Catching Up

 It was "Bell Let's Talk Day" here in Canada this Thursday. It's a mostly social media based initiative to get telecommunications giant Bell to part with some of their massive profits by way of donating 5 cents for every interaction (shared tweet, Instagram, or TikTok post with one of the hashtags, call or text made using Bell's network) made during that calendar day across the country to mental health initiatives. Let's Talk is about starting the conversation around mental health and erasing the stigmas associated with it.

Many people take the time to use the day to highlight their own struggles or initiatives they support that are frontline organizations that do the work 365 days a year. I do a lot of retweeting on Let's Talk day, and make sure to use the hashtag on any of my open tweets, not necessarily responses depending on whether the other person has used it or not. 

What I didn't plan to do this year was open up about how my chronic pain and the resulting brain fog has an impact on my mental health. But after receiving and responding to an email from a friend in an online group who was concerned I hadn't checked in for quite a number of days, it just tumbled out of me and into a twitter thread. You can find it here if you're interested.

That's the thing about mental health: it's inextricably linked to physical health. Depression and anxiety begin to have physical repercussions. Losing one's mobility often leads a person down a path to depressive thoughts if not outright depression. I'm a firm believer that healthcare should mean all aspects of health: mental, physical, dental, and eyes. Having a problem with any of them left untreated can lead to severe illness and/or death.

So that's where my thoughts have remained since Thursday. What ways can I be there for those around me, and not just in person but online as well, and not just on Let's Talk day but the entire 365 days a year (366 in leap years)?

I don't have any knitting progress to share today. In complete honesty, I don't think I've done more than a stitch or two this last week or so. I am feeling a bit better physically since I started on the new course of vitamins and iron; definitely a plus :) I wish my appointment with the specialist weren't all the way in May but we are in the midst of a pandemic and waits are longer to accommodate the extra precautions. "Better safe than sorry!" to be totally cliched about it. Ah, well. Hopefully my next post will have photos of yarny things again.

Yours in deep thoughts,

Síle

Didja' Ever...

"...Didja' ever get one of them (daays)
Didja' ever get one of them days, boys
Didja' ever get one of them days
When nothing is right from morning till night
Didja' ever get one of them days..."

You might've wondered if I got buried by my yarn stash this week. Truth is I just haven't felt like my self the last little bit. Just tired and a bit meh about everything. I spoke to my doctor and she contacted the hospital and then I had to call them to have them call me to get an appointment for bloodwork to be done. Is it just me, or is there a whole lot of phone tag being played these days so we don't wind up with too many people in one spot? Better safe than sorry, of course but it still strikes me that for things being sort of back to "new normal", they sure aren't very organized. 

Hopefully the bloodwork tells them what's on the go and I can start feeling like me again. I've had the above snippet of the Elvis song running through my head, so I thought I'd pass it along.

My grandma turned 98 on Monday, and yesterday my dad's elder brother turned 85. The eldest on their respective sides of my family. I hope they both had good days. And cake. If nothing else a birthday should mean cake. Unless the birthday person prefers something else. Ice cream is also suitable... This could start leading me down a dessert rabbithole so I better stop and say goodnight. 

Hopefully I'll have some interesting knitting content for you next time!

Yours in yarn and yawns,

Síle

Wednesday

Have you ever felt that Wednesday is sort of a day unto itself? Saturday and Sunday are "The Weekend". Monday, and Tuesday to a lesser extent, is the all important "Start of the Work Week". Similarly Friday, lesser extent to Thursday, is the "End of the Work Week/Beginning of the Weekend". But Wednesday just sort of sits there. It's also the day least impacted by long weekends/bank holidays. Just something I thought of while sitting on hold this morning.

I'm happy to report I'm onto the sides of the Hornpipe Bag sample. I'll need to refine the wording on how to transition from the base section to the sides but the actual doing of it went pretty smooth; I only restarted it twice! Third time really was the charm! Shouldn't take too long to work up, although double-knitting naturally takes longer to complete. You're working twice the amount of stitches after all, so it makes sense. But if you're like me you look at the measurements of something and say to yourself "This should take me about x hours.", and then sort of kick yourself when that timeframe comes and goes. You'd think I'd learn but no. *insert image of me laughing at myself here*

I'll leave you with this picture of my furry nephew, Jakey. I've mentioned hockey being played in August this year and my mum sent him a little something to help me and my roommate (aka Jakey's mum) cheer for our team. Doesn't he look cute?? And this could be the last game of the season for my guys tonight, so all the more reason to share a little Canadiens' love.

Yours in yarn and hockey fandom,

Síle

Fake Poutine and Other Rainy Day Musings

I peeled and cut up a good amount of potatoes this evening. A late supper of fries, mozzarella, and gravy, aka fake poutine, is in the works (Proper poutine has cheese curds so that's why I call it fake poutine). Yummy!

In Ravelry news, there's an open letter from current, and former, designers that have/have had patterns available on the site to Cassidy, Jess, et al. 

Don't be surprised if you notice things changing here on the blog or other pages. I'm trying to make sure things are accessible for everyone, and making adjustments with things. If you have any suggestions, comment below or email me at the address in the right top corner. Blogger's contact form doesn't work properly; I never received any of the test messages so I removed it, and posted my email instead. 

Til next time,

Síle