Saturday, November 24, 2007

Let's Hear It For The Sock

This pain in my neck is becoming, well...a real pain in the neck.  I probably over-exerted it a little bit during the recent classes I taught in school safety interventions.  The headlock release was the likely culprit, I suppose.  It wasn't all that bad until I needed to reach into the depths of the refrigerator later to get butter or some other baking-type ingredient and pulled it again.  It's been an annoyance ever since.

As an uninvited house guest, you'd think the Pain In The Neck would be a bit respectful, maybe keep reasonable hours or something.  Instead, it partied all Thanksgiving night and kept me up into the wee hours.  I'm all for a good time...but I'm not built for this.  I finally decided it was time for The Sock Trick. 

Never heard of The Sock Trick?  This is the thing you do when you have A Pain and need a heat source, but haven't been able to find the heating pad for going on ten years now.  It's pretty simple, really.  You simply need to find an old cotton sock (clean, please), fill it about a quarter full with dry rice and pop it in the microwave for short intervals until it is heated up.  The rice holds the heat rather nicely and the shape of the sock lends itself beautifully to neck wrappage.  It's an inelegant, but functional solution when you have a Pain In The Neck.  

I suppose, though, that I should offer one or two disclaimers. 
 
1.  Sheep are not doctors.  The lack of opposable thumbs makes it a poor career choice.  Then there was the unanimous decision a few years back to boycott the use of the term. "earning your sheepskin."  Without a working degree or license to practice medicine, I have absolutely no idea whether your Pain requires heat, cold or some sort of aromatic poultice.  Treat any injury with logic, not with a desire to make a craft project.

2.  When heat is applied to unprotected skin, it can cause discomfort, redness, blisters and other such undesirable stuff.  Again, let's let common sense prevail and protect the skin.  If you think your hot pack is too hot, put something between you and it.

3.  Don't just throw this thing in the microwave and then go call Auntie Eunice to complain about Uncle Fred's behavior during Thanksgiving dinner.  In the words of that great sage Frankenstein, "Fire Bad!"  I have a small microwave so I go between thirty seconds and a minute at a time.  I then redistribute the rice a bit and let it go again.  Larger microwaves may require shorter heating periods.

I don't want to hear from any of the blistered people who have burned down their kitchens and been told by their physicians that they should have been applying ice.  I share because I care. This is a handy little treatment, but let's all stay nice and safe, 'kay?

Loosening up the Kneck-Knots has allowed me to Knit Knots and make a little more progress on the sock that will not be used for a heating pad.  I've knit up a good length of cuff and started on the heel flap at this point.  Having one or two concerns about fit, I decided to lose a few stitches as I moved closer to the ankle.  This, of course, has resulted in a little change in patterning, but I'm OK with that.  It's all going to be spread out over my stuffing-inflated calves anyway, right?  All in all, it's just nice to be back to sock knitting.  It's amazing the progress you can make on your knitting once you go return to the projects that make you happy.



Pretty Sock and Rice-Filled Sock.  Form and Function...


You can also get more done when uninvited holiday guests pack up and head out.  Here's hoping that The Pain gets the hint soon.  It's overstayed its welcome.  Maybe it's hanging around thinking that it will get a share of the leftover stuffing.

Not gonna happen...

SA

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sock looking great...Pain go away!!! Huggs...

Anonymous said...

Lovin' the knitted sock. I think the Sheep needs to invert (hang by her hooves) to stretch out the neck and spine. Like the sheep, I do not take on any responsibility for anyone's actions.

Anne P said...

I have a great little rice heating pad with a flannel "pillow" on the exterior that Birdsong made for me last year. I adore it. I travel with it, I sleep with it; I heart it!

Hope your neck is feeling better with your sock treatment. :)

Anne said...

Rice, not ice? Cold good, pain bad.

Donna Lee said...

The Mist was great. It's one of the first of his books that I really think came out well. They changed the ending but I think it's better this way. I hope the pitn goes away so you can get to the movies. I'll be interested to know if you like it.

Knitting Linguist said...

Urgh. Pain is bad. I'm voting that the pain leaves you alone with your stuffing and your sock (which is looking lovely, btw!).

Anonymous said...

I'd never heard of rice heating pads until the other day. I must be leading a sheltered life. :) Your knitting looks great!

Anonymous said...

Tell that Pain in the Neck to get over itself -- it's already getting rice stuffing, fercryinoutloud.

I have a small pillow filled with dried cherry pits -- same principle as the sock, same cautions with the heating. Feels good, and smells good, too.

Anonymous said...

I hope the pain is history soon. Your rice sock is perfect for the neck. I bet it would make a nice bed warmer now that the price of home heating oil has reached the do we want to eat or be warm price.
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/

sheep#100 said...

Heating pads aren't ever hot enough for me. I should try the rice-in-a-sock trick.

Hope the uninvited guest gets the memo soon and vacates. Maybe if you called the local sheriff's department? I hear that they are very good delivering orders to vacate premises.

mehitabel said...

Hmmm. Wonder how big a sock I'd need to heat up the Pain in the Shoulder--since my heating pad has apparently left town, along with a couple of my UFOs. We're having what passes for "chilly weather" out here, along with fires burning in the mountains instead of the fireplaces, and I thought it would be nice to curl up with an unfinished afghan and a heating pad. So much for that plan!

Lazuli said...

What a great and inexpensive way to make one of those neck warmer things! I went the sewing-machine route a few years back but an old sock would have been much easier, and even more cost-effective. I love the rice pack for the sore muscles. So very nice. I hope yours feels better soon!

Anonymous said...

and if, at some point, one of the luscious knitted socks becomes lost, the other can be used for a cover for the rice sock, preventing owies. ;) I love these silly things...hope your neck's better!