Yesterday the CD turned up of the pictures my brother-in-law took at Thomas-the-Elder's 21st birthday party dinner in London a couple of weeks ago. Alas that he (Roger) won't be here for my husband's birthday -- three weeks from today. I've started out with a picture of me and my sister, for the sake of the shawl she's wearing. We may get on to something more cheerful in days to come.

I've done the second decrease round in the yoke of the Wallaby. It should be finished next week.

Yesterday, for the first time in rather a while, I made a bit of forward progress against the enveloping chaos. Some dust dusted, a couple of things ironed, a pile of paper dealt with -- that sort of thing. God rewarded my efforts with the Fall issue of Knitter's, when the mail finally turned up at lunchtime.

It has been a very long time since I had the slightest inclination to knit anything from Knitter's, but I couldn't possibly give up the subscription, as I have thought of doing with the new British magazine Knitting. I need to read Perri Klass, to begin with. (Helen, if you're there: she's a pediatrician with a practice in Boston. Yes, she's a doctor and she knits.) I'm intrigued by the title of the forthcoming book she has written with her mother: "Every Mother is a Daughter: the Neverending Quest for Success, Inner Peace, and a Really Clean Kitchen". (Joe, if you're there: note the position of the full stop. I utterly agree with you.)

And then there are the ads. Rachel was inspired by her aunt's appearance at Thomas-the-Elder's party in the shawl I knit (above) to ask for a jolly one like that. What about the Yarn Barn ad on page 46? I might scan it and send it to her.

And I like the look of those kettle-dyed Halcyon yarns on p. 125.

And so forth. The richness of American knitting resources dazzles, compared to what we have here. It's fun to look, at the very least.

Non-Knit

The Mytob virus really seems to have gone away. What a time it took!

June, I sympathise with the problem posed by a mother who reads one's Blog. I really don't think I could have done it, while my mother was alive.

Grace, if you're there: I saw your comment on the Curmudgeon's Blog, and would have liked to have a look at your Blog, but couldn't figure out how to do it.