Decision

I think it might be safest to make this a separate entry, in case Blogger feels inclined to remove either of the pictures below. They tell their own story.

I had a really good time ripping out the Stillwater, and I'm absolutely sure I did the right thing. I've been laying out new colours this morning (more about that tomorrow) and looking through books for an allover pattern. I know my gauge, and so there's no excuse for not actually planning what I intend to do -- so that the pattern starts at a reasonable point, and, even more important, achieves a reasonable leaving-off point at the shoulder.

I have a feeling that once, in my old Fair Isle days, I had the idea of laying out all the colours (an odd number of them) in a circle, and proceeding as before with three rows of foreground and three rows of background, never changing both on the same row -- and simply taking the next colour in the circle each time, so that any particular colour would appear first as foreground, then as background. What I can't remember is whether I ever actually did this. If so, it was reasonably successful. I'll trawl back through my old photographs.

Meanwhile, while thinking and planning, I intend to cast on a sweater for my delicious grandson Fergus. It'll be plain, good mindless knitting for the weekend when our friends are here, but I want it to have a kangaroo pouch like the famous Wonderful Wallaby pattern. For general shaping, I'll use Elizabeth's Percentage System (Elizabeth Ziummermann) again. The yarn is some bright stuff I bought in the Liberty sale last summer. I thought it was red, but it appeared awfully orange when I took it out of the cupboard yesterday. Never mind -- it's cheerful.

I had a lovely message from Judith this morning -- she actually reads my Blog! My email address is jean@jeanmile.demon.co.uk. One day I'll get it a permanent position in the sidebar.