Time for a catch up!

Goodness, I hadn't realised quite how long it's been since my last post! It takes me about a week to recover from my week of infusions, and I also had my 5th Covid vaccination which left me needing afternoon naps all last week. But here I am, better late than never, to share what I've been up to since my last post. 

My week of infusions went pretty well and I managed to keep a cannula in for FOUR WHOLE DAYS! Plus it was positioned in the back of my hand so I was able to knit too! So I was pretty happy as you can probably imagine. Rather than socks, I was knitting on a new cast on - the Bubbly sweater by Isabell Kraemer (Ravelry link) - and having got past the colourwork, it was easy knitting on the body so I could listen to an audiobook too. I do like Isabell Kraemer's designs very much and have a few in my Ravelry library. She often has some colourwork in her designs and I thought that this jumper would be the perfect introduction to colourwork for me. I managed to knit using both hands to hold the yarn which meant that I wasn't having to drop and pick up the yarns, and there was no tangling either. I'm using some Rowan Felted Tweed that was in my stash, bought quite a while ago in a John Lewis sale. I'm already planning my next colourwork jumper as I really enjoyed that part of the knitting. And of course, Flo has already tested it out and deems it snuggleworthy!

I also knitted a couple more pairs of socks for my Rheumatology team and they were very well received. The first pair were knit using a West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas yarn, Candy Cane, and the second used an Opal yarn in the Schafpate range. I must start thinking about what to make for Christmas gifts - perhaps I'll make a mixture of hats, mitts, cowls and socks so that they can choose. What do you think?

Talking of socks, a pattern that I designed for Stylecraft a few years ago, Tiptoe, has just been reknitted in one of the colourways in a relatively new range of sock yarn from Stylecraft and can be found in the latest edition of Simply Knitting magazine. The yarn is Head over Heels 'Colours of the World' and has been created by Stylecraft's newest Blogstar, Stuart Hillard. You might recognise Stuart if you are a fan of The Great British Sewing Bee as he was in the very first series. He seems like he is full of fun so I am very much looking forward to meeting him at one of our Blogstar meetups. The last photo shows how the socks look in a less busy yarn and you can see the little rows of tulips very easily. This pair were knitted in another Head over Heels yarn from the All Stars range (now discontinued) in the Woldgate colourway which I created.

I have started to tidy up my craft room as it has become a bit of a dumping ground over the last few months and came across a box of my hand spun yarn. I was actually fairly impressed with the skeins as they looked a lot better than I remembered them to be! It's made me want to use them and also to start spinning again. It would also be good physiotherapy for me with all that treadling!

I dusted off my spinning wheel this week and gave it an oil. It won't come as any surprise to you that Flo took an interest straight away! For some reason, she loves sitting on my lap while I'm spinning, despite the fact that it must be quite uncomfortable as my legs are moving up and down all the time. Perhaps it's the cat equivalent of a rollercoaster and Flo is a secret thrill-seeker! She plonked herself on the chair before I even had a chance to sit down! I am practising with some undyed fibre at the moment, just to get back into the swing of things. But I was reminded by someone on Instagram that the Tour de France, and therefore the Tour de Fleece, starts on July 1st, so I'm very tempted to go rummaging through my box(es) of fibre to select some pretties so that I can join in. When I've taken part before, my spinning has come on in leaps and bounds so I think that it would be a really great thing to do. Not sure if I'll be able to spin with a cannula in but I'll give it a try! The Shifty jumper by Andrea Mowry (Ravelry link)  would be fun to knit using handspun yarn don't you think? 

I'll be sock knitting this week as I have to go down to London to see my consultants so need a portable project. I'm hoping that all my test results will show that I've made enough progress for them to apply for more IVIg infusions or for it to become my permanent treatment. That will need approval from various panels so I'm not sure how long I'll have to wait to find out. Fingers crossed that there won't be any delays! xxx