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Sunday, January 12, 2020

Word to the wise: no jumping jacks

Busy day, busy day. Sitting here, twelve hours later, trying to remember why. I forget things that quickly now! I began the morning stripping my bed and starting the laundry. Then I cut towels and began hemming.

Hemming involves stabilizing each end on the serger before the rolled hem with the sewing machine. Three times a thread knot did not traverse the tension plates and broke the thread. Once a looper thread, which is a bottom needle and twice the inside upper needle. Grrrr. However, I rethreaded the machine myself. Peacock towels are up!



A month or so ago my oldest daughter was leading her team at work in a "Health Day" activity. A round of jumping jacks was an activity, and Beth, for the team, was jumping and clapping, and popping her knee. "Taking it easy" for several days did not improve the discomfort, disintegrating to outright pain. Some more time passed finding a specialist, arranging hospital time, blablabla.

Last week was surgery, and currently she's hanging out at Ruth's, on one floor, pending follow-up with the surgeon tomorrow. Her current advice: don't do jumping jacks, even for the team!


This brace has one more segment; you can see the buckle under her lovely turquoise trousers.

Ruth and I did amuse Beth, consulting our calendars and making dates for the Orchid Mania at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and the annual quilt show at Lake Metropark. Discussing where we would meet and where we would lunch caused Beth some great amusement, and we didn't begrudge her.

Some time ago I gave Ruth a fleece I could not use, and was sure she could use. Today I thought to take a picture of it, in front of her fireplace.


The fleece is a Romney, from a Romney sheep. She calls it Mitt.


42 comments:

  1. Love fleece, we have a large one, Australian , over the sofa. It is where guests love to sit, instant relaxation into the deep comfort of wool. You are a patent woman...machines and looms require supreme patience. Pay off, your peacock towels are lovely . I am so pleased that you warned us off of jumping jacks!

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  2. Jumping Jacks (or Jills) won't be happening anytime soon over here. Even without your warning they weren't going to be a happening thing.
    Love your towels. I sadly fear I would need a book of instructions, much patience and full use of my extensive list of expletives to do the rethreading that you, even with your suspect memory, managed.

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  3. Ruth has good taste..and a sense of humour!!
    Jumping jacks are not a good idea..not a safe exercise.
    Good to see the towels progressing.

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  4. Jumping Jacks = pee your pants! Not ladylike so not done by me:)

    Looking at the sheepskin on the floor reminded me of the rugs The Golfer and I made years ago when we were hard up. There was a small place nearby that made ug boots and moccasins (footwear worn by most people/kids back in the 1970s) they used to sell the sheepskin offcuts by the bag - cheap. Well we bought a couple of bags, some hessian and a very yucky sticky glue, then proceeded to stick these offcuts on the hessian. Voila - a couple of bedside rugs that did us for a few years. We struck lucky and had a self coloured one - the other was a mixture of black, brown and cream. Wouldn't have featured in the pages of Home Beautiful but they took the shock factor away on a cold morning.

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  5. MY jumping jack days are over, alas! I like Ruth's quick wit.

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  6. I was busy too finishing getting the pieces boxed and ready to ship. Mitt. that made me laugh. so what was the specific injury that required surgery?

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    Replies
    1. Torn meniscus. The surgeon was able to repair it, instead of trimming down past the tear, hopefully eliminating a probable knee replacement sooner than later.

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  7. Ha ha, "Mitt" -- that gave me a good laugh!

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  8. I am going to remember not to do jumping jacks (honestly I don't think I could anyway even if I tried). Here's hoping your daughter makes a quick rapid recovery from the surgery!

    betty

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  9. That's a hard way to learn not to do jumping jacks - I hope Beth heals quickly.

    You certainly have a lot of patience and persistence to keep fixing the threads on your machine! Bad thread? or a tension problem?

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  10. Mitt Romney... how droll. She has a great sense of humor.

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  11. I love that Peacock color towel! I do some sewing but I don't like sergers. Some people say I'm crazy but I'm intimidated by trying to thread them! (I'd never be able to set up your loom!)

    I hope your daughter improves quickly. I had knee surgery last September and my knee is still giving me trouble but at least it is better than before.

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  12. Love that fleece, but I'm curious about how to clean one. Does it go in the washing machine?
    So sorry to hear about your daughter's knee and will take the advice to not do jumping jacks. Ever.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know. It probably never will be cleaned.

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    2. I bought one for my dad when he was in a wheelchair to try to help cushion his poor old rear. It didn't end up working, but we used it at the end of his life to cushion his heels in bed. Anyway, the washing instructions were to use a mild soap (not detergent) in a bathtub of tepid water. We haven't done it, though, so I can't tell you how it turned out.

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  13. Hari OM
    Yikes... that's taking one for the team gone a bit awry! Glad you and Ruth are getting organised. Nice to have things to look forward to! YAM xx

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  14. What's that dent just above her right ankle?

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    Replies
    1. No idea. It looks like a thumb print from an edema test. She has been immobile since last Thursday, so any sustained pressure could do that.

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  15. I wish my daughter a quick recovery.

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  16. I'm sure I'd be brilliant at 'jumping jacks'. I just don't any because I'm such a good neighbour ... I live in an upstairs flat.

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  17. Those kinds of injuries can happen so quickly, and I suspect that recovery might be a bit of a grind. I will take your advice and refrain from jumping jacks - or jills for that matter.

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  18. "serger" - you improve my vocabulary with every post.

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  19. Low impact exercise is the only way to go.

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  20. I don’t think ours is a Mitt because it came from New Zealand. It looks like that one though.

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  21. Mitt looks incredibly inviting for the feet.
    That knee looks incredibly painful and difficult to deal with. No jumping jacks, ever!
    Your towels are splendid!

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  22. The fleece looks like a very shaggy dog.

    I'm amazed jumping jacks could cause such a serious injury. Just bad luck, I guess.

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  23. That looks awfully painful, godspeed and healing for her.

    And I do love that fleece.

    XO
    WWW

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  24. You have such patience, Joanne, and stick-to-it mind set despite frustration at the task at hand. I seldom give up, but sometimes I have to walk away for awhile. Those peacock towels are beautiful.

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  25. It's interesting how such a seemingly benign activity can end up with such severe and time consuming results. Hope it heals quickly and she feels better.

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  26. Me doing jumping jacks would be funny and dangerous! I would go to great lengths to keep my looper thread intact when I used my serger! My dogs would probably try to eat the sheepskin!!

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  27. I've always thought exercise dangerous...

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  28. Another one of those coincidences. I used my serger just yesterday for the first time in many months. Serging flannel to prewash for baby blankets. All was fine until it wasn't. Turned out my lower looper thread had broken, I considered myself so lucky that I only had to rethread that one part!! So when I read your post I was very familiar with exactly what your problem was! Another coincidence. A blogger I follow who is a Canadian in Mexico has the same issue as Beth. She put photos on her blog explaining that knee problem. Only Contessa did not do jumping jacks. She does not know what caused her knee to give. Funny about Mitt. And, yes, the towels are beautiful.


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  29. Sorry about the jumpingjack trouble. I am crossing jumpingjacks off my "to-do" list immediately.

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  30. Love the peacock blue. I was given a fleece or something similar when my oldest son was born. It was kind of a little one and they didn't call it a fleece. It was called something else, but it was all the rage for babies at the time. It was supposed to be some kind of tactile experience, I think, and hypoallergenic. Honestly, I forget, but it looked a lot like the one your gave Ruth. Hope Beth's leg improves soon. Maybe next time, demonstrate nap taking or good posture while sitting lol.

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  31. Hmmmmm - ok, put jumping jacks right up there with running - not doing it unless someone is chasing me with a big knife!!

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  32. So sorry for your daughter! Ouch.

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  33. Wow! Jumping jacks does this? Well, that's scary.

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  34. Just catching up on your blog! Have to add that jumping jacks have now been banned from many exercise classes because they are dreadful for the pelvic floor. If I go to a class where the teacher "hasn't received the email" I refuse to do them.

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