Hand Washing Central

I think I was 18 when I first developed eczema. It coincided with leaving home to go to uni and was probably a combination of stress and having to do all the washing up for the first time - this was in the days before I discovered rubber gloves! Over the years it has come and gone . Hard water exacerbates it and I can always tell when our water softener needs more salt because my hands flare up. Much as I love the thought of scented soaps, any that are given as gifts end up in my sock drawer; my hands being averse to anything with the slightest hint of colour or scent. The current advice to hand wash for the duration of a verse of the National Anthem is doing them no favours. They're red and sore and the Hydrocortisone cream has made a reappearance. 

Coronavirus is all over the news. When I went into London last week, the woman sat opposite me on the train made herself very unpopular with her persistent cough. People kept shooting her dark looks and I was trying to hide behind my book.

I had an appointment at my bank this morning.The virus was mentioned and, as we were parting, the chap went to shake my hand. I jokingly asked if we were doing that and he told me that businessmen in Japan are now shaking feet instead - so we tried it just to be able to say that we had shaken feet with someone that day! :o)

Aside from worrying about viruses, the past few weeks have been very pleasant. There have been a couple of Knitting shows, 2 trips to the cinema - if you haven't seen the film 'Parasite' I would heartily recommend it - trips to see both daughters and a fair bit of crafting and cooking. I have battled with my sourdough starter (it's winning!), nurtured my kombucha and failed to sow my veggie seeds as I can't face sploshing down the garden to the greenhouse.  

Here then are this month's happy photos:

Enjoying my bird feeders:

 A trip to the cinema to see this. Andrew Scott (of Moriarty / priest in Fleabag fame) was brilliant:

 Valentine's Day roses:

My Valentine's Day 'frogilo' from R. I've positioned it in the hosta bed as that's where I most often see frogs and toads - probably lured there by all the hosta-munching slugs.

 

My granny square blanket made using the bag of scraps of Stylecraft DK that I discovered during a cupboard clear out. It now lives in the car. It's a 'well done' present for Lily for passing her MOT! 

 Enjoying my Camellia:

 

 A trip to Unravel at the Farnham Maltings with my friend, W.

 My purchases from Unravel - a book, 2 skeins of DK to make the Linus Shawl and a sweater quantity of worsted yarn to make the Weekender sweater.  

Starting the Linus Shawl. The yarn is called 'Space Jam'!:

 Rereading L's copy of 'Emma'. One of my New Year's resolutions was to read more classic books. I'm sticking to it apart from my monthly book from Audible. This month's was 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' which I bought after failing to find it at the library. I loved it.

 Finishing my Christmas Eve cast on socks. These have been my travel knitting which is why they have taken a while. The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply in the 'Robin' colourway. I didn't have a red mini skein for the heels and cuffs, so it's more robin against a blue sky!

 A visit to the Stitch Festival at the Business Design Centre in London. It was much easier to access than the Ally Pally and didn't seem quite so crowded:

I met up with L afterwards and we popped to the British Museum to see the Troy exhibition and share a pot of tea and a cake in the members' cafe:

 We then met R and had dinner here. It was YUMMY!

 A trip to Bristol to see E. She had an orchestra rehearsal in the afternoon, so R and I had lunch at Wahaca and then trawled the charity shops and explored the Cathedral whilst we waited. Apparently, the first performance of Handel's 'Messiah' in a church was done here:

 Lastly, Hamish playing dens. He does love a nice cardboard box:

Well, that's all the happies for this month. Hopefully spring will be on the way soon; I think we could all do with a bit of sunshine. In the meantime, take care and remember to wash those hands! :o)

Toodle pip for now. x