I’m hoping it will help me to understand my weight. I am astonished at the complexity of the topic, but the book is written and laid out in a very accessible way. I'm working my way through it.

I also grabbed a copy of the latest Donna Leon (Brunetti#33)  for a friend. I had received a pre-publication notice which led me to realise I had not read Brunetti #32. so I managed to borrow it from the library and devoured it earlier this week. The new one will have to go on the end of my reading queue.

It was a relatively social week. In addition to WES Group and Pilates, I had dinner with friends on Thursday and, for the first time in several months, stitched with a friend on Friday afternoon (there was a lot of catching up to do). I also gave a talk at U3A. 

I avoid commitments on Mondays so I can focus on preparing for dinner. However, the earliest appointment I had been able to get with the hand therapist was on Monday morning, so I took it. Also, during the week, my  only working watch - which I bought in Keswick, Cumbria, in 2015, died. The battery had been recently renewed, so I needed a new watch.  My dinner host on Thursday told me her sister had a solar watch, an idea new to me. I investigated and found, online, a couple I liked. An Adelaide jewellery store had an EOFY sale that reduced the price by 25%, so after seeing the hand therapist I continued into the CBD to the jewellery store. 

As I suspected, my hand issues are largely the result of my hand movements while knitting rows with three colours, particularly the thumb movements to catch the out-of-play wool on the purl rows. Typing this blog on my iPad (as I am doing now) doesn’t help. I touch-type on my laptop but use my thumbs on phone and tablet. The good news is the brace I have, which is customised to my left hand (right), has been superseded by smaller, standardised braces that are more comfortable and less obtrusive (left). I am using them as I type this. I also have three new hand exercises.

The result of my quick dash into the city after the hand clinic is on my left wrist - a watch that charges from light both in and out of doors and should last 12-15 years. 🙏🏼 The right wrist bracelet is a medi-alert.

From the city I went to Unley,  for bread from the bakery, and  capsicum and strawberries from the greengrocer. The greengrocer had a philodendron that would fill one of my empty balcony pots, so it also came home with me. A woman stopped me in the carpark, saying “Are you going to plant that? You look as if you need help,”! I managed. The photo was taken at dusk, hence the strange colour.

There were 8 of us for a pleasant Monday dinner. We extended the table, which I have left up for the week. It's a more comfortable fit when there are more than six and I don't need to economise on the space it occupies.

Today I gave a talk on my Conversations with Baby Boomer Teachers book at the Enfield branch of the University of the Third Age. I spent several hours refreshing my memory. I haven't thought about it for about 18 months. Most of the audience had been Baby Boomer teachers. There were lots of questions and lively discussion.  I enjoyed it. There's a lot more work to be done in the space, but I intend to leave it to others. I'm sticking to my knitting.

Speaking of which, the first sleeve is underway. Both the brace and the exercises are making a difference. 

I need to post this, so I can do the second set of exercises for the day! It's been a busy week.