circular needles

Hope it’s for the best . . .

/ Tony / 5 Comments

The results from my 24-hour ECG came through last week. It seems that I do not need the Cardioversion treatment. The Cardiologist felt that the results didn’t warrant it and I was prescribed an ACE Inhibitor. My GP explained, or tried to, over the phone that this drug would help “relax my veins and protect my heart“. So at the present time, I am taking 1.25 mg of Ramipril with an instruction to book a blood test in 2 weeks time. It will then be decided if the dosage needs to be increased.

So that means that I am now on 6 different medications a day. I’m beginning to rattle a little I think. I have alarms set on my phone as some of the medications need to be taken at around the same time every day. It’s got to the stage where I need 2 Dosette boxes. One for the morning and another for the evening.

I’m quite pleased that the Cardioversion treatment is off the cards. I have read seen and pictures of the process and it was somewhat worrying. A number of people that have had it done have related that it does not always work, and that it can only be done once. So I could have ended up with the new medication anyway.

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The cardigan I’m knitting for my granddaughter has reached a critical stage. the main body is complete and I’m at the point when I am ready to start knitting the sleeves. And there is the problem! I will have to use double-pointed needles (DPNs) for this part of the job as the number of stitches involved means I cannot use circular needles in the standard fashion. I find using DPNs quite difficult and have never really had to use them except for a few rows when I was finishing a beanie hat.

I could use a technique called Magic Loop, but that is something I have never tried and wouldn’t want to learn on this piece of work.

So, the problem I face is … do I persevere with the DPNs and hopefully manage without any issues, or … do I put the work to one side and learn the Magic Loop technique with some scrap yarn. I am told that it is quite easy, once I have learned it, but it is ‘biting that bullet‘ which concerns me.

I will then have a button band to work on, and that is a different ball game altogether.

Daily Prompt: Knitting disaster …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

My attempt to increase my skill level with double pointed needles (DPNs) has been somewhat thwarted today. I have been knitting a beanie hat on circular needles with the full knowledge that I would eventually Beaniehave to revert to DPNs as the number of stitches decreased. It was to be an important learning curve as I’ve never quite cracked the skill. Today was a large set back in that attempt, and this is what happened.

It became apparent, that I would soon need to add in a new ball of yarn. Like I had been told, I decided that the beginning of round 1 of the 8 round pattern was the place to start. New ball joined and tails woven in as I went along, when I noticed Disaster number 1. I had somehow made an error in the pattern. I traced it back to about 12 stitches from the start of the round. Not to worry, I’ll take it back. I was just about to start when the phone went. Disaster number 2 came as I stood up. My foot caught in some loose yarn and it pulled about 20 stitches off the needle. Shouldn’t be a problem I thought and dropped the lot on the floor, so as not to make things worse. I answered the phone as quickly as I could and went back to my knitting. Disaster number 3 reared its ugly head as I bent to pick the work up. I accidentally stepped on the needle and it snapped (bamboo needles) and more stitches fell off only this time unravelling parts of the last three rounds.

The broken needle is in the bin, the yarn rewound and back in the stash cupboard and the pattern moved to “Try again” folder on my computer.

Mrs H is going to be devastated when she notices. She hates it when I pull any knitting out.