Louie

Catch Up

I've recently been diagnosed with a stomach infection (Helicobacter Pylori) and was prescribed antibiotics last week, that made me horribly ill and four days in I had to give up. I'm almost completely recovered now but it meant a LOT of TV, absolutely no work and very little knitting!

Despite that I have been working on a two pieces of knitting. These are essentially cylindrical covers for containers, which I've used to store my knitting and crochet needles, as well as scissors, pens and pencils. I used an empty Tetley Earl Grey pot and a similar one (slightly wider) that held those long cigar-type biscuits you have with ice cream (all suggestions on what these are called welcome!). The pattern is VERY simple; I just knitted a square that went all the way around these pots and sewed it together when finished. Here's one that's just been cast off:

I don't know if you can see, but I've managed to knit a diagonal pattern. Okay, so it may be zig-zag in places, but being a beginner I tend to make mistakes. What was odd was that the mistake turned out to be a blessing as I was trying to knit double moss stitch, but got it wrong and discovered something completely new! I later worked out that I'd simply picked up one stitch somewhere, resulting in this....

Instructions:
CO 61 stitches (or any multiple of 6 stitches + 1). You could choose 7, 13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61 etc. depending on how wide the pot is. Try to use circular needles, so that once you've cast on you can measure the length against the pot itself. Don't make it too long or the cover will be loose (like mine on the right).

R1 - *K2, P2. Repeat from * to end.
R2 - Repeat R1
R3 - *P2, K2. Repeat from * to end.
R4 - Repeat R3.

Simple!

DON'T try this at home!

Over the past three weeks I've been collecting ingredients to make James Wong's Viola Eczema cream. I won't link to it, for reasons you're about to discover.

In total they almost £15 but I was willing to try it, having heard the good reviews it got on the 'Grow Your Own Drugs' programme. Also, I've tried one of James' recipes before and found it works really well. However, this morning I've spend 3 hours stirring what I can only describe as oily, brown water in a desperate attempt to turn it into cream. Wong, your recipe is WRONG.

Furious is not quite the word to use regarding my mood, but the less said about that the better. Unfortunately I've missed out on the opportunity to guest post on a great eczema website about it, but I'd rather this post was read and eczema sufferers don't waste their time and money on another remedy that doesn't work. Okay perhaps the actual cream does help, but how on earth are we meant to make it?

Anyway, enough of the ranting. I'm almost getting to the bottom of the eczema, nausea and anxiety mystery as I'm seeing a pattern in symptoms after I eat wheat. It could be IBS, it could be an H.Pylori infection but either way I'm sticking to snacking on raisins and I have lots of time for knitting; so keep reading!


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Another recommendation

It's been a while since I last wrote and I apologise for that. It's mainly because I'm in Swansea with no phone (long and boring story = lack of a charger), which means no photographs and I'm reluctant to update what's happening without letting you see it too!

Also, what IS happening isn't much to write home about. I've almost finished one more square and have done diddly squat with the patterns because I've been writing so much. So there you are, a blog post with no real purpose. How exciting.

So to liven things up a bit I thought I'd let you know about one of the inspirations behind my pattern adventure. It's the Knitting Daily website and e-newsletter that gets posted to my inbox every day. It's one of the few emails I really look forward to reading and there are often free patterns included within it. If you're interested in knitting, crocheting or felting in any way I highly recommend it!

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Monday Monday

NOTE: Comments are working again now! Just click the link at the bottom of the post that says '0 comments' or hopefully more than 0...

Despite working from home and often taking a Wednesday and Thursday off instead of the weekend a Monday morning still feels more hectic than any other. In terms of knitting I've set my sights a bit higher this week. Once I've finished the square I started last night I'll be looking seriously at starting to write some patterns.

They're going to [have to] be incredibly simple to begin with. I'm giving a friend a choice between patterns as she'll be keeping the finished articles and obviously I want them to be of use or enjoyment. So far I'm thinking that a moss stitch sleeveless pullover or a set of knitted and stuffed skittles and a ball would be the simplest yet nicest ideas. Otherwise I was thinking some simple mittens tied together with iCord or a tube from a Knitting Nancy so that they can be threaded through a jacket.

It's proving quite difficult to come up with some truly unique ideas that I won't be stealing from anyone else and the real challenge will be writing the pattern but I'm excited to do it, make the mistakes and make it perfect again. In the end I'll have a nice collection of .PDF patterns for you all to download :)

Oh by the way, I know I go on about the Vogue Knitting book all the time so I thought I'd make it more accessible to you - here's a link to the Vogue Knitting website that has a selection of the stitches and techniques for you to follow:
Vogue Knitting Stitch Library

Lucy x

Pearls of Potential

I need your help! Do you have any ideas on what I can make with these strings of beads? They're pearlescent white, made of plastic, held together with string and intended to be used as a Christmas tree decoration.


My Brother asked me if I wanted them just after Christmas and a light immediately went on in my head saying 'I can make something with them'. Yet they've been sitting abandoned on the top shelf of my bookcase for 3 months and now I'm feeling like a hoarder.

So let me know! Do you have any ideas or is it time to give/throw them away?

Knitting Nannie

This is Lillian, my Nan. She's been knitting since she was a child, which seems to be a hereditary thing as she taught my Mum and my Mum taught me. Somehow making knots in bits of sheep to make pretty things is something my family (on both sides) are pretty good at. Now at the age of 84 and having lost her sight completely she's still going! For quite a few years now she's been knitting squares in garter stitch (50 stitches wide) to make patchwork blankets. Once she has knitted enough squares my Mum sews them together and knits a decorative edge so they're ready to be used.

Now you might be thinking 'why on earth does their family need so many blankets?'.

We don't keep them. All the blankets that my Nan knits (which she estimates to be around 60 in the past 10 years or so) go to charity, and more specifically Naomi House in Hampshire. Naomi House is a hospice for terminally ill children and they're opening a new department soon to provide the service for teenagers too.
The staff, children and parents are really glad to receive my Nan's blankets and they've even offered for her and some other ladies who knit for them to go and visit, to see what the hospice is all about. If you want to know more about it then go HERE. They've also got charity shops in Andover, Boscombe, Cosham, Eastleigh, Fareham, Southampton and Winchester so look out for those too.


Anyway, I just wanted to show you how clever and kind my Nan is to knit so many blankets for the children at Naomi House. She's showing no signs of slowing down and is working on another square right now; there's pretty much no stopping her!