Knitting and the Neti Pot

The newest additions to my crunchy-granola habits (which include becoming a member of a co-op grocery over the summer, eating organic food when I can, listening to indie music, loving the farmers' market, and, uh, not much else) are knitting and using a neti pot.

I know you really want to hear about the neti pot and probably not about the knitting. But it's my blog, so tough luck. :D

Lately I've been interested in learning how to knit. I've had some vague inclinations toward the idea for a couple of months, maybe. But a couple weeks ago, when I was watching Sophia for Laura while she got her hair cut, I wandered into Threads with the baby in my arms. It was next door to the salon, and having never been in there before, I thought it might be interesting and Sophia might like all the brightly-colored yarns. The proprietress latched onto me and began cooing about how badly "mommy" needs to learn to knit so she could make a nice big blanket for "her" baby. (Ha!) She wanted me to start taking knitting lessons--$50 for four sessions--and explained to Sophia in a sing-song voice that "daddy" would need to take care of baby so that "mommy" could learn to knit. I nodded politely, smiled, and left. Quickly.

But I really did want to learn to knit. So I checked out a nifty knitting book (it's called Stitch 'n' Bitch, and it's really excellent) at the library, and mulled the idea over for a few days while browsing through the book. Needing a pick-me-up Friday afternoon, I braved the gales and snow to walk to Hobby Lobby and get me some knitting needles. Luck would have it that all knitting supplies were 40% off, and I got six skeins of yarn, ordinarily over six bucks each, for 99 cents a piece.

It's been two days. I've learned two kinds of stitches, four or five stitch patterns, and how to start and finish pieces and stuff. It's really quite fun! I've made several little practice swatches. And I'm half way through a scarf! I'm ready to pick up some circular knitting needles and start on a hat.

And it has been said I lack ambition. Hmph.

I have some feelings on why knitting is good. They aren't quite formulated into thoughts yet, but they're related to the efficiency and beauty of making one's own clothes. There's something to be said for: connection to a legacy of millions of women past in a truly functional, yet artistic, way; feminism, because feminism is not only the freedom to proudly succeed at things formerly thought to belong to men, but also to choose to enjoy and make beautiful things formerly considered to be "women's work;" and having an outlet for art that is not only beautiful but functional.

On to the neti pot!

I've been feeling for weeks now that I'm just barely fighting off a whopper of a cold. I've been roaring through bottles of echinacea, drinking lots of tea and water, downing vitamin C, on and on. This week I handed Angela some money before she headed to work at Open Harvest, and said "Heal me. I don't care what it is, but there's gotta be some kind of natural craziness at that store that can take care of me."

She did not let me down! She came home with Echinacea and Gypsy Cold Care teas, Raw Honey, lemons, a recipe for a home-brew health remedy (Oolong tea, lemons, ginger, raw honey), sea salt, and the neti pot.

A neti pot, from what I understand it, is an ancient device to clean one's sinuses. They've been used for thousands of years, mostly in Eastern medicine, for sinus health. It looks like a funky-shaped teapot.

You fill the thing with warm water and a 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, and essentially dump water up your nose. If you think that sounds a bit like drowning in the ocean... well, that's what it felt like the first time.

To use the neti pot to clean one's sinuses, a person leans over the sink, turns the head to one side, and pours the water from the neti pot into the top nostril. The water runs up the nose, through the sinuses, and back out the other nostril. Then one would turn and do the same on the other side.

After a bit of practice, I rather like it. My head feels all clean inside afterward. It took a good bit of getting used to, but after spluttering and coughing through the first couple of tries, I can use the neti pot without discomfort. I'm still learning to get the precise angle of my head to the pot correct, but it's really not bad.

And so far, I'm not sick!