What did you get up to yesterday during the 2 hours that we would normally have been knitting in the park?

Liz spent some of the time enjoying the sunshine in her garden with coffee and corn cake. Strange names to give to her cats!

Linda probably carried on with her Coronavirus Shawl which she started a couple of days ago. Having finished knitting toilet roll (she’s a very fast knitter, or maybe it just became too long and unmanageable), her talents have been put to a new project. She’s named it her Coronavirus Shawl because she’s currently in lockdown and the little dots, which look like the virus, keep replicating and multiplying all the way down the shawl…

The bobbles are called nupps which Linda says are ‘just knit x3 into stitch, put the 3 back on needle, p2tog and p1, put the 2 back on needle and k2tog’. The pattern is called Dot by Casapinka and you can find it on Ravelry.

I planned to knit for the 2 hours but went out to the shops instead. I wanted to pop into the post office and then the Co-op to buy a newspaper. Post office was fine. No shortage of cash or stamps and shelves still full of everything else they stock. Co-op was a different ball-game altogether! The locusts had been through it very efficiently leaving empty spaces and memories on shelves and in cabinets. It was still morning but no fresh milk to be had. Fortunately, I didn’t need or want any, but it’s an indicator of how bad things have got when fresh milk is in short supply. I was so stunned by the sight of such emptiness that I completely forgot to get a newspaper and walked home in a daze. The Co-op is on the main road but there is a little corner shop nearby (those in the know will know where I mean) that is a bit off the beaten track and they have ample stocks – probably because the locusts don’t know about it! I went there later and got my newspaper as well as some delicious tea cakes for an afternoon snack. We are very lucky to have this excellent shop. I’m not saying where it is in case locusts are reading this.

I talked to one of the Co-op’s workers today because yet again there was no milk. It seems that they’ve had less than the usual amount delivered because there’s a shortage at their distribution depot. However, in addition to this, people are coming in early and by around 9am all milk is gone. They have also been really busy with loads of new customers. But the problem of empty shelves isn’t just in Co-ops, it’s everywhere, as we’ve seen on the news – it’s madness! Let’s hope that people calm down soon and get back to buying normal quantities.

Talking of the Co-op and knitting projects- here’s something that a friend said made her laugh: ‘I’m knitting myself some fingerless mitts so that when I go to the shops I can avoid touching trolley and door handles. When I used a basket yesterday I was conscious of people holding it in the middle of the handle and thus contaminating it (and me). So, I tried to hold it at the bit where the handle is joined onto the main basket section but then all my stuff fell out and loads of people in the shop rushed to help, picking the contents up, in their bare virus-ridden hands! before handing them back to me. I’m sure some of them smirked.’

Enjoy your week-end and stay safe.

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