Ankle pain (OMG not again)

[ny biker]

I'm thinking of crocheting something like a footless sock to wear over my heel and ankle inside the boot. Right now I'm wrapping pieces of crocheted fabric around it, but it's hard to hold it in place while putting my foot inside the boot. But first, since it's about to get very cold here, I'm going to see if I can wear one of my winter cycling booties inside the boot. The thicker Gore booty may not work because there's a zipper down the back, but the Louis Garneau neoprene booty might be okay. I've also got wool Kneekers (knee warmers from DeFeet) that might do the job. Or maybe I'll try a fleecy arm warmer, folded to double thickness.

Oh, I just remembered the fleecy Terry ear band that I bought about a year ago. It has a velcro closure. Maybe I could wrap that around the crochet pieces to hold them in place. Hmmmmm. I'll have to go through the Big Orange Tote Bag of Winter Cycling Gear tonight and do some experimenting...

BTW, it is SUCH a pain in the a$$ having to take the boot off every time I get in the car and put it back on when I get out. It's very hard to do it in the car with the steering wheel in the way, so I have to open the door and swing my legs out. Today when I got to work it was windy and the car parked next to me was too close to get the door open all the way so I could barely reach down to my foot. I was swearing like the father in A Christmas Story when the furnace breaks down. Then I realized I had forgotten to pick up lunch on the way in, so I had to take the boot off again and put my sneaker back on to drive to the deli. &^%$#&&*@!#! When I got back to the office I parked in one of the visitor spaces right near the door, where there was plenty of room to maneuver with the boot.

For short walks into sandwich places to pick up lunch or to put gas in the car I make an exception and don't put the boot on, but for everything else I remind myself what the doctor said: it won't work if you don't wear it. Last night after work I had three errands to run in stores that were next to each other. One store was Whole Foods, so I made that my last stop, bought a salad at the salad bar for dinner and ate it there. It generally is less annoying if I can park the car once, put the boot on, then run multiple errands.

The other night I managed to go to the gym for weight training. I had to skip a few exercises but was able to do most of them. No cardio, of course -- walking around the office or in grocery stores is the closest I get to that. At least I'm weight bearing and not forced to use crutches. And I have a few pairs of shoes that are close enough to the boot in terms of heel height, so I'm not having problems with hip or back pain.

p.s. I do like the crocheting. So far my single crochet, half-double crochet and double crochet stitches are pretty good. My first row of chain stitches is still a mess, very uneven in size. But I think I am ready to move on from practice swatches to an actual pattern. I'm thinking of starting with one of the pink hat patterns from the pussyhatproject.com. I'm also starting to think about possible Christmas gifts that I might be able to make for people next year -- I like the snowflake decoration idea.