It’s my mum’s birthday this week and as her present, I booked tickets for us to see Wicked. I’ve seen it twice and I thought she would enjoy it, but the main reason was that Lee Mead has joined the London cast for a few months. She loves Lee Mead. I took her to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat when he starred in that. I was worried he wouldn’t appear in the Saturday matinee performance, but I had my fingers crossed he’d be there this weekend.

We got the coach to London. I like journeys – it’s guilt free knitting time. There’s nothing else I could be doing (apart from chatting, reading or snoozing), unlike at home where there’s always something else I should be doing instead. We got to London and had some lunch, then strolled to the theatre.

As we crossed the road, I saw a group of women clustered around a curly haired man outside the stage door. OMG, it was Lee Mead. I dragged my mum across the road at double speed and she didn’t need any persuasion to go and speak to him. He was very nice – quiet and polite – and he kindly posed for a photo with her. I would post it, but she made me promise not to put her picture on the internet! I took her inside the theatre to calm down with a glass of wine. I’m pleased to say she loved ‘Wicked’ too, so it was a good day all round.

When I made Melville, I took him to meet my parents, because I suspected my mum might like him. I was right – she loved him. In fact, I had a job getting him back from her so I could take him home. So I decided to make her a monster of her own for her birthday using Dangercraft’s Quincy Quade Quentin pattern.

I used a ball of Lana Grossa sock yarn from my stash and 2.5mm dpns. I have to say I didn’t enjoy knitting with this yarn, as it’s slightly fuzzy and very splitty. Once all the bits were knitted, I added toy safety eyes, stitched on a tummy button, stuffed him, attached his arms and legs and finally glued on a mouth.

I asked my mum to unwrap her monster-shaped present yesterday, so I could see if she liked him – thankfully, she was delighted. She has decided to call him Granville [Rav link] and I think it suits him. I’ve instructed her he needs plenty of hugs to keep him happy, but I think he’ll be OK. I took a photo of the two monster chums together before Granville went to his new home.