Today is World Tuberculosis Day. TB is one of those diseases which is generally considered a thing of the past in the UK, like small pox or the plague. Unfortunately TB is still rife in several countries claiming 1.8 million lives last year alone. One of the growing problems with treating TB is the rise is multi-drug resistant strains which are immune to antibiotic therapies therefore making it much harder to treat.

While browsing the internet I discovered there is a gene in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the TB bacteria, called PhoP. The PhoP gene plays a role in making TB more virulent. This gene could be a good target for new drugs. If the PhoP gene can be stopped from working, TB will spread less.

So as well as the knitting p/hop working to hard to stop diseases spreading through yarn swaps and generosity there’s another PhoP which could help in the fight against TB. I wonder if there are any other “p/hop”s we don’t know about?

Seeing as this is a knitting blog I won’t let my geeky scientist side get carried away. You can read more about MSF’s work with TB sufferers here

I also found some bacteria knitting patterns which make deadly diseases look cute and fuzzy. It would be fantastic if  this were the only way deadly bacteria existed, like toy dinosaurs. Maybe one day, thanks to organisations like MSF this will be the case.

Microbes by Clare Dyer-Smith

Knitted Bacteria by Beth Skwarecki

References and further reading

WHO Factsheet on TB

PhoP, a key player in Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence

Mutation in the Transcriptional Regulator PhoP Contributes to Avirulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra Strain

Just a tiny bit of the donations!

The fifth annual SkipNorth holiday hit Haworth in Yorkshire on Friday 12th March, and for the second year running the p-hop swap dominated the first evening. People had brought huge bags of yarn, books, magazines and other craft materials and as the last workshop came to an end people were keen to see what was on offer.

The tables were pushed to the edge of the room and bag by bag the offerings were laid out. On the right went a table full of fleece, perfect for those who had learnt drop spindling that afternoon. Back left was a whole table of sock yarn, where Regia rubbed shoulders with designer brands. In between lay cones of lace weight, bags of novelty yarn, whole packs of vintage Jaeger and current Rowan as well as mountains of odd balls looking for a home.

By the end of the evening the tables were bare (apart from a few lonely orphan balls) and all those who’d taken part were committed to donating their thanks to p-hop. So far more than £300 has been donated from those who swapped that night, and plenty of what we each swapped has appeared in our stashes on Ravelry and even been cast on.

Thanks to everyone who donated to the swap and to all those who took part. You can read more about SkipNorth here and join in discussions about future holidays on ravelry here.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank you very much to Alex (aka littlelixie) and everyone who took part in the Skip North p/hop swap. Are you feeling inspired to hold your own swap for p/hop? Please get in touch if you are interested as we can help out with flyers and MSF info. If you’ve already been to an event for MSF we would love to hear about it and always welcome guest bloggers. Don’t forget there is the ongoing yarn (and books, DVDs, anything-you-can-think-of) swap in the p/hop Ravelry group.

What is Skip North?

After all the wonderful support and donations in the aftermath of the devastating Haiti earthquake we thought p/hop would be fairly quiet until the knitting festival season. It’s always good to be proved wrong by p/hop. I went away for last week and on my return was delighted to see the total has jumped again. Looking at the donations I discovered something called Skip North happened. What is Skip North? Skipping with yarn? Some Northern tradition which has passed me by? After a little detective work all became clear and the answer will be revealed in the near future.

Where is Pete?

Pete is in Russia at the moment working on an exciting multimedia project with MSF Russia which you can read about on his blog. He did forget his knitting though I have a feeling he has been too cold to knit in the sub-zero temperatures in Moscow.

Where will p/hop be spending the summer?

The weather is warming up in London and we’re starting to think about summer. p/hop will be at the following festivals over the summer:

Woolfest, 25th & 26th June 2010, Cockermouth, Cumbria

Knit Nation 29th-31st July 2010, Imperial College Campus, South Kensington, London

I knit Weekender, 10th-11th September 2010 The Royal Horticultural Halls, Pimlico, London

We need you!

We will be asking for volunteers to help us run the stand nearer the time so keep an eye on here or on the p/hop Ravelry group for details. We also need samples of p/hop patterns knitted up. I’m currently putting together a list of what we need and will post this in the p/hop Ravelry group next week. The samples really help sell the patterns and wil also make our stand look beautiful.

How can leftover sock yarn make money for p/hop in Orkney?

If you haven’t been to a real life yarn swap there’s always something going on in the Ravelry group.

Woolgathered is collecting leftover sock yarns in return for donations to p/hop for her ferry knitting blanket project so if you like the thought of your leftovers ending up as a wall hanging in Orkney please take a look at her blog for details. Not only is she knitting the blanket on 2.5mm needles, she is also documenting where the yarn came from and any stories associated with it. I can’t wait to see the finished blanket but I have a feeling it will take a while. Which will be finished first? Pete’s scarf or Woolgathered’s blanket?

Spring into spring with this gorgeous Chic Spring Beret kindly donated to p/hop by talented designer Jane Crowfoot and the staff at The Knitter magazine.

The beret uses four colours of DK yarn and is a good introduction to Fair Isle (stranded colour) knitting. If you’re new to Fair Isle knitting there are lots of good tutorials on the internet including one on the KnittingHelp.com website (scroll down for the video) or just ask in the p/hop group on Ravelry if you need any advice.

If you want to see what the beret looks like in other colourways take inspiration from what others have made on Ravelry.

To read more about the Chic Spring Beret pattern and download the PDF click here. Happy Knitting!

We are delighted to anounce that the wonderful Susan Pandorf has donated another of her exquisite beaded lace patterns to p/hop. The Hydrangea Scarf is now available to download here and is sure to keep your fingers busy throughout spring/autumn*.

*Depending on which hemisphere you live in.