On Saturday we got a phone call from my mother-in-law - our 6 year old niece Jacquie had broken her arm very badly, and been tranferred to Canberra Hospital by ambulance overnight. She had surgery on the compound fracture, and needed to be in hospital for a few days. She'd lost feeling in several fingers (nerve damage). Her mum (my hubby's sister) was with her, but had no transport, phone etc... so we went over to visit in the morning (poor little Jacquie was doped and asleep the whole time), and I took my SIL some recent knitting magazines, a ball of purple wool, and some needles. SIL had studied textiles at the School of Art many years ago, and was a very good spinner and knitter, so she really appreciated the mags etc.
Later on in the day I sat with Jacquie (who was awake, and gradually warmed to having me there - we watched silly things on TV together), while her mum went back to our place and had a shower and some dinner. While I was sitting with Jacquie, I started on a purple blanket for her unicorn 'Snowy' - a simple small blanket with a moss stitch border. I did about 1/4 of it, and handed it on to my SIl when she got back.
So once again knitting was a restful and lovely thing to have on hand in times of stress... who'd have thought?!
Jacquie is back home now and making good progress - I've just spoken with her mum, and her fingers are getting some sensation back now, thankfully, but it could take up to 6 months to get back to normal.
Aw, poor little kid. I'm glad she's doing better. Children are usually so adaptive to things - let's hope it's the case in this situation.
ReplyDeleteAnd good for you, taking the knitting!
What a relief that Jacquie's fingers are returning to normal - she'll make a knitter yet!
ReplyDeleteI can say no more about the therapeutic properties of knitting. They are self evident. A blanket for a unicorn is a very fine thing.
How very dramatic! Poor little pumpkin. Far more of us than I think is good have been knitting in hospitals lately....!
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