Stash Busting and Slow Healing
“My body needed stillness. My hands needed yarn.”
Truth bomb: I forgot I don’t look good in horizontal stripes.
It is officially spring here in Slovakia, and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous.
Unfortunately, for the past two weeks I have been at home on doctor’s leave because of a snowboarding accident. Today is my last day at home, and tomorrow I finally get to go back to work. As eager as I am to return to routine, I truly needed these two weeks to heal from the fall.
Instead of wasting the days away, I chose to rest intentionally. To slow down. To let my body recover.
I am in the middle of a good book, but I realized something about myself during this time. I do not like reading when it is sunny outside. I love reading on dark, gloomy days or when it is raining. But when the sun is shining, the last thing I want to do is sit with a book. So during this forced bed rest, reading did not feel natural.
One afternoon, while scrolling through Ravelry, I found a pattern that immediately caught my eye. It called for the exact yarn I have been trying to stash bust. I was not planning on knitting a sweater, but I knew I needed something to keep me resting without causing additional pain. Thankfully, knitting allowed me to sit or stand in a way that did not aggravate my injury.
The sweater I chose is the Quiet Bay Sweater, a free pattern by Drops Design. The construction really intrigued me. I want to begin knitting more staple sweaters that I can wear through fall, winter, and spring, simply styled differently for each season.
My only goal with this project was to remain at rest as much as possible so I could heal properly. And I truly believe it worked. Tomorrow I am going back to work, and my body feels ready.
To support my recovery, I have also been taking extra vitamins to help reduce inflammation after the fall. I wanted to give my body every opportunity to heal well.
As for the sweater, I have finished the yoke and both sleeves. The sleeves were my biggest challenge. I had to hyper focus on them for two straight days because I know myself. If I put them down halfway through, they could sit unfinished for years. And I am not exaggerating when I say years.
Because I am stash busting and using leftover yarn from my collection, this sweater is turning out very colorful. I decided to weigh my remaining yarn and knit from the smallest amount to the largest. So far, it has created a playful stripe effect. I am curious to see how it progresses toward the end.
Today is day six of knitting this sweater. My goal is to have it finished by the weekend. I think that is a very reasonable goal.
Sometimes healing looks like stillness.
Sometimes it looks like striped sleeves and quiet afternoons filled with yarn.
And sometimes, it looks like both.
PS. I did finish the sweater on Friday and blocked it right away.
