Quiet morning.

We had a nice time with Jenny and Christopher yesterday, leaving me, as always these days when there is the slightest deviation from our accustomed routines, prostrate with exhaustion. I made them "Roasted Vegetable Cous-cous Salad with Harissa-style Dressing" from Delia Smith's book "Summer Collection". I had never tried it before but it looked like Jenny's sort of dish, and worked very well.

Which reminds me -- I have added http://www.thefoodwhore.com/ to my list of blogs-to-read.

Knitting

I went back to Mary Morrison's list of her favourite designers. "Wilma Malcolmson" is the name that is completely unfamiliar to me -- I will have to track it down, since Mary Morrison and I agree on so much else. But I have also realised the name that is missing: Kaffe. I think I have knit more of his patterns than any other designer's. When I first saw "Glorious Knitting" I thought I couldn't do it -- I loved two-colour Fair Isle knitting (still do), and thought that intarsia was beyond me.

But in those early days, Rowan used to sell a lot of his patterns as kits and presumably they didn't do very well, because for three or four glorious years they used to turn up abundantly in the end-of-year sales. I couldn't resist. I started that way with the "Crosspatch" vest from Glorious Knitting, and went on, and on... It's a different sort of experience, more like embroidery. I do it Kaffe's way, by cutting off yard-long lengths of yarn and leaving them hanging. And I greatly prefer the patterns that are geometric in one way or another. I attempted his "Ancient" pattern once, which has cloud-like shapes, and gave it up after eight rows. (Ripped the eight rows out, and used the yarns in the kit to knit his "Afghan" pattern instead.)

I still have two of his things in stash -- a big jacket from the California book, and the buttoned vest based on a mosaic floor from (I think) Ravenna. Hope to get to them soon.

There above you see the current state of Thomas-the-Younger's striped Koigu. I should finish that sleeve and attach it this evening. It looks short, but that's because I knit children's sleeves short. A bit of naked forearm never did anyone any harm, but a too-long sleeve is a terrible nuisance for a child. I think designers tend to over-estimate the length of children's arms: how many times have you seen an artlessly-rolled-up sleeve in a pattern picture?

I'm working on repeat #26 of the Princess Shawl edging. That's a big one, because when it's finished, the number left to-be-done will be counted in the 50's (no longer 60's, or 70's, or 80's).