JULIA Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Madonna are all at it. Bette Davis apparently swore by it and it's rumoured that even macho Russell Crowe likes to do a line or two when he's feeling stressed.

After years languishing as a pensioner's pastime, knitting, it seems, is the new rock'n'roll. Even London commuters while away time on the Tube with their knitting needles.

No longer strictly the preserve of Miss Marple or Madame Dfarge, it's become cool to cast on, as Fiona Oliver of Tisbury's The Fat Quarter will testify.

She and business partner Maria Orchard opened the shop in June last year, specialising in materials for quilting and embroidery - but it's the knitting that has really taken off.

Now they run drop-in sessions on Tuesday mornings and evenings to teach people to knit, pick up dropped stitches and right patterns that have gone disastrously wrong.

It's free, coffee is provided and the conversation over the clacking needles is therapeutic in itself without the stress-busting powers of purl and plain.

"For the first three weeks, we sat here by ourselves," says Fiona. "Then a couple walked in and it's snowballed from there. Now we average around 12 on a Tuesday evening, but it's great fun, a very sociable evening."

What's most surprising is the age range.

"The youngest is 15 and the oldest is 80-plus, but we've had an influx of youngsters - around 15 under-20s since Christmas."

Fiona's mum Pat Taylor reckons it is because children are no longer taught at home.

"My mother taught me when I was four years old, and crocheting and sewing, but it doesn't happen any more," she says.

"We've taught most people from scratch," says Fiona, who plans to run knitting and quilting workshops for children in the summer holidays this year.

"Then there are UFOs - unfinished objects - where people grind to a halt and push it to the bottom of the bag.

"I'm amazed how much guilt people feel - you'd think they'd just throw it away."

You almost need to be an amateur psychologist to fathom the reasoning, but Fiona thinks she's pinned it down.

"It's a woman thing," she says. "Lots of people come in burdened down but can't bear to throw it away.

Not all of Tisbury realises how cutting edge The Fat Quarter's knitting circle is.

Pat, who is a regular, says, "People laugh when they walk past and see us knitting, but the benefits are endless - you can't eat when you knit."

The knitting group meets on Tuesdays 10.30am-12.30pm and 7pm-9pm at The Fat Quarter, The Square, Tisbury.