I vowed that the knitting of miniature thoroughbred puppies was over. It had been a Covid thing; those nine puppies gave me much joy and laughter and garnered me happy comments on Facebook. So how come, amidst all my trip planning, I find myself knitting a Corgi?
Well after Spain, I go to England to visit family. This spring and summer, the British people are launched into celebrations for the Queen’s jubilee of her reign, 70 years on the throne. Something indeed to celebrate and mark with lunches and horseraces and no doubt concerts. One of the most charming and accessible happenings will be launched on May 1st by the W.I., the venerable Women’s Institute. The project is to knit a corgi and hide it somewhere in London. One of these corgis will be adorned with a special label that will win you an invitation to a Jubilee lunch. All are encouraged to participate – knit and hide. On the W.I. website and other sites, there are a variety of patterns.
So, of course, I had to get on board. I did not have my book of puppy patterns to hand, but I did have a book that my friend Joanne had brought me from London several years ago. She was there the year of Prince William and the Duchesse of Cambridge’s wedding. When she saw the book “Knit the royal wedding party” she could not resist and bought me a copy. Among all the knitted splendour of the royals, footmen, even the Archbishop of Canterbury, was a corgi. How could the corgi not be included? The beloved dog breed of the Queen since her youth. It was a rather basic pattern, even though you cannot knit a puppy without quite a bit of finishing fiddle!

So dear Eddy (the W.I. are calling theirs Winnie, that brings up images of Winnie the pooh, named after the city of Winnipeg from whence he came.) I decided that Eddy had a great royal and Canadian ring to it. The King Edward Hotel, known as King Eddy, being a favourite watering hole in Banff). So, dear Eddy, will fly over to England and there I shall hand him over to grandnieces and they can decide his fate.
Go Eddy go!