Knitting

Above is a picture of Mungo, taken at Burnside last week, wearing his striped Koigu, which is a sort of reduction of the one I knit for my nephew Theo. Theo will be here for the Games at the end of August -- maybe he'll bring his version. Mungo's sleeves are a bit too long, confirming my long-held belief that children's sleeves must be shortened. I clearly didn't hold sufficiently to my own principles, here.  The other child visible is Mungo's brother Fergus. I think my next WIP will be a second Wallaby for him -- the first one, attentive readers may remember, was a great success at Christmas, but shrank, and is now worn by Thomas-the-Younger.

I cast off Thomas-the-Younger's striped Koigu last night, and started the tedious business of finishing it.

And I passed half-way with the Princess Shawl edging. I had a most encouraging email from Jean in the Antipodes, telling me that there is Life After the Edging. I had begun to wonder if after all this fuss about the difficulties of a 25-to-30 stitch edging, I was going to be able to handle 800+ stitches in what is clearly a very complicated lace design. She says it'll be OK.

Eyes

I had hoped to have my second cataract operation day before yesterday. When I hadn't heard anything by Wednesday of last week, I phoned the hospital and after an interval during which they got in touch with Dr Dhillon, was offered September 3. I think I could have had August 6, but we'll be in London then, insh'Allah -- that's the day between Cathy's book launch (Catherine Sampson: Out of Mind) and Thomas-the Younger's Christening. I must move a lot of books off the chest and retrieve the Calcutta Cup shawl (http://www.jeanmile.demon.co.uk/gown.htm) for use in the ceremony.

I still hope a deus will descend from a machina and offer August 13 or 20. Meanwhile, however, I will today phone my oculist and discuss getting a lens for my new plastic eye set into my glasses frame (leaving the old lens for the old, unreconstructed eye) so that I can drive. But then what will I do in September? Could I wear a patch over the then-new eye, and drive one-eyed?

Politics

The death of the unfortunate Brazilian (see yesterday's blog) is big news here, and I hope around the world. Maybe it will make the police a little less trigger-happy. His was the only death connected with the curious episode of last week's bombs. The whole business sounded so odd, all those bombs simultaneously not going off, that I half-wondered if it were some kind of joke. Apparently not, just incompetence.