INSPIRATIONAL Heather Leats scooped a Best in Show award for her knitting at a Wiltshire craft show last week despite being blind and having multiple sclerosis.

The 53-year-old spent seven months making the christening cape, complete with matching bonnet, mittens and booties, and it was named best entry in the knitting section at Wiltshire Blind Association's annual craft fair.

The prize was just reward for a labour of love.

The garments were knitted to a Mrs Leats' own pattern which used to take her just three weeks.

"I started making them 16 years ago, and I just gave them out to the family," said Mrs Leats, of Redlynch, who went blind on her 52nd birthday.

"It was all done by feel and by counting the pattern came from my memory.

"It got thrown across the room a few times, and I couldn't have done it without the support of my daughter, Joanne, and my husband, Tony."

Mrs Leats' MS was worsened 20 years ago by the shock of being attacked in her own home by a bogus caller.

The man responsible for the callous assault, which made the front page of the Journal in January 1986, was never caught.

"I've moved on since then it's all in the past and I'm quite happy," said Mrs Leats.

And to prove her determination always to look forward, she revealed that she was already planning her entry for next year's competition, after judges described her knitting as "exquisite".

"I didn't half cry," Mrs Leats said of her victory at the fair, held in Devizes on Wednesday last week.

"It was the best bottle of medicine and I've been on a high ever since. I couldn't believe it. It's a dream come true better than winning the lottery. That was the first time I've been out in a long time and it was a hard effort, but it was so worth it.

"I'm going to try to make a dress for next year, but it might take longer, so I've already started it."