It's all coming together! by Aimee Chalmers

Last week I was thrilled when I realised we'd actually managed to recruit enough women to make our Scotland Handknit Map a reality. Right, time to get everything ready to send out!

Guidelines.  Done, just need to test them. Colour chart, yes.  Thanks Catriona. Map templates. Done... hmm... well, some of them were cut slightly off line. 'But they'll do,' I said. 'Won't they? Surely.' But maybe... I decided to look again. Out came the ruler.  Oops! Some were as much as 5mm out. And if one row was out by 5mm, how would that affect the next line? And the next? Would it be a disaster?  

Possibly. We couldn't take the risk. So, instead of starting with a small map ( as we did the first time), blowing it up to massive proportions and getting it cut into 36 rectangles, we started with the rectangles - 36 pieces of A5 card. This morning we fixed them together (with micropore tape) at the corners, in rows, joined the rows together, looked for somewhere to lay them out.  Where shall I put it Catriona? 

You might have laughed to see us crawling about on our knees for three hours on Catriona's kitchen floor, copying a map of Scotland.  But luckily there was no-one with a camera around.

Was it worth it?   Certainly! We have 36 new templates, perfectly equal in size, each marked with a code number A1-F6, each with an orientation (BL - meaning Bottom Left) each with 'land' and 'sea' marked (except the ones which are of the sea only - they're marked 'sea' just in case someone forgets). We have a new mini-map so you can match your rectangle to its correct position. We have sore knees... no, just kidding!

Please make sure you send your address in soon,  so you can get your template delivered in the old-fashioned way.

Happy knitting!