Medical/Knitting

I got my cider, chilled, despite having forgotton to pack an opener. Very welcome it was.

It was a somewhat tougher ordeal than the first one -- the cataract didn't want to come away, and it took rather a while. I amused myself during the ordeal, under local anaesthetic, by reciting to myself in my head the pattern for the Princess Shawl edging, using the Shetland terms "take" and "cast" for "k2tog" and "yo", as given by Gladys Amedro in her book "Shetland Lace". Thus, the first row was, one, two, three, four, five, take, cast, one, two, three, four, five, take, cast, take, cast, one, take, cast, take, take, cast, take, cast, take, one, two. And so forth through the other 19 rows -- they get more complicated than that, and there are no two alike.

The dr congratulated me afterwards on my immobility, several times, but that is probably just what expensive consultants say to old ladies with chequebooks.

The new Baby Surprise, pictured, was the perfect hospital knitting I hoped it would be. I cast on on Saturday morning, and got quite a lot done that afternoon as there was an unexpected wait for the operating theatre which was being blocked by orthopedics. It is a small hospital and Dr Dhillon had explained to me that surgeons jockey for operating room time like airplanes for take-off slots. Then there was the expected waiting time yesterday morning.

I centered the double-decreases this time by inserting the right-hand needle into the next two stitches as if to knit them together, slipping them thus to the right-hand needle, knitting one, and passing the slipped stitches over. (The first stitch one's needle enters, for any decrease, comes out on top.) It looks OK, but doesn't make much difference, since everything is garter stitch. For the next Baby Surprise, I might try purling the centre stitch on the wrong-side rows. This could look especially nice (or not) in the section I have now started, where I am increasing back up along the mitre line.

The world now appears with startling clarity. I am reminded of a New Yorker cartoon, many decades ago. Husband and wife in front of the window of a television shop, she looking longingly, he saying, "The whole goddam world is in Living Colour." So it is!

Tomorrow we'll revert to the Strathardle Highland Gathering. Rachel promises to put my brother-in-law's CD-Rom of pictures in the post today.