Wallaby Progress

The first sleeve is nearly finished -- I think I'll go for 8" as specified in the Wallaby booklet, after all. I won't break the yarn, though, so adjustment will still be possible until sleeves and body are joined. The Wallaby leaflet said to do all the increases at once after the ribbing, rather than taper the sleeve -- better for the shape of a child's arm, they claim. It looks a bit odd.

I've been thinking of some retail therapy to cheer myself up after the US presidential election. Googling on "Rowan 4-ply soft" produced a nice website here in Britain with a much better range of colours than is available in the local John Lewis. And my sister says she and her husband are thinking of going back to Mozambique, where they have been working for several years -- that might mean that they will be passing through London from Connecticut in February and could bring me some yarn (obviating customs duties). www.handknitting.com has got some very tempting Chinese cashmere in a wonderful range of colours -- each order is dyed-to-order, and it takes a whole week.

Last week's issue of the Economist magazine, in a series of articles about IT, quotes someone called Soetsu Yanagi (new to me) who published a book in 1972 called "The Unknown Craftsman": "Man is most free when his tools are proportionate to his needs." I'm not sure I could explain what that means, but it strikes a chord. A couple of knitting needles, a ball of yarn. Similarly, to grow my vegetables, not many tools are needed, each utterly proportionate to the job in hand.