I love my vintage patterns

I have made up another hat from a vintage hat pattern. This is in the same wool as yesterday Little Big Wool by Rowan and I have used a vintage Patons Big Ben pattern. The stitch is fisherman rib where I purled into the row below on every row thus making a big ribbed stitch. The pattern took approx 65 grams so I am hoping to make a striped version using the part balls of the two colours. I think I will make one for myself with this pattern when I have finished doing their hats. I first made it for myself in pale blue Patons Ariel brushed chunky when I was 17 and loved it then.

It's a good job that I can manage on little or no sleep as I didn't get any sleep at all last night. I would feel myself falling asleep and then jerk awake with a racking cough. The steroids can't have worked in my body as yet. I took my second lot of 8 tablets this morning and am hoping for a better night tonight. I have done 3 nights now with very little sleep and I am absolutely knackered. I didn't get dressed until lunchtime today and that was a big effort.

I have done very little knitting because I am so tired but I am hoping to finish off the hats so that I can give them to my Manchester based niece when she comes to give me a lift for my scan on Sunday. I am grateful for her offer as the buses don't run as regularly on a Sunday. I can give her the hats as my London based niece is coming up in 2 weeks for a wedding dress fitting. If I post things to my niece and her fiance then because they are at work until late everyday they have to travel miles to the parcel depot at the weekend to pick up any undelivered parcels so it is so much easier to give her things in person,

Another day and I am still coughing

I started taking my steroids, that the doctor prescribed for me yesterday, this morning. I had to take 8 tablets all at once. I do hope that they work soon. I went to the hospital today for a chest X Ray and there was 3 or 4 people barking like seals and all saying that they had their coughs since Christmas. Whatever I have got at least I am not alone! I won't get the results of the X Rays for 10 - 14 days. Lets hope that the next 8 tablets start to work tomorrow. I am now losing my voice with all the coughing and am desperate for a good night's sleep.

I have finished a hat which I adapted from a very old Patons Big Ben pattern. I have modernised it by leaving off the turned up brim and the bobble as my niece and her fiance like the beanie shape. It isn't a cable but a 3 stitch twist. I had to knit the third then the second and then the first stitch a little tricky but at least I didn't need a cable needle. The wool is Rowan Little Big Wool which I think is thicker than the Big Ben but it has knitted up quite firmly and so will be a very warm hat. The hat took approx 75 grams. I am making a hat in beige in the same wool but using another vintage Big Ben pattern in fisherman's rib.

I haven't done much knitting today as I came home from he hospital and fell asleep. I don't remember getting much sleep at all last night so I was pretty knackered.

I have got my MRI scan appointment for my knee. I am being scanned in a van again (which I hate because I suffer from claustrophobia) which has a smaller gun barrel to thread me into. Being a big lass means there is very little space for me to slide in the tube. The limit apparently is 21 stones so how on earth anyone that size fits in it is a miracle. My appointment is for Sunday afternoon. I can't say no and say I will wait for the main larger hospital scanner as my specialist appointment is in February and they don't have a scan date for that machine before my appointment. I hope that my cough has diminished before then as I will really panic if I start a coughing fit in the scanner. I had better make sure I have some boiled sweets ready. I asked about my spinal plate and pins and apparently they are titanium and not affected by magnetism. I didn't fancy the pins being sucked out of me or me being stuck to the roof of the scanner!