Gansey

As you see, just about ready to divide for the armholes. I’m terribly pleased with that gusset. (Every day I go through the routine of uploading pictures directly into Blogger; every day I fail.)

I have decided not to go down a needle size – I’m already using 2.25mm, US 1’s, old-style British 13’s. That’s small, and I wonder a bit if a smaller needle would be strong enough. So combined knitting – wrapping the purl stitches the other way round – it will have to be.

I had previously decided to stop the tree pattern after the 6th one – I am currently embarked on no. 5 – and finish off with moss stitch, to avoid having a partial tree at the neckline. This time, I had the adventurous thought of continuing the 7-stitch broken rib panels right up to the top, on the moss stitch background. Perhaps even adding another one, in the middle, on top of the central tree.

We’ll see. The stitches are firm and manageable. If the venture proves disastrous, it will be easy to rip back.

Here in Edinburgh, I persist with the Paisley Long Shawl, exasperated by its ease. It starts in the middle, you will remember, and one then knits six repeats of the centre pattern before embarking on the more interesting-looking part. I’ve done 4 ½ repeats of the centre pattern, so relief is in sight. Wimbledon should last just long enough to see me through. The plan is to finish this half, and then resume the Princess for a while. She’s not boring.

Life

I ordered the Oriental Gardening Tool that I heard about from the Farmgirl recently, from Pinetree Garden Seeds yesterday. I had thought I would have to involve my sister (now back in CT) in this one, but Pinetree seem happy to supply the world. Interestingly, there is an enthusiastic letter about such an implement, with a picture, in the current issue of Kitchen Garden magazine, which I memorise monthly. But no source. And Googling failed to produce a British supplier.

Comments

Vivienne, thank you for re-reading “Rilla”. How intensely frustrating (that there is sock-knitting, and Kitchener, but no “Kitchener stitch”)! The conjunction of these elements, however, makes it sound as if we’re on the right track. I wrote to Bishop Rutt about this – ten years ago, it must be – and had a friendly and sympathetic letter back at once, but he was as puzzled as any of us.

Jean-in-Cornwall, is it possible then that your father was going to fly my husband to Singapore, if the Bomb hadn’t fallen on Hiroshima? (See yesterday). Small world dep’t.

Catherine, that is utterly fascinating, about elephants’ mammary glands. When you stop to think about it, positioning and arrangement and number varies a lot among mammals, with the Designer clearly having given some intelligent thought to maternal and infant convenience.