Posted on Wednesday, May 9 2012 at 8am
In stressful times, a bit of knitting can really help, and few things are as stressful as the illness of a loved one, as knitwear designer Louisa Harding can confirm.
When Louisa’s beloved husband was diagnosed with Lymphoma in January 2011, the whole family benefited from the help of Macmillan Cancer Support. “Our health district has a specific Macmillan funded unit which meant Stephen was treated nearer to home by Macmillan trained specialist chemotherapy nurses who are amazing.”
To give back to the charity, Louisa has taken on a huge challenge, signing up to take part in a seven-day rough trek (including sleeping in tent, using long drop toilets, and walking the terrain of the Himalayas for up to nine hours a day.
“I’m really a very average wife, mum, daughter, knitwear designer, dog walker, but my goal is to complete the challenge and raise £3,900 for Macmillan Cancer Support.”
To increase the amount going to Macmillan, Louisa has also designed a trio of Himalayan Hiking Hat patterns for knitters to download. In returns she asks that you make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Juliet Bernard of The Knitter expresses her admiration for a moonwalking knitwear designer.
With summer on the way we’re finding ourselves looking for lighter, quicker projects to add interest to an outfit – something that isn’t too hot or heavy to knit, just in case we get some lovely weather (well, here’s hoping!). Knitted or crocheted 
There is some errata for the Pimlico bag by Sarah Hatton in the Subscriber exclusive knitalong for The Knitter issue 45.
On sale in the UK today, (May 11) 
