While I was in the very act of grumbling about provisional cast-ons yesterday, I began to remember the crochet one, where you crochet the loops directly onto the knitting needle. Not that I needed to remember, since several of you have kindly reminded me.

I learned it while knitting Candace Strick's “Harmony” pattern – which doesn’t seem to be on offer any more. It was my Games entry three years ago, in the “children’s cardigan” class, and was unplaced. My claque thought I had been hard done by, but I believe they were judging the pattern, which is brilliant, not the knitting, which was only so-so. (The model is Rachel Miles of Beijing, three years ago.)

Candace includes several useful techniques, including that one, in the instructions.

I’ve never tried the long-tail method that Ted and Julie mention in their comments yesterday. I think I’m going for that, when I come to cast on the second shoulder strap for Ketki’s gansey – but I’ll have a crochet hook to hand. Or could I do it with my fingers, as Mel suggests? Lots of possibilities, and a great incentive to get the first sleeve finished.

While we’re on comments: knititch, I had heard that men’s urine was preferred for soaking lichen in (before using it as a dye), but I didn’t know that alcoholic men were the preferred source. I’ll make a note in my natural dye book!

Ron, might it not be worth writing to Jamieson’s and asking them to reconsider their policy about shipping to Canada and Mexico, now that they’re alone in the field?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m very pleased with progress on the Little Boy sweater, and especially, at the moment, with the smooth way the yarn incorporated the sleeve stitches without a wrench in the colour sequence. (I left the yarn attached to the body, and knit the sleeves with a different skein.) We’ll see what effect the first big decrease round has.

While I was pursuing sheep around the field last week for the sake of the April calendar picture, I took this one. I was rather struck this morning, as I was deleting them one by one, at the way the uncertain sun on the hills behind makes stripes rather like the Little Boy Sweater.