Shan, you’re wonderful. I have completely fallen for the Poet's Coat [scroll down a bit] in Boho Baby Knits, and have ordered the book. The swallowtail coat is to be a joke-present for a family member, and s/he might be willing to pass it on to a small person whom it might fit. I may have more to say when the book arrives. Alexander thinks either of his sons would wear it, should it be passed on to one of them.

All went well yesterday. I have a new crown in my mouth, and lunch was successful. It consisted of Jamie Oliver’s “Tray-baked salmon with olives, green beans, anchovies and tomatoes” from “The Naked Chef”. A reliable recipe, but you never can tell.

And speaking of food – we’re going to London tomorrow, not without dread. We will be staying with Rachel and Ed in Streatham, although they themselves will be in Newcastle for the weekend visiting their daughter Hellie who is at university there. Meanwhile the other three children will be at home with us, and Friday is the Bard’s Birthday.

So I will take along a haggis.

Knitting (and political) Odds and Ends

Here’s the current state of Theo’s gansey. If Obama does get the nomination, I think I’ll add his initials in seed stitch just above the wrist ribbing on one of the sleeves. It seems a fairly remote possibility at the moment.

I had a personal email from John Kerry this morning, about swiftboating. I am finding Bill Clinton’s role in all of this more and more distasteful, he who wouldn’t lift a finger for Al Gore. If the framers of the 22nd amendment had thought for a moment that the husband or wife of a former president might stand for that office, I think it would have given them pause.

I read an old Knitter’s, selected at random, in my bath this morning, as often. I found I had Winter, 2003, in which I was rather struck by the Squares Squared jacket. It is offered twice, in yarns so indescribably awful that I must have completely overlooked it, the first time through.