I got these pictures from Beijing yesterday, and shamelessly reproduce them here although they have nothing to do with the Games or with knitting.

A couple of days before the Games we had a splendid rainbow, the full 180 degrees -- for a while it was even partially double. The left-hand leg was right there, in the stubble field. The village is about half a mile away and you could clearly see it through the rainbow. Some of the children took off in a spontaneous run and, as you see, very nearly got that pot of gold. That's Alistair Miles, James's son, in the lead, I think, with his cousin Archie Drake of Thessaloniki behind. I include the lower picture, taken a moment or two previously, for the sake of the sheep, who clearly entertained some woolly thoughts of wealth themselves.

Janis

Janis W. commented yesterday that she was surprised to see that another reader of this recondite Blog, Janis F.,  shared her unusual name. It's odder than that -- there is a third: Mrs Yarn of http://www.yarning.blogspot.com/ is also named Janis. She occasionally drops in here, and I read her blog regularly. It's odd. I couldn't have more than 30 readers altogether.

Baby Surprise

Janis W. asked what is different about the double-breasted version (DB) which I knit. Not easy. I must have knit it at least half-a-dozen times, and it still comes out as a total -- well, surprise. The EZ version which comes most readily to hand is the one in the Knitting Workshop, which is particularly cryptic and EZ-like. That adds to the difficulty. (It may have been smoothed out for subsequent publications.)  But I'll try.

You cast on more stitches (202 as opposed to 160) for the DB version. For the first bit, when you are creating mitres by decreasing, the no of stitches in the centre portion of the DB is exactly twice that of the outside bits. The first row is k. 49, double decrease, k. 98, double decrease, k. 49. The EZ version starts k. 34, double decrease, k. 86, double decrease, k. 34.

EZ increases for fullness at the cuff after 5 decreases. DB omits that. EZ has 22 decreases in that first part, DB has 23. Both then start increasing at the mitre line. Both increase 10 across the back for fulness: DB does it immediately after the decreases are complete, EZ after six increases.

EZ puts in the neck shaping after another seven increases (13 in all). DB starts shaping the neck at 10 increases, and continues the shaping by decreasing one at the beginning of each of the next eight rows, while continuing to increase at the mitres. EZ doesn't slope the neck like that.

So far, more or less, so good. After the neck shaping, DB puts in a row of buttonholes, then continues increasing another 16 times, puts in another row of buttonholes, two more rows straight, cast off.

I don't understand the final part of the EZ original at all. You work 10 ridges on the centre section only. You pick up 10 sts from each side of that little flap, and meld them with the original side sections, and put in buttonholes after another three increases. There is only one set of buttonholes for EZ, of course. She says to cast off loosely in PURL on the right side. I'll remember that. DB just says, cast off loosely.

In the immortal Knitlist rubric, I hope this helps. I doubt if it will.