BISCUIT

THE BEST OF CREW MEMBERS
When telling of the various bits of our boat I forgot to mention of the favourite crew members – Biscuit the Dog.
Years ago when I had the little workshop at Mansefield, I was given a bag with the makings and instructions for a ginger fluffy dog. It stayed in the cupboard until we were packing, and I thought it would be a good thing to do on the boat for little Alex. So one day I got it out and started. It was a rather terrible job. There were hundreds of little shapes to knit, every row had to be crossed off, and I was left with a stack of bits to sew together. Not an easy task, as some of them were very similar and all in all it took quite a few nights and far too much ‘reverse sewing’ for my liking. At last he was ready to stuff, and I brought out my bag of stuffing which promptly all disappeared into the front feet. Biscuit was no going to be 12 inches high as I thought, but much, much larger and too holey for little fingers. Not daunted I thought maybe he could go to the God daughter in South Africa. So off I went and bought three more bags of stuffing and Biscuit grew and grew and grew. He sat on the seat and looked at us and said ‘I’m much too big to go in the post, and you need a dog, and I will make a very good hat stand’. All of this was so true, that Biscuit sits and looks after my favourite hat and gloves and is a welcoming presence to come home to. Very low maintenance too.