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I expect that most knitters are unaware that I make all the sets for the photographs in our booklets. Some take weeks to construct but for the Footballer Octopus Mascot in Toy Collection it was going to be easy, or so I thought. The only requirement being a large flat area of neatly trimmed grass which resembled a football pitch. The photograph had to be taken low down at ground level, hence the necessity for a long stretch of grass behind the octopus, with nothing else in the distance.

In our own small garden there were sheds, flower borders, trees, bird bath … so off I went in search of suitable grass. Sounds daft I know. Golf courses have a lot of grass. But they also have bunkers, the odd pond and quite a few men with trolleys. How about the park? Again plenty of the green stuff but also, bandstands, bushes, people … my quest continued.

I looked for that elusive grass everywhere but come the photography day we were still grass-less.

Photography shoots can be hectic and I often feel a little like a portrait photographer, directing my toys and dolls to face the camera, smile and say, ‘Look I’m cute, knit me!’ However, sometimes they just don’t behave, so we have quite a few coffee breaks.

The photographer’s studio was in a terrace of splendid Victorian houses, which had all been converted into offices and business premises. The houses originally had large back gardens which had been turned into car parks for the office workers and customers.

On one of our breaks, I wandered outside the studio and into next door’s car park. And I couldn’t believe it … for there it was – THE GRASS! No cars, just a beautifully flat, neatly trimmed, enormous stretch of the most desirable grass ever.

As clouds were gathering overhead, the photographer rushed outside to set up the first shot at our new location.

Three more shots to go and it became a nail-biting race against the rain.

Would we make it? I mean, how do you get a knitted octopus to head a ball?! Just as the downpour began we finally got our last photo … thank goodness, I couldn’t face a soggy octopus!

Being preoccupied with our woolly eight legged mascot, we hadn’t noticed the small crowd of office workers staring in disbelief at those nutty folk photographing an octopus playing football on their lawn. I’m sure none of them managed to come up with a rational explanation as to what was going on!

That’s just one ‘behind the scenes’ story concerning sets and photography. There are lots more to come!