Back in Edinburgh

...after an energetic weekend in the country. The weather was kind, which cannot be guaranteed in Perthshire in November or indeed any other month, and we got a lot done outside. The deer have been down, but contented themselves with eating the tops off an unsuccessful brassica called "Romanesco" and left my successful kale. Kale has never yet made it past the winter solstice -- we shall see.

My dear vegetables are fenced against rabbits, and when I win the lottery I'll get deer fencing.

I didn't get quite as far as hoped with Mungo's Koigu sweater -- it still lacks ten or more rounds to the armpits. I brought it back here, and will resume as soon as I finish the Wallaby. I reached the neck ribbing on that last night. I think I'll do two inches or so, and double it inside.

If I'm slightly worried about the Wallaby being too small, I'm also worried about Mungo's Koigu being too large. And the fault, for once, has nothing to do with gauge. For Mungo, I measured a loose-fitting sweat shirt when he was here in the summer. For Fergus, I'm aiming at the dimensions given for "child, small" in Vicky Square's book, "Knitting Great Classics".

Well, as with the kale, we shall see.

I doubt if I'll have Mungo's sweater finished for Christmas, and I'm not going to obsess about it. It'll be finished a lot sooner than it otherwise would have been, now that it's goingt to be an Edinburgh WIP. The Debbie Bliss yarn and the Ribwarmer pattern will go to Kirkmichael next time.

We're going to London on Thursday for a strenuous week of art galleries -- all weeks in London are strenuous in that respect -- and, of course, of meeting the new, nameless baby. I should finish the current pair of travel socks while we're there (currently, turning the second heel) and perhaps start the next one.

Alexander knows a lot about things, and could theoretically help with the two major outstanding problems on this Blog -- how to insert an "email me" button and how to fix comments so that they're accessible to all. But he is also a very hands-on father, and he now has two sons on his hands, so I doubt if such mundane matters will be worthy of his attention.