Comments

Ted, the Paisley Long Shawl is much too easy for you. Drop that idea. It’s awfully good in every other respect, and would be a great confidence-builder for a lace novice.

I was much struck by Hazel Carter’s “Legends of the Shetland Seas” (I knew of it, of course) on missalicefaye's blog yesterday. The colour she’s using is great, and the pattern looks fully exciting enough to keep one going. I’m going to have a lot of JaggerSpun Zephyr wool-silk left over when I finish my Long Shawl. I bought three two-ounce balls of it, and haven’t yet finished the first one (although I’m getting close).

Blackberry Ridge gives the size of the HC stole as smaller in both dimensions than the Long Shawl (72” by 18” as opposed to 77” by 29”), so if I wind up with half of the yarn left over, as now seems inevitable, I ought to have plenty. Ridiculous thought. Like you, I’ve got plenty of lace on the go. I’ve got to get back to my Princess before it passes the Point of No Return, WIP-wise. But maybe I should at least send for the HC pattern.

What do I like about the Sweater Wizard? Ease of use, I guess, and the fact that the last sweater I made from it, Fergus’s Second Wallaby, fits nicely. It all depends on the dreaded swatch, of course. I did buy an upgrade yesterday, Elaine. I am slightly surprised that it’s coming in the post instead of by download. The clincher was the fact that it now does circular knitting. I’ve still got that Fair Isle for Alexander on my must-start-in-Ought-Six list, and my record of knitting sweaters for him with any claim to fit at all, is pretty low.

The email of acknowledgement was signed “Leah Wulster”. Daughter or daughter-in-law? Does anybody know what happened to Carole, the original programmer? A great person. I met her briefly at Stitches East in ’02. I hope Leah is just helping out in the office.

Lee, your acquaintance with Constantine, Michigan is an absolutely astonishing coincidence. We lived in Detroit during the war years, and often went there to visit. (My parents were terrified that my father’s mother would want to move to Detroit to live with them.) I remember it as pure Normal Rockwell. I haven’t been there since Thanksgiving, 1950, when I went from college in Oberlin, O., to see my grandmother for what proved to be the last time. The Midwest was enveloped in a terrific snowstorm on the Friday, and I had an epic struggle to get away.

My sister was back there not long ago, bringing our father’s ashes. Her husband took some pictures for me, of which the hugely evocative one was that canon in the little park, totally forgotten until I saw it again. I used to climb on it.

I also signed up for Flickr yesterday, but have made only slight progress. It’s mostly geared to sharing photos with Family and Friends (and well suited to the purpose). I don’t see how to post more than one at a time, to a blog. And of course this morning I can’t think of anything at all to take a picture of.