A day’s rest, and we feel much better.

And I’m happy, so far, with my attempt at swallowtail-coat-knitting.

I find linen stitch a bit tough. Every other stitch is slipped, every row, with the yarn carried across the slipped stitch on the same side every time, producing a nice solid fabric with a distinctly woven look. I find it difficult, on the purl side, to know which stitch to purl and which to slip. (“Look at your knitting,” EZ said – one of the best pieces of advice she ever gave.)

Furthermore I was, as you see, increasing at a steeper angle on one side of the swallowtails than on the other. That presented problems of its own as new stitches were incorporated into the work. However, I’m reasonably satisfied with the result and ought to be able to divide for front and back today. Bears need deep armholes, I feel, and are rather short in the body to boot.

The whole will be edged with applied i-cord in a contrasting colour, as per the Poet’s Coat. Or maybe the same colour, at least for the swallowtails?

Comments

Tamar, Thomas and his girlfriend Anna were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after their accident – and I will pass on the thought that trouble could show up later. In the next cubicle they found a Cambridge friend of Thomas’s, now passing himself off as a doctor – he couldn’t possibly be old enough, in fact. He was just finishing his shift and drove them home, which made a pleasant end to a miserable evening, until they got here and Anna stepped on a mouse.

(We have occasionally had visits from mice in the past, inevitable I think in a tenement, but none until now in ’08. It must have been poisoned somewhere else and staggered in here to die.)

Oh, Omsafeeya, Smith! My husband and I spent the academic year 1950-51 there and have the happiest memories of it. When I went to Camp Stitches in ’00 I hitched a lift afterwards from Lake George to the mouth of the CT River with a fellow camper. We routed ourselves through Northampton for the sake of Webs. It was strange and wonderful to see it again. I hope your daughter has a grand time.

And, yes, thanks, I saw the W*neapple review. Knitting08816 had sent the link in an earlier comment. I gave up on British publication yesterday and ordered the American edition of the book through Amazon from some people who promise delivery in 3-5 days. The asterisk is because my sister thinks I should be circumspect while we consider our next move.