Hi friends, My goodness.  Whatever galloping plague was bothering me on Friday hit just about everyone else in the office over the weekend, and I'm not sure you could get a sneezier, snifflier, more stuffed-up bunch of magazine editors together in one place if you tried. (Not that you'd want to try – yuck!) Chicken soup is all well and good, but what I really want when I'm under the weather is to snuggle up under a cosy handmade afghan. My mum has one from the '70s that was always a source of great comfort when we were sick, and I think it might be time to add one to my own home. Maybe burnt orange, harvest gold and avocado green acrylic yarns don't actually have some sort of healing properties, but surely there's something to be said for being wrapped in a blanket that was made with love. Five uncommon afghans to help cure the common cold:

• The beekeeper's quilt – cute, puffy hexagons knit up out of leftover sock yarn. This would take lots of time (and lots of sock yarn), but oh, what a blanket you'd end up with!
• The pinwheel blanket – simple, elegant, timeless.
• The granny stripe blanket or the giant granny square blanket – two modern takes on that classic afghan motif.
• The ripple blanket kit from Mary Maxim (do you have as fond memories of that catalogue as I do?)

Now I'm off to brew up some Neo Citron. Have a good night!