Ouch

Well, I had an interesting weekend. Friday was fine, I made up a pair of the new earrings in the dark gray linen, though I didn't list them, nor photograph them. Honestly at this point I can't remember what else I got up to on Friday. I didn't get any sales in the shop, so it wasn't much. Then Friday evening I did something stupid. While putting groceries away in the freezer I ripped my right ring finger nail off just a few millimeters below the quick. The picture was actually taken yesterday after I finally took the bandage off, so it's looking much better. The point of the story is that the rest of Friday and all of Saturday were pretty tatting free. I mean it was possible, I tried a little, but it was incredibly slow and careful. Trying to avoid touching the fingertip was difficult and when I failed, it was pretty painful. It still feels weird, but it doesn't hurt anymore. It's a bit crazy how something so little could limit my ability to properly function.

On Saturday I had gotten my supply order in, but it wasn't until Sunday that I did anything with it. You see, I really have been making pieces and then just leaving them bagged up without their hardware for ages. When one of those pieces sell, I get it put together because I was so low on clasps and jump rings and whatnot that I didn't want to waste them on anything until it was actually going out the door. With new supplies in, I pulled out the bags of unfinished pieces and got them all put together properly. It took a few hours and a Doctor Who marathon to get it all done and I feel certain that I must have missed a few pieces. It seems to be done now though.

Today leaves me with no tasks on hand, save for the usual household ones. I think I've gotten caught up on pieces that need remaking, so I guess I'll just cross my fingers for some orders or maybe some inspiration. I'm definitely crossing my fingers for no new silly injuries.

Another Monday

Mondays are always more work than they're worth. Yesterday was one of those housework kind of days. Laundry and dishes and the yearly onslaught of ant invasions has also begun. Not to mention how long the schooling day was. All it takes is one writing assignment and I can add an hour to class time. All this occupied me until lunch time and then the mail brought me the task for the rest of my day.

You see, me and the husband are finally upgrading our phones after putting money aside for the purpose all year. Instead of selling our old ones, they're being passed down as ipod touches to the kids. We pass down everything rather than get rid of it, but that means the kids need their own cases and the youngest liked the idea of a cross stitched one. The blank case arrived in the mail, she settled on a Nyan Cat design and I went to work on it. I kept working on it all day not saving any time for tatting.

Oh, right...the band-aid. I was making dinner and foolishly attempted to move my electric griddle while it was on. I reached just a bit too far under with one hand, missed the cool plastic and put my finger directly on the heating element underneath. Usually I react so slowly that my injuries are made worse, but I was on the ball with this one and took care of it straight away, while still cooking. It doesn't even hurt this morning so hopefully it won't impede tatting today. I'll probably work some more on the phone case, I have a rainbow to do and some stars. After that though I still have at least a necklace to remake for the shop and if that gets done that burgundy necklace needs to be remade as well. Lots to do, but on a Tuesday everything is just a bit calmer and more pleasant.

Broken

Have I got a story for you. So I'm starting the task of gathering up all my daughter's schools supplies on Friday to send them back,we have just two days left of school, I'm carrying a stack of books and manage to walk into the couch, smashing my foot into the corner. It hurt, but I kept right on working. I went downstairs a little later and tried to put on my flats to go outside, it hurt. I just put on sandals instead and didn't think about it more. Then later after I had been sitting a spell, I looked down and saw my toe engulfed in a bright reddish purple bruise. I stood up and the pain shot down my foot. Oh, I broke my toe...damn. I thought about posting a picture, but you really don't need to see that.

It's really not a big deal, it's a middle toe at the top and it aches when I walk too much and I can't walk fast, but nothing like two years ago when I broke my pinkie toe really bad. That one was a coffee table and was horrid as I use the pinkie toe for balance. This little middle toe is pretty much useless and out of the way. It doesn't feel good, but it's not too bothersome. As it was pointed out on my facebook page, I am truly glad it wasn't a finger. As rough as I am with my hands, it is certainly a possibility, but could you imagine? Oh, the horror that would be. Shh, let's just stop talking about that.

On the other side of luck, I was fortunate to get a few sizable orders over the weekend. It hasn't completely pulled me out of the rut, but close enough for me to stop worrying. I spent much of the weekend working on custom orders and getting a few sold things remade. I still have a few in queue for today and I need to remind one custom customer to come back and make their purchase if they want it by the deadline they asked for. I will never understand why people with the firmest deadlines take the longest to make the actual purchase. Do they not realize that when I said I could do it within their time frame that I was referring only to the time from our conversation to the deadline, not a week or two later, but what do I know? Hopefully I will be working on that custom order today, if not I still have a nice queue of tatting waiting to be remade. I do so like being busy with lace.

Super

Occasionally when the stars align, you ask a question of the Universe and it listens. It wasn't an important request, just a simple and somewhat silly request, but it listened. Friday morning I was the recipient of a superhero makeover courtesy of ClayMuse , one of my twittering etsy friends. I even received some amusing back story ideas throughout the day concerning poisoned tatting needles bestowing powers instead of death. I still think my masked image is worthy of a whole superhero comic...you hear that Universe...yeah, just giving it a go.

On the flip side, I discovered that tatting too fast and too much can actually result in physical injury. No, I didn't stab myself. I awoke Friday morning with a sore shoulder/back. It was annoying, but not too bad. I continued working throughout the day with nary a thought to what I assumed was the result of a bad nights sleep. When I woke on Saturday, I couldn't move my arm without horrible pain. It was shooting down my arm, across the whole of my back and even my neck. A little research and a few tweets later, I realize that it was in fact most likely a repetitive motion injury resulting in knots in my back so bad that they were radiating out.

Of course a few sessions with my wonderful massage pillow and some pain killers and now I'm almost right as rain. The lesson learned for me, was to stop working every evening and use the massage pillow to work out those knots before the become harbingers of pain. Who knew that a gentlewoman's art such as tatting or crochet could result in something of a sports injury? It would be silly if it hadn't hurt so damn much.

I have almost caught up with all my custom order listings. Only a few of them still exist, so once I've finished another mask and a couple of pairs of cuffs, I'm back to making for the Maker Faire and just remaking what has sold. Of course, now that I've said that, something weird will occur causing me to have to make something I hadn't intended upon. Oh, well, such is life and life is, well, it's alright.