Chapter Eight
Daisy
Daisy emptied out the bags of wool she’d brought to Butterbury Lodge with her today. The residents were well aware of the secret project but nobody else in Butterbury would be for some time yet. Being here also had the added bonus of allowing Daisy to psyche herself up some more before she had to face Ginny who was arriving today.
‘Grandad, this is wonderful.’ Daisy kissedIvor’s cheek as she admired the midnight blue rectangle he’d set to one side, which had a white snowman knitted on the front complete with a black yarn hat and a red scarf. ‘Who knew you had this sort of talent. I thought you said this would take you quite a while.’
‘I’ve been busy. You know me, I don’t like to fall into bed too early. And I’ll admit Flo may have helped me once or twice overthe past week,’ he added as Flo herself came over. ‘I didn’t show you our progress until now as I wanted it to be a surprise.’
‘Well it’s a lovely surprise.’ She smiled at Flo and passed on her compliments.
Flo explained, ‘Once we decided he didn’t need to knit the snowman pattern into the garment it became a team effort. Ivor knitted the rectangle while I used a pattern I’ve had ever sinceI knitted a toddler’s scarf for one of my neighbours many years ago. It was of a snowman, the same snowman you see there.’
On top of the midnight blue the snowman had curved edges and Flo or Ivor’s stitching to fix it in place was flawless. It would make a wonderful addition to their project.
‘I made sure we used acrylic wool,’ Flo went on, ‘like you said.’
Last time she’d been here one ofthe residents had offered some wool she had left over from knitting projects over the years but Daisy had explained they needed to be wise with what they used. Acrylic wool was key to this project. Not only was it cheap and lightweight, it also came in an array of colours, and more importantly wouldn’t react so tragically in the rain. Other types of wool got too heavy and sagged and nobody wantedthat to happen to their beautiful creations that were slowly being collected and stored in the cupboard Maggie had allocated them specially.
Back beside her grandad Daisy asked, ‘Who’s that over there with Victor?’ A pretty blonde teenage girl was crouched down chatting with the always-polite yet very timid man who hadn’t wanted to join in with the project. Somehow this girl had managed to gethim making what looked like a pom-pom. ‘I didn’t think Victor had any family to visit him.’
‘He doesn’t. That’s Carrie and she’s with the choir and she also volunteers from time to time to keep old codgers like me company.’
Daisy laughed. ‘You’re not an old codger, Grandad.’
‘What am I then?’
‘You are unashamedly you, Ivor Rawlins.’ She gave him a nudge and looked over to Victor who was chucklingquietly at the tangle of wool he’d somehow managed to hook around his knees. ‘She’s got him helping out for the project, well I never.’
‘I’m impressed,’ agreed Ernest as he came over to see what they were looking at. ‘Maybe we could rope her in to helping out with delivery of the project too.’ He tapped the side of his nose. Residents were loving all the secrecy surrounding what they were doing,the mischief was part of the fun.
‘Do you think she’ll keep it a secret?’ Daisy wondered.
Her grandad suggested Daisy go over and remind her, make sure she knew this wasn’t to be talked about in the village.
Daisy headed over and introduced herself to Carrie as Victor continued to beaver away at a white woolly pom-pom.
The girls stepped back from him and Daisy asked Carrie, ‘How ever did youmanage it?’
‘You mean getting him to make something?’ The girl smiled, her blonde hair falling in waves around her shoulders. ‘We’ve got to know each other recently. I told him I couldn’t knit but that I really want to learn a new craft and then I admitted I could do basic pom-poms, which would be very useful for the project everyone is talking about.’ She shrugged. ‘He asked me to show him.’
‘Well the more people on board the better. But just remember, it’s hush-hush.’
‘I know, Ivor told me. Don’t worry. I won’t tell a soul.’
Daisy got the feeling she could trust this girl.
‘Ivor is good company,’ Carrie went on.
‘Yeah, he is.’
Carrie hesitated before she confided, ‘He was a bit upset yesterday.’
‘Upset?’
‘His favourite Christmas quilt got ruined in the wash.’ She pulled a face.‘He didn’t want to make a fuss about it, but someone here put it in at too high a temperature apparently, but I can tell he’s devastated.’
‘That’s terrible.’ He’d be so upset. His quilts were always one of a kind and Daisy knew what it was like to lose something so special.
