An Unfilled Market: Calling all Crafters

Well, part of the reason my posting has been kind of sporadic lately is because while I was off meeting these guys I had an unfortunate run-in with a very surly tick. After much running around in circles and much consulting of a wide range of medical professionals, I got outfitted with a picc line- a permanent IV type thing, which if you are curious about, you can see here, so as to better pump me full of antibiotics for a month or so. Finally, my dreams of being the bionic woman have been realized.

But, here's where the crafty sorts are needed. Tons of people have these things (for Lyme like me, or chemo, or whatever), and let me tell you, they are not pretty. You can cover it up with an ace bandage, or some other similarly orthopedic looking thing, but you know, where's the fun in that? Personally, I have arrived at a system heavily reliant on ridiculous socks from Rite Aid which I chop up and throw on my elbow, as you can see here:


And don't let yourself be fooled into thinking I'd be happy with only one model... here are the rest of them:


Here's the thing though. Socks are not really ideal for this purpose- they have to be really long to be the right size, the heel is perfect for the bend of your elbow except that its really not always in the right location, and once you've cut them up, there isn't really any elastic at the top to grab your arm so they kind of roll down.

This is where the crafty fabricy people should be interested. I looked all over etsy, and no one makes anything to cover these things. No one! There are people selling every completely random thing you can possibly imagine (and there is even medical stuff! hats for chemo, stethoscope covers, scrubs, cute med alert bracelets etc, etc). There's totally a market for this, you just might have to look- but all kinds of people have them (kids, adults, old people, everyone) and some people have them for a year! or more! These people are on the internet, too, there are message boards all over the place. Someone should make covers. Ideally it would have elastic at the top and bottom and be sort of stretchy, be washable, and be in a wide variety of colors, patterns, etc.

As a side note, this has also led me to search for "elbow warmers" on etsy, and given the vast range of body parts people have decided it is trendy to put warmers on, the elbow has been woefully neglected. I'm hoping that if I don't get anything else out of this experience, at least maybe I can start some kind of trend, here.

As Tim Gunn would say, come on people, make it work!