Crafted.

I don't remember owning a Knitting Nancy when I was a child, so when I saw them for sale at a local toy shop - for less then $10 - I decided I wanted, no, needed to own one as a grown-up. My first attempt just wouldn't come through the middle of her, however many times I wound the wool around the loops and in and out. Then I took it to Family Lunch with the Fixits and Ma Fixit showed me where I'd gone wrong; you need to pull the wool all the way through before the loopy stuff begins up top, otherwise, as happened to me, you can't pull the knitted bit down and you get a nasty snarl-up in poor old Nancy's innards.

I found knitting with Nancy quite relaxing and easy to do, but after a while there was this very long string of french knitting hanging down and I had no idea what to do with it. A friend suggested woollen coasters as per School Knitting Grade 6 (round and round the garden, like a teddy bear), but in the meantime I discovered how to do proper knitting and poor Nancy and her long strand of variegated blue lay abandoned, probably forlornly.



And then I needed to make a mattress and quilt for a little Kewpie-Baby in a Box as part of a present for my niece's 4th birthday.



I'm hoping no-one inspects the quality of the sewing too closely, obviously. First attempt and all. But a miniature baby, in a pretty floral box, with french-knitted bedding will be a nice present for a 4-year-old methinks, and could probably be a good-seller at a school fete craft stall. I may have to patent it.