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I am delighted to post that the Pratchgan, the project that I was part of in Ravelry’s Anhk-Morkpork Knitter’s Guild, has been presented in person to Mr. Terry Pratchett himself at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Shirley (whom we know as Cherryred in the guild), the lovely woman who was brave enough to sew the whole thing together, got to meet the man and give over the Pratchghan. Thanks to her, I can also post the pictures of this wonderful event.
Mr. Pratchett is enjoying the Pratchgan.
You can see my square in this one. It is the second row from the bottom and five squares in – the Dried Frog Pills square.
Pointing out different squares
A view of the whole, wonderful thing
All packed up and ready to go
Dried Frog Pills square
The Pratchgan was begun in winter 2008, after we heard about Terry’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. We wanted to do something special, and as knitters and crocheters, we thought an afghan would be just the ticket. So the Pratchgan was born, with about 99 or so of us contributing. We decided to put the immortal words of Granny Weatherwax, “I Aten’t Dead” , in the middle, as Terry himself said this when he first spoke about his diagnosis. Then each of us came up with an idea (or two) for our squares, based on the Discworld books. The ideas were many and varied and all creative and wonderful. I chose Dried Frog Pills – those strange and magical pills that the Bursar at the Unseen University takes that keep him (sort of) sane. I figured if they can help the Bursar, they can at least cheer up Terry!
The finished squares were then sent to Scotland, where the brave Cherryred sewed them all together, put a border on them, and then backed the whole thing with some soft warm checked material. Then Rob, Terry’s publicist, arranged for her to come to the Edinburgh Book Festival to present the Pratchgan in person.
Cherryred said that he really liked it, pointed out different squares and laughing. When it was all packed up and ready to go and he was leaving, Mr. Pratchett said, “And I still aten’t dead.”
Hooray!
Thanks to Cherryred for the use of the photos of Terry Pratchett receiving the Pratchgan.
