Kiss My Knits!

And now for something completely different. I haven’t knitted lace for several years, and I’ve never used needles this small before, so this is definitely an interesting change of pace. The needles are US size 00, which translates to 1.75mm in diameter. The Jayne hats are knit on 6.5mm needles. The yarn is Caron Impressions 50% wool 50% silk embroidery floss. Can’t tell you what it is yet, though.

Em’s been having trouble sleeping, which means we’ve all been having trouble sleeping. Two nights ago she woke up at 4am. She does this occasionally. She says she doesn’t want to sleep, but she doesn’t want to get up, which apparently leaves talking loudly about how miserable she is. She asks, “How can I fall asleep?” and our suggestions are tried for 0.5 seconds and then the talking starts again. Nothing we could do would help, nor could she seem to keep her misery to herself for more than two minutes, no matter how hard she tried. Finally my poor husband, who had been in at work at 3am the previous morning, couldn’t even pretend to sleep anymore and had to get up. He’s been working his butt off and he really, really could use a good night’s rest. Of course she went to sleep two minutes after he stepped into the shower, which was at about five in the morning.

Yesterday afternoon I taught Emily some relaxation exercises that I’d learned. Simple stuff, just relaxing your body one bit at a time, visualizing all your tension leaving your body, etc. I sweetened the pot by telling her I had learned them in seventh grade, which was true, so I think she felt like it was a good teenage thing to do. She fidgeted some as we tried it out side by side on the bed, but said she got it.

Last night she woke up again at 2am and it started up again. I got up and went to her door and said, “Can you try your relaxation exercises?” “Okaaaaay!” And she actually went back to sleep. She woke up again at 4am but again, went back to sleep fairly quickly. We could STILL use a good night’s sleep, but it’s progress.

There are a few possibilities here. One is that the relaxation techniques worked. I’d give that a 25% chance of being true. Another is that it was coincidence. I’d give that a 25% chance of being true. The most likely reason things went better, in my opinion, is that she had a way to take control of the situation. I think just knowing that she COULD consciously relax helped her mentally get past her “I can’t sleep!” block. Whether the techniques physically worked probably wasn’t nearly as important. Knowing that you have options brings tremendous peace of mind.

I find this is true for a lot of life. When we feel we have no control, that’s when we sink into despair. When we find a way to regain even the smallest measure of control over our lives and our situations, that’s when we can take a deep breath, relax, and get back to dreaming.