No one is safe from my new knitting skills - Fiona Duff

No parties, no joining hands for Auld Lang Syne and instead just some fizz on the sofa watching something on Netflix recommended on Facebook.

Anyway there have been some little rays of light this year. After Daniel the Spaniel departed in January, wee Brucie joined us filling the dog shaped hole in our lives. Luckily we had decided to get a puppy before the dreaded lockdown was imposed – not sure I could afford one now as prices have gone through the roof. They seem harder to find than a loo roll in April.

Anyway, this we bundle of naughtiness has kept us entertained over the past 9 months. In the local park, where more and more pups have appeared, they all chase each other around getting exhausted as we besotted owners look on proudly. Or occasionally slightly shame-faced after he dived into someone’s picnic and returned with a sandwich in his mouth.

The other thing I discovered in the past couple of months is that I remembered how to knit. Having found a pair of needles and some wool in a cupboard I was attempting to clear out I sat down, casted on and really haven’t stopped since. I made a hat and scarf for my great-nephew’s (yes, I am that old!) 2nd birthday, another couple of hats for friends and my children all got stripey scarves in their stockings.

What I have realised is that people obviously don’t expect me to do something like this. The shock on their faces when being told one of these items was produced by yours truly is something to behold. To be honest I have become somewhat obsessive about it, sitting on the sofa each evening surrounded by multiple balls of wool deciding what colours would go together and for whom my next creation will be gifted.

I predict that 2021 will be Year of the Scarf, at least in my family.