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This was written in
2007
so is now very dated
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Chapters |
Part of the reason for not wanting my name used in connection with Bog Standard was that the Maths and knitting project more than five years before, in MathsYear2000, had suddenly taken off again in a big way. There had been a sudden resurgence in knitting everywhere and two new UK magazines had been published. Both had included information about the project. We were inundated with requests for information and free yarn and needles were sent to about twenty schools in the first few weeks. Some of the requests were phone calls, most were by email. The project had always involved us sending emails requesting yarn but previously few of the requests had been by email. It was an indication of how this was becoming the major means of communication.
It made our task simpler, more efficient and cheaper. We now had an electronic version of the booklet we produced for the project and this could be sent to anyone who wanted it. It could happen instantly and there were no printing or mailing costs involved. This was the same format we had used for the Bog Standard patterns and we had also been using to sell some patterns on the Internet.
After making the poncho for our Italian trip it seemed an ideal time to be selling patterns, while the fashion lasted. There would have been no point in publishing these in the normal way as the fad would have passed in the meantime. It is incredible to think that I could be writing a pattern here today and someone in Australia, or other far-
Throughout this time the toilet roll cover collection was growing rapidly. The first covers had been very simple compared with those that came later. The designs became more fanciful with every one. Steve’s idea for making Paper Boy (who goes by the name of Roland) sent the covers in a different direction and spawned rows of little people. The people and animals went on to include Paper Tiger, Arctic Roll (a polar bear), Bacon Roll (a pig), Paper Girl, Baby Wipes, Toilet Training (with tracksuit, trainers and headband), Master of the Rolls, Royal Flush (a queen), and Eskimo Roll with many more to follow. All used fairly small amounts of yarn but we spent a lot of time and money searching for exactly what we wanted. They are addictive.
It had been getting increasingly difficult to make large items as the condition of my skin continued to deteriorate and was accompanied by wastage of the small muscles. I also suffer frequently recurring cramps in my fingers, and elsewhere. Making these small items still gave me the scope to be creative without the same physical demands.
26b. ON A ROLL continued