Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Remedies and an Idea..I has one

Cameron came home at lunch with mildly bloody socks. Seems he has contracted himself a case of Athlete's Foot. Not surprising given the fact that his feet get wet every day in his boots which may not dry thoroughly overnight (he has TWO pair and we rotate them wet for dry) plus wearing his maybe wet socks in his indoor shoes all day. Now that he showers himself (mostly) I haven't been going over him with the eagle eye like when I did the scrubbin's. Anyways, today was the day when his feet lost enough skin to weep a bit so I kept him home from school for the afternoon to go shopping. First he had a tea tree oil foot soak.
One pair of his boots literally has a hole in it now so they went into the trash. His other pair were dry this morning but wet by lunch hour even though I spray them with silicone spray (they aren't rubbery..kinda quilted vinyly stuff). We hit Walmart and I found boots for NINE bucks(regular $35). I bought two pair. They are not super fantastico like Kamik or Sorel but will do to finish off this winter. Colour me happy at such a deal. also found kids sweat pants for $6. Woo Hoo.
Hit Jean Coutu for dry green clay and searching for an essential oil thats particularly good for athlete's foot (tagetes). Could not find it anywhere I searched (2 drug stores, 3 brands of essential oils) so I got Cypress instead. Also got some zinc oxide cream.
Now, y'all might say "You don't have babies...why zinc oxide cream???" Well, lemme tell ya. Zinc oxide cream is indispensible in any home. Use it on : zits, cracked heels, cracked finger tips, jock itch, and other irritations besides diaper rash. Zinc is bactericidal and speeds heeling while the petroleum jelly and lanolin in the cream moisturises.
Once we were home I made a foot powder with the green clay, a bit of baking soda, and essential oils of : Tea Tree, Cypress, Lavender, and Eucalyptus.
I made a foot rub oil with olive oil and : Mint, Tea Tree, Cypress, and Lavender. It smells really nice but it tickles Cameron to have me rub his feet. LOL
Now for my IDEA:
I was visiting the gardening group on Ravelry and was inspired by a discussion on knit items for gardeners: one suggestion was a handle cozy for when you are raking or hoeing. My thoughts are these: one could make one by knitting in the round a sleeve for the straight handled tools It could be felted for durability and cushioning one's grip. The choices are to make it openended at both ends and glue it in place, or close one end with decreases etc like a glove finger and leave it loose so you can take it off and wash it. Bye bye blisters and slivers but not sure if it would slide too much.
Other Idea: THICK Felted knee pads or kneeling pad to protect tender knees from the ravages of kneeling in the dirt. Maybe Lambs Pride Bulky held double with a 12 or 15 mm needle? Maybe two layers of such? Or 3 layers of regular felted knitting?
By the way, dollar store flutter boards make awesome CHEAP kneeling pads.
What thinkst thou, oh knitters and gardeners?

3 comments:

Tara said...

PRACTICAL knitting? What are you, some kind of freak? :) Actually, sounds like a grand idea (particularly the felted bit).

Terri-Lynn said...

I think your "medicine" cabinet looks like mine. The tea tree oil is awesome for just about anything.

Vicky said...

Hmmm...good to know, teatree oil and Zinc. I'll be set!