Knitting for Practicality
I've got an appointment with my doctor on Friday to look at my red, itchy and stinging face but I'm betting I know what the diagnosis is. I'm pretty darned sure I have rosacea.
I've noticed for the last few months that I've had a decreasing tolerance for rough fabrics on my skin, even for washing my face with a rough washcloth. It's been getting worse and my face redder. I read up on rosacea in the meantime, so I would know what I was talking to the doctor about. Yes, I'm one of THOSE patients. I'm not a hypochondriac but I am pretty knowledgeable and am really good at research. One of the things I saw mentioned a lot was that you have to use very mild soap and very soft clothes if you're having a flare-up of rosacea.
When I was sitting at my son's peewee football practice and knitting a simple scarf, a lightbulb came on - I knit dishcloths for my in-laws with cotton yarn and they were softer than commercial washclothes, so why not knit myself some face cloths?
After digging out some cotton yarn from my rather vast supply, I cast on a small face cloth - about 1/2 the size of a typical dishcloth because I don't need surface area as much as I need a lot of cloths so I can wash them regularly. I ended up with a little 4.5x4.5 inch square cloth that's just perfect.
The pattern is easy, I cast on 20 stitches with a long-tail cast on, knitted two garter-stitch rows, then knitted stockinette rows with a two stitch garter border on each side until the cloth was almost square, then two more rows of garter stitch and typical bind off.
One ball of Lion Cotton has resulted in 14 clothes. I have two balls more to use which should give me both a few weeks of busy work at the football practice and a good supply of face cloths.
And I've promised to teach one of the other football moms how to knit, lol.
I've noticed for the last few months that I've had a decreasing tolerance for rough fabrics on my skin, even for washing my face with a rough washcloth. It's been getting worse and my face redder. I read up on rosacea in the meantime, so I would know what I was talking to the doctor about. Yes, I'm one of THOSE patients. I'm not a hypochondriac but I am pretty knowledgeable and am really good at research. One of the things I saw mentioned a lot was that you have to use very mild soap and very soft clothes if you're having a flare-up of rosacea.
When I was sitting at my son's peewee football practice and knitting a simple scarf, a lightbulb came on - I knit dishcloths for my in-laws with cotton yarn and they were softer than commercial washclothes, so why not knit myself some face cloths?
After digging out some cotton yarn from my rather vast supply, I cast on a small face cloth - about 1/2 the size of a typical dishcloth because I don't need surface area as much as I need a lot of cloths so I can wash them regularly. I ended up with a little 4.5x4.5 inch square cloth that's just perfect.
The pattern is easy, I cast on 20 stitches with a long-tail cast on, knitted two garter-stitch rows, then knitted stockinette rows with a two stitch garter border on each side until the cloth was almost square, then two more rows of garter stitch and typical bind off.
One ball of Lion Cotton has resulted in 14 clothes. I have two balls more to use which should give me both a few weeks of busy work at the football practice and a good supply of face cloths.
And I've promised to teach one of the other football moms how to knit, lol.
posted by Maura Anderson at 4:12 PM
4 Comments:
My husband has rosacea, Maura, and that sounds like something I could make for him, too. Thanks for the pattern. I'll bet they'd make good baby washcloths as well.
Oh, that's a great idea, Fran. I'd not thought of that!
I'll have to remember that for next time I have a baby shower gift to make.
The cloths are doing the trick. I can wash my face without it stinging!
Hi Maura,
Maybe ask your doc about your estrogen levels? When I get enough estrogen (these days from either estriol cream or phyto-estrogen cream), the rosacea lessens to just a tiny bit of red on the apples of my cheeks.
HTH!
Oooh - I'll ask him, Dawn. I've been sorta peri-menopause for a while, so maybe that's part of the equation.
Thank you!
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