I hope to be brisk this morning. I have an early appointment with the dentist.

Let’s attempt another illustration – the current state of this wretched shrug. I’m enjoying it less and less with each passing row. I finished a skein of yarn yesterday, though. That’s an achievement – and I got the ends in position to be part of a side seam without a great wastage of yarn. I never mastered spit-splicing, and I doubt if it would work with silk anyway.

Hurrah! A picture!

What should turn up on eBay yesterday but another VKB. It’s listed as VOGUE 1950,s KNITTING PATTERN BOOK and either they hadn’t told me, or I had missed it under that slightly askew title. No number is mentioned, and the corner of the cover where it should be, is missing.

I wrote to the seller, who replied very promptly that there was no number, just “2/6” which he assumed was the price. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders and wrote back explaining where to find the number of a VKB with missing or defective cover, like several of my own. I didn’t hear for a several hours. Meanwhile I established for sure that I didn’t have one with that cover, and put in a low bid.

But he finally replied, and it’s a number I don’t have. So I have now put in a killer bid. It'll all be over this afternoon.

I wondered yesterday whether I have ever knit anything from the VKB, since I was married. I knit several things in Glasgow in the mid 50’s when I was on my own. I suspect not, although several have been on the HALFPINT list for decades. I always pounced avidly on each new issue, and read and re-read it in my bath (hence the defective covers).

I wonder what could substitute for the 3-ply yarns which were ubiquitous then – fine and smooth. Shetland jumper weight is a bit too hefty, I think, and too fuzzy.

Now I had better turn my thoughts towards dentistry.