One square at a time...

I knitted the Inevitable First Scarf when I was about 10 years old. I was enamoured with Dr Who (Tom Baker) and set about moulding my own reticent father into Dr Who's be-scarfed clone. Sadly I became bored, then ran out of wool and lacked the enthusiasm to spend my pocket money on more wool. So, this is the sad tale of why I never got the father I dreamed of. If only I had knitted with more tenacity!

I'll now fast forward thirty years (baby #1, get married, baby#2, new house x 12) and take a brief, yet painful, tumble down the stairs and break a leg. I have yarn in one hand, a needle in the other and a book about knitting squares to make throws by Debbie Abrahams on my lap. I cannot remember how to cast on. I'm tired and perhaps a little doped up on painkillers. I probably sigh at this point, but then I just start fiddling about with the wool and needles and before I know it I'm casting on! The excitement! I'm a teacher and I'm always going on about 'kinaesthetic memory' to students, but this was the first time that I really felt that clumsy ol' me had such a thing! I act as if I can knit and I can.

By the end of the afternoon I have my first completed (slightly irregular) square and I feel that I have achieved something.

My blanket is now growing one square at a time. It might take years to get the whole blanket finished, by which point my bones will have long-since healed, but I'm happy knitting my squares. With the help of my friend I have also advanced onto cupcakes!! :-)