“Dennis, there’s some lovely filth over here!”
You get to be in my special high-school drama geek club if you knew right away whence cometh the title of this post. For those of you who didn’t watch enough Monty Python as teenagers (or since), it’s from the bit in The Holy Grail where the peasants are grubbing about in the muck and they get into an argument with King Arthur about the legitimacy of his government. And what do I have in common with medieval peasants these days? A condition in the blood vessels of my fingers that I’ve only ever read of in historical fiction of that vintage. I’m going to show you a picture, but you needn’t click for big unless you’ve got a morbid fascination with skin conditions or you’re thinking you might have the same thing:
See the inflammation on the right fingers? At first, I thought it was some kind of repetitive stress syndrome from too much knitting and writing, but the trouble was in spots that didn’t make sense. When the first joint of my right pointer flared up, I got scared. I’m a thrower. The swelling is in just the place where the yarn crosses the back of my finger. What if it was some kind of nascent wool allergy? But the pinky I loop the yarn around for tension is fine. I asked my doctor about it, and she gave me a blood test for rheumatoid arthritis. Yikes. The same day, I was browsing over at Domesticat and read about her recent finger trouble. I relaxed a little about the arthritis, because her fingers looked as puffy as mine and she said she had something called Raynaud’s Phenomenon. But I read up on that, and my symptoms are decidedly less transitory. Plus the swelling was turning red and itchy. Something tickled my brain. What was that problem people used to get in the winter on their hands and feet before the days of indoor heating and Thinsulate? Chilblains, my friends. Chilblains occur in folks with poor circulation who are exposed to prolonged damp cold. It’s damage to the small blood vessels, and once you have it there’s nothing you can do except try to keep warm and apply corticosteroids for the itching. Oh, and try to keep the skin from breaking, because then you can get nasty lesions. Ew. They’re supposed to go away in 7-14 days, but I’ll probably get chilblains every winter for the rest of my life, although in some people they don’t recur. (I’m crossing my fingers as much as possible.) We’ve turned the heat up, although I hate to waste the energy and money. I mean, why else do we have heavy wool sweaters?
The upshot is it’s tough to knit these days, especially with wool. And you know how it breaks my heart to have to cut back on the knitting at all. I can still knit Continental fashion, but it’s so much slower for me. I am soveryclose to finishing the sleeves of Mr. Garter’s Fishtrap Aran, and then I get to steek. And I have this waiting for me:
This is undyed Unspun Icelandic wool from Schoolhouse Press, in Cream and Blacksheep. (Psst, don’t miss the shameless plug for Zimmermania at center top!) No, the pictures aren’t out of focus; the yarn really is that soft and loose. Icelandic wool has quite a long staple, which is why it hangs together at all in this state. As far as I can tell, it’s just been gently pulled into yarn form – there’s really no twist at all. I’m guessing it won’t do so well for projects requiring stitch definition, but it should make a very soft and warm simple sweater. My pick? EZ’s Rorschach, which is so shockingly underknit that I can’t even find an example on the internets to show you. It’s from Knitting Workshop, and it’s also available as an individual pattern from Schoolhouse (scroll down to #30). I guess I’m just going to have to hurry up and knit it so I can spread the Rorschach gospel myself. As you probably guessed from the yarn I chose, it’s a white sweater with a black stripe – a cardigan in Elizabeth’s beloved garter stitch with a black stripe running up the back, around the neck, down the front, and around the hem to accent the mitered construction. It’s worked, with EZ’s inimitable and original genius, in two halves from the center out to the 3/4-length sleeves, which are blousy and narrow suddenly to hug the forearm at the cuff. Then it gets six i-cord button tabs up the front for big black buttons, and a belt at the natural waist. The overall effect is very ’60s mod, and it feels au courant right now. I love it. I hope you’ll see it here soon! Although I may have to pause to knit myself some more gloves…
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Oh no! I hope it’s not RA. And seriously, chilblains?! Is your house *that* cold? If it was, you probably could not knit… Hope you feel better soon. And then you can knit the utterly image-less Rorschash Jacket.
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 1:22 pm
wow, i don’t think that i’ve EVER heard of chilblains before. thanks for the education! 🙂
oh, and love the use of “au corant”. perfect 🙂
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Aack! Hope your hands are feeling better soon. I’ve never heard of that before!
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 2:04 pm
you know I didn’t think I had Raynaud’s either, but that’s what my doctor said. I know I have bad circulation in the extremeties, but it isn’t that dire. she didn’t mention anything about chilblains. i’m going to overdiagnose her diagnoses and say I have chilblains (what a funny sounding name). my fingers get itchy too.
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 2:14 pm
OH NO – I hope your fingers are on the mend. At least you have a diagnosis. I can’t wait to see the rorschach sweater, it sounds absolutely fabulous.
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Ooh, that jacket sounds cool! I hope your poor freezing fingers recover soon so you can knit!
Posted: January 31st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
I hope that your hands feel better soon!! Keep them warm by sticking them in that yummy wool 🙂
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 3:18 am
I used to get chilblains on my toes and, oddly, ears, as a teenager. Horrible, horrible things. Whatever you do, don’t toast your fingers over the heater or they really will itch!!
After the birth of my third baby a year ago, I also developed Reynaud’s. But not in my hands or feet. 😉
The jacket sounds awsesome. I hope you are able to get going on it again soon.
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 4:41 am
The Rorschach jacket looks like a beautiful, classic design and I imagine it will be gorgeous in that wool, it looks so soft! Hope your hands feel better soon!
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 6:21 am
Color me intrigued by this Rorschach jacket.
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 7:23 am
Oh, my goodness! Chillblains? Maybe WA isn’t such a good idea for you, yikes. I get swollen, itchy, achey fingers sometimes in winter, but it’s ezcema. While I’m very glad you don’t have some strange wool allergy, I’m sorry you have to suffer chillblains.
I guess you can use this as a chance to practice your continental style.
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 7:38 am
I have Raynaud’s also – but in the winter when I’m outside for a while, my fingers (one or two) get really hard, swollen and itchy! thanks for the diagnosis!
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I’m sorry to hear your fingers are under the weather — so difficult when you have that gorgeous box of wool waiting for you!
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Do I get extra-credit points if my brain automatically read your title en voce Python? (“And ‘ow do you know he’s a king?” “Eh, he hasn’t got s#!t all over ‘im!”)
I love the new sweater makings! Looked up the Rorschach sweater, and I’m excited to see you knitting it – I agree, it will be perfect in the Icelandic, though probably very very warm. Maybe you’ll have enough left over to make some mitten for your poor hands! Hope they feel better soon!
Posted: February 1st, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I’m so pleased that I get to be in the special drama geek club! The Rorschach sweater sounds fabulous, and I’m very interested to see what you do with the wool. I will be sure to check in often as the sweater comes together!
Posted: February 2nd, 2007 at 7:27 am
Wow, I’ve gotten calcium deposits before, but I’ve never heard of Chilblains. I’m also a defender of more sweaters, lower heat. I think there’s a spa treatment with warm lotion put into gloves, and then you wear the gloves for 30 minutes. Your symptoms aren’t dry skin, but the warm moisture could help. Hang in there, we can’t afford to lose your knitting skills!
Posted: February 2nd, 2007 at 8:47 am
Yikes, my fingers hurt just hearing about your troubles! And that must be agony to look at a box of creamy icelandic wool just waiting in it’s perfect little “cheeses” for you! I tried to knit the Rorschach once but got confused with the instructions and cast it aside. Now that I have muddled through more of EZ’s “pity” instructions I think I could have a better shot now. I’ll be so excited to see how yours turns out!
Posted: February 6th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I am excited to see the Rorschach. So, is it knit with one strand of the icelandic or a couple held together?
Hope your fingers recover quickly…chilblains, I would have never guessed.
Posted: May 31st, 2007 at 7:44 pm
[…] Cashmere, bay-bee! And it was (and I quote from the ballband) !!! 15% OFF !!! SALE YARN — w00t! (okay, the w00t is mine). I never buy cashmere, but $11.48 for 202 yards wasn’t going to break the bank, even with New York City sales tax added on. I figure I’ve got enough for some scrummy Wine and Roses Mitts from the Winter ‘06 Interweave — although “mitts” hardly seems the right term for these delicate and ladylike confections. And these are deeply practical: if they prevent chilblains next winter, it’ll be $11.48 well spent indeed. Heck, it’ll be worth it if I run out of yarn and have to buy a second ball at full price. […]
Posted: October 5th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I friggin’ hate chillblains iv’e had them for about 2 years now and im praying i won’ get them this winter, although there’s a part of me that asumes i most probably, unfortuntely will.
In case i do get them again i have been researching treatments and preventions for them, i came across some websites that said you can get tablets and patches that open the small blood vessels, hence preventig chilblains. I will look into this further and just hopefully there is such a treatment and it really works.
I feel very sorry for you;as a chilblains sufferer myself i know that your hands swell up so much you can barely bend your knuckles. It must be a right pain when you try to knit 🙁
well i wish you all the best in the future!
have faith that someday someone will find a breakthrough cure for chilblains !!!!!
katie