A return to weaving

So. It turns out that if you (and by you I mean I) spend a year ramping up and weaving at a frantic pace to try to make a living with your hand work, and if you don't pay attention to the height of your weaving bench and hunch up your shoulders, you can end up wiggling your right shoulder joint out of place. Yup. I was deranged. That was the technical term. Ow.

I started having issues in November of 2014, and in the beginning of 2015 I started looking for solutions. I hurt. And I was scared that I wasn't going to be well again. Physical therapy wasn't working, and the doctors didn't have much idea as to what was going on yet.

In August of 2015 I finally saw a specialist, got an MRI, and was referred to a new physical therapist. And wow, the difference between the experiences was night and day. This guy was good. He could tell me what the MRI was going to say without looking at it, just by watching my shoulder move. I got to work. He had me doing exercises on my own every two waking hours, and I went in for an hour long session twice a week. It has taken me months of work, but I can move now without fear of pain. And I can even sleep on my right side again, at least for small stretches at a time. And, he slowly had me weaving again. I took videos of the motions, so he could target exercises specifically to my movement.

And now? These blue napkins are my first finished project since I returned to weaving. My shoulder isn't 100%, and I need to be careful still, but I'm cleared to work again. With the proper height on the bench this time, so my shoulders aren't strained. And with more breaks. And I'm not going to weave at such a marathon level slog again, which means I'm probably not going to be going back into the custom baby wrap biz, at least not at that level. I loved making dreams for people, but I paid for it in my health.

So, here is my return triumph. I brought these napkins upstairs, and have been using them for dinners this past week. Each meal is a celebration, and a reminder to take better care of myself.