THE KNITTING CIRCLE

Jeanette invited me to come along to the the Knitting Circle which meets every Monday afternoon at the local village hall. I was a little dubious about what this might entail or how my knitting skills would shape up amongst true professionals but thought it would be a fine opportunity to meet some local women and have a yarn (!).

Well, what a marvellous assortment of people (who all mysteriously seemed to know who I was) -  I am sure this will become the social highlight of my week. I was expecting a draughty, uncomfortable, cavernous space but I was warmly welcomed into a cosy, carpeted hall laid out with a large table set with chairs, where a few women were already sorting out an enormous variety of donated balls of wool. My baptism by fire was to assist to categorise the 3-ply, 4-ply, double knitting and chunky wools.

The lady who runs all the village activities took me on a tour of the building and proudly showed me the vase of knitted flowers (which I will photograph because they beggar description). These intricate - if somewhat eccentric - artworks naturally made me a little nervous about just what I would be expected to produce.

Apparently a major knitting project had been finalised the week before (making 110 hats for premature babies) so there followed some debate about what the next project should be. I was greatly relieved when the decision was made to produce a blanket comprising 6" knitted squares. This will be donated to Rachel House - the local hospice for terminally ill children.

Armed with my No. 8 needles and pink wool, as advised by Marion I cast on 30 stitches (without dropping one, I was rather proud of myself) and then painstakingly knitted three or four rows, before she dangled a tape measure in front of me. Oh dear, my 6" square only measured 5".

So I undid all my careful stitching and re-cast on 38 stitches. A few rows later, I measured my second attempt. Oh dear. 7". But I think they felt sorry for me and said it could be squished up when the squares were sewn together.

Talk mainly centred around yesterday's massive rain storm which apparently flooded out several areas - this shocked but also relieved me, as last night I had assumed it was normal to see the river at the bottom of my garden almost break its banks. The weather here seems to dominate all conversation. This is the end of my garden on a clement day, by the way:



Homework for the week appeared to be to take my knitting home and finish the ball of wool (which is a rather large ball - I wonder if the ladies are having a joke at my expense). This is my endeavour so far:



But I also came home with several invitations to enter into my diary - a game of golf with Marie; a cup of tea with Jenny (the only other Australian in the village); carols at Blair Castle; a day trip to the Danish Fair; and a talk on "River Tay, its Lochs and tributaries. Police Experiences" (I do not joke).