Tuesday 17th April 2012 - Kneeler 20

I finished Not-a-Kneeler! After lots of angst over the masculinity of the Virgin Mary (I'd thought it was a bloke!) and various experiments with brown silks and gold threads followed by much reverse-stitching (unpicking to the uninitiated) it is finally finished. I think I am quite pleased, but then I am hard-to-please and my own worst critic.

Last week I ventured forth to a stitching retreat at Urchfont for two days, which turned out after my usual trepidation at the unknown to be just my sort of thing. Simple communal pleasure in stitching with no pressure, no background noise and plenty of good light. Having seen the accomplishments of other stitchers there I have dropped down a cog or two in my own estimation. Some of the work was so fine that I said jokingly: "I would need a pair of microscopes to wear if I were to try this!" "We have them," came the immediate reply, whereupon several versions of sight-enhancers were waved at me. So it's not only dentists who use magnifiers.