Florence Nightingale Tea Cosy

A pioneering lady who established hospital care and hygiene that we take for granted today, she paved the way for modern nursing during the Crimean War.

I love history and I'm drawn to strong women from the past and their achievements, and Florence Nightingale is one such women. Not only did she clean up practices in military hospitals, she also cared about the patient's in her care, even to the length of checking on them at night by oil lamp, which led to her being knows as the lady with the lamp. I think these are the things that Florence was best known for but she also overhauled a lot of the documenting and recording of patients medical heath to simplify written documents at a time with people still struggled with literacy, and so improved care for patients by removing obstacles for the carers and nurses.

I don't know why but I always associate blue with Florence Nightingale, so I have drawn her in a blue dress. Being a Victorian lady, she has a full length dress. I have her wearing an apron over the top of her dress and she has something on her head to cover her hair.

When I see images of Florence, she always seems to have a box type lamp, with a candle in it. But it was a wartime hospital and I think the lamps would have been a lot more totalitarian than that and I'm sure getting candles to the front line would be a bit hit and miss, so it makes much more since that she would have a oil storm lamp. Less fancy but totally serviceable, and I assume would provide much more light.

The only issue I see with this tea cosy is the holding on the lamp. It's not only that she is holding it, but she is holding it up to chest height so that she can see. The lamp is going to be a pretty weighty thing for Florence to be holding aloft with her little knitted arms. I could add something to stiffen the arms, but I think over time even this would fail her. So I think that the lamp will have to be stitched to her. I know in reality this would burn her and her clothing would probably catch light (so don't try this at home!) but I think it would be the best way to support such a heavy object so high up.

But other than that slight challenge, I shall look forward to knitting her and bringing her to life.













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