Goodness, how cheerful and long-ago that Tuesday-morning picture of my poor vegetables looks! I’ve lost most of the French beans, I fear, to the wind (some broken, some burned). So much for hardening-off. I will let everybody stay indoors for the time being. The weather continues pretty grim.

I’m about halfway through Repeat Number Eleven of the Princess’ top edging. I managed quite a few delicious stolen moments yesterday, so I think two repeats is about the best I can hope for as a day’s achievement. (Someone wrote to the Heirloom Knitting list yesterday about how she is knitting the Wedding Ring shawl but also keen to start the Princess so she takes time off to knit two edging repeats a day – that’ll be the initial edging strip, I presume – before resuming the WR. Her knitting time is limited, she says. I can only marvel.)

Cynthia and another knitting-list correspondent both found that they finished edging the first border and embarked on the centre at the mid-point of a repeat. That's convenient, for planning the final end. Will I? We’ll soon know.

When we got back from Strathardle on Monday I found a knitting magazine in the pile of mail behind the door, and eagerly read it over the sandwich lunch we normally have on such days. It said “Knitting” on the cover, so I assumed it was the British magazine of that name, and turned over the pages with increasing excitement – Knitting has really got its act together at last, thank goodness I continued my subscription…

At some point I turned back to the cover and found that it was “Designer (in small print) Knitting” – the new British name of VK. A pretty good issue, I thought, especially considering that it’s summer. I doubt if there’s anything I’ll knit, although the Botanica Medallion looks terrific fun; Kristin Ohmdahl’s duster is just what I want for the picnic breakfast on the beach scheduled as part of the wedding fun in July – only it’s crocheted, so no; and several other things amuse and tempt.

It’s nice to see Leigh Witchel writing, too. He was my first great internet love – me and a thousand others – back in the glory days of the Knitlist, in the ‘90’s. And I’m proud to say that when he and Franklin met, a while ago, they spoke – at least briefly – of me.