Keep a pen and paper with all your knitting accessories for calculations or notes. Just remember to keep the cover of the pen firmly attached as knitting yarn soaks up ink like a sponge.

24.

Buy blunt ended and also pointy scissors. The tiny pointy ones are marvellous for cutting off buttons. Make sure the scissors are sharp or some threads will be hard to cut neatly. I prefer to do any unpicking with a needle. Scissors can cut through stitches in an instant and that could be a disaster.

25.

An emery board will get rid of the fingernail or rough skin that catches every stitch.

Sometimes if I have had to do too much housework (perish the thought!), my hands can be so rough that the yarn turns to fur as I try to knit. Creams don’t work instantly and also transfer to the yarn as you knit, so I have a few frantic remedies. One is to wear a tight pair of white cotton gloves, but the needle can catch in the fabric. Still, it’s better than not knitting. If there is a problem with one finger or a thumb, I cut the little finger from a fine rubber glove and stretch it on to my finger or thumb. It will disintegrate quite soon, but will do in an extreme situation.

26.

Bandaids are not only useful after the damage has been done, but are also preventative. Bandage a spot that is in danger of being poked or rubbed too much with thread or needle, then it will never happen. I have also found a wonderful product which is a packet of little, thick, oval shapes stuck on a backing. You peel one off and attach the sticky side to any spot on your hands that is at risk of splitting or rubbing. They are actually used instead of thimbles, and have been designed by a genius.

27.

My eyesight has deteriorated with all this knitting, as well as reading and old age and maybe genetics, so I collect and use all kinds of magnifying things.

I have a huge number of reader’s glasses in all strengths, they hide all over the house.

A recent visit to a craft fair turned up a headband with moveable magnifying glasses attached. Sometimes I use this over a pair of reader’s glasses for work with teeny, tiny stitches. Another handy piece is a curved magnifying bar with a flat base that you lie over a row of printing, or place on an embroidery chart.

An interesting piece that I must buy one day is a thing that sits beside a chair and has a moveable magnifying glass on an arm.

I have found two big magnifying glasses with a padded bar across the end of the handle and two little loops on either side of the glass, with a thick, adjustable thread that slips through the loops. You place the thread around the back of your neck and balance the glass at an angle against your chest. Slides a bit, but is often useful.

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