Eyes

I am to have the first cataract done on Saturday -- great news. I had given up hope that it could be so soon, not having heard anything from Dr Dhillon on Monday. The following two Saturdays are less convenient, as various friends will be coming and going, and on July 2 anyway Edinburgh will be in chaos for the G8. And July 16 is so far away I might almost have stayed with the NHS. Anyway, Saturday it is.

Princess Shawl

Sharon was as good as her word -- a ball of her gossamer wool arrived in yesterday's post. I cast on at once, and made good progress. I'm not quite sure I enjoy the experience as much as I did with the other yarn. This stuff is like knitting air. But the great thing is, I can do it.

EZ says in one of her books that Shetland cobweb yarn is "unknittable with".  An intolerant remark, I've always thought -- and lady, you ain't seen nuffin.

I've actually gone down a needle size, to 2mm. (Sharon specifies 2.25; I had been using 2.5 with the other yarn.) I have a nifty 2mm circular which I bought in Beijing two years ago -- shiny metal like an Addi Turbo, on which the stitches show up well, and nice and sharp. It'll be funny if I now wind up with a shawl smaller than Sharon's prototype. The trouble is, this needle is too short to take on the entire shawl, so I've only got six or eight months (while I knit the border) to find something as good, but longer.

Like last time, I'll knit three repeats or so and then dress it and we can have a look.

Another striped Koigu

And I also cast on for Thomas-the-Youynger's striped Koigu, having at last dispatched the disliked tammy to FO-land.  It's the perfect antidote to gossamer knitting, the perfect Wimbledon project, and ought to be good for post-cataract knitting, too, if eyesight should be wonky for a while.