Welcome to July’s journal entry! We are currently having a heat wave here in the UK, so rather than a cup of tea perhaps a cool glass of iced lemonade would be more suitable to curl up with while we catch-up.
For those of you who have been following on Facebook you will know this month has been… wild and scary. Back in June I had surgery for a hysterectomy and excision of deep infiltrating endometriosis. So I was already on bed rest and finding time to do more knitting and crochet than even before having kids. Some days I wondered why I was stuck in bed, and some days I wished I still had morphine!
The surgery went well, but it was not without its complications. Sadly, due to a perfect storm of combined factors, I experienced a major haemorrhage at home on 7th July. I lost about 2 litres of blood and was rushed to hospital. After being stabilised I was given a blood transfusion, more nights in hospital, and eventually sent home again. More bed rest.
Before I move on I want to say one thing for anyone reading this worrying about having the same surgery as I did. Yes my surgery was complicated – the endometriosis specialist surgeon couldn’t do everything in one surgery and I will need another in a few months time – and yes I had a life-threatening complication two weeks later. But that complication was astonishingly rare and very specific to a combination of factors. I am happy to explain more by email if need be.
So some parts of my life have therefore undergone major neglect this month. But the knitting and crochet has had a boost!
On The Needles (& Hooks this month)
This month has certainly had an overdose of yarn!
To start with two designs were published. The Winter Joy Cowl and the Honey Bee Cowl.
While I didn’t actually knit the cowls this month, they had been sat in the pattern pile for a long time. The Winter Joy Cowl was the most fun to knit as it has a much easier repetitive pattern. However, the Honey Bee Cowl was the most challenging and was a great way to push my stranded colourwork skills with the longer floats. Watching the honey bee emerge was exciting too!
A few things did make it on to my needles and hooks this month. First up is a baby cardigan and a collection of blanket parts.
The baby cardigan is the 3 month size of the Broken Checkerboard Cardigan. Except I made an error on the first pattern repeat by missing a garter row. So I carried the error on throughout. It was my first time using the Yarnsmiths Create DK range. It was a good yarn and works for the purpose I intended it for (charity knit).
I also made some blanket components. My Mum started a family tradition years ago of making a blanket for each of her grandchildren. The blanket is made of squares in their favourite colours, and appliques of their favourite things. Plus their name. Me and my sisters help make the squares and the appliques to go on it.
There are two blankets to be made and below show some of the appliques for one, and squares for the other. The flowers were really enjoyable to make and added to my crochet skills.
Flower applique: https://youtu.be/I02bfLCrmoI?si=XeYj6O5j2Kg1NSYu – this is actually for a blanket square but I stopped when the flower petals were done. I am tempted to make this blanket some day!
Strawberry applique: https://youtu.be/FY4y_iliViE?si=PAImZMxUNX8rocJu
Squares: https://ravel.me/five-more-6-textured-squares
Next I made an entire blanket. This is a new design. I made a 4ply version of it years ago for a friend, and came across the charts I created in my notebook while on bedrest. Luckily I had enough DK in my stash and recreated it in a larger size.
Another project I knitted is a rose inspired cowl. This was my first time designing a new pattern for a while, and it didn’t come out as I was expecting. I will write up the pattern, but there will be another rose inspired design as I try to recreate what I imagined and learn from the lessons in this design.
And my final cast on for the month is the Pagan Sky jumper by Zanete Knits. I’ve been wanting to knit this for a while, so using a birthday gift card I treated myself to the Drops Soft Tweed yarn. I have chosen Raven for the main colour and Marzipan for the contrast colour. The warmth of the Marzipan is looking beautiful 😍 and I will share some photos next month.
In the Garden & Around the Home
The garden and home have been looked after by my husband and eldest child again this month, while I remain on bedrest. They continue to be brilliant, though my eldest needs reminding to water the plants on a regular basis.
Weeding has taken a back seat and the vegetables haven’t been tended to and fed as they should have. This hasn’t held back some of the plants. The toadflax and everlasting sweetpeas have put on a beautiful show as always. The tomatoes are plump and the cherry tomatoes produce dozens of homegrown sweetness every day.
The Queen Elizabeth rose in the front garden has put on another show of flowers this season. These smell absolutely divine!
My attempt to introduce beans into the vegetable patch this year has produced some delicious produce. Despite my late realisation that I chose a dwarf french bean variety rather than a climber, we’ve had quite a few fresh french green beans. The broad beans produced beautiful big beans which my eldest helped shell. The field beans have plumped up nicely and have been left to dry out ready for winter storage. Overall I am pleased, though next year I need to look for a climbing green bean instead.
By some miracle we even have two watermelons and a pumpkin growing. Though the rain has washed the pen off the labels so I no longer know what varieties they are. I will find out when they are ready I guess! And the grapevine has gone wild producing dozens of bunches of grapes!
Disappointments this year have been all the root vegetables. Beetroot, carrots, parsnips, onion. Nothing grew. They’ve grown in previous years and I had both fresh and old seed varieties this year. I’ve put some new beetroot and carrot seed in hoping for a crop later in the year. Fingers crossed!
Looking Ahead
Moving into August I will still be spending a lot of time taking it easy. I am up and about more already, but there is still a lot of healing from the surgery and recovering from the haemorrhage to do. I am hoping to be almost back to normal by the end of August, and I am hoping for at least one normal month before I am called back in for the second surgery.
My knitting and crochet goals for August are to:
- write up and publish the rose inspired cowl pattern
- write up the baby blanket pattern
- finish the Pagan Sky jumper
- make more squares for the kids blankets
- start a new gift blanket
- draft the second rose inspired cowl
And one more positive from the chaos of this month – my youngest son enjoyed seeing a real ambulance with its lights and sirens on up close! Even if Mummy was in the back on the stretcher.
What are your goals for August?
Take care and happy crafting,
Love Sam xox
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