Angel, it would seem to me more than appropriate if a real angel with feathered wings should appear and make you some chicken soup – ordinary penicillin is useless against H1N1, but Jewish penicillin might do the trick. Seriously, take very good care of yourself, and don’t try to get back to work too soon.

The Faculty Meeting Knitter has heard of my struggles with progress bars, and posted a most useful summary of how to do it through Ravelry. What I want to know now is, how did she know I’d been talking about her?

(I think I’ve found the answer, in Google Webmaster Tools. But in searching for it, and trying to use it, I’ve wasted valuable time. The computer got all huffy and window-is-not-responding, and I had to reboot, wasting more time. My sister-in-law is coming to lunch today, not a great kerfuffle but it behoves me to sweep the kitchen floor, and I meant this to be quick.)

So, on to knitting.

That's a view of the back, of course, because that's all there is so far, with the sleeves folded up into something like their final position.

Mother Lode is wound and will be knit into the ASJ today. When that’s done, all the colours will have been deployed except for Franklin’s Panopticon. I took a moment yesterday – how’s this for time-wasting? – assigning percentages to the different stages of ASJ-knitting, mitre-in, mitre-out, neck edge, skirt (where you lengthen the jacket), sleeves, edging and finishing. They may not be the right percentages, but they’ll serve for progress-bar use. The Christmas Project is easy, because I’ll assume that the five balls of Cocoon will more or less get used up, and derive percentages from how much yarn has been consumed.

Kindle

Your observations are salutary, Dawn. Another problem for me is that I buy paperbacks, essentially, to read in the kitchen. It isn’t wise to have proper books in there, to read as I stir the soup. If I had a Kindle, I might well feel that it was too valuable for the kitchen as well, thus defeating the whole purpose. And does it need two hands? Maybe what I really want is a machine to read books to me, while I stir the soup or knit.

I must find out how James is getting on with his Kindle. His reason for buying was perfectly justifiable – that English-language books are slow and expensive to acquire, in China.

So I’ll watch and wait. The National Trust is advertising a cruise for next year which will call at both Fair Isle and Unst before going on to some interesting Scandinavian ports. I shall dream of taking my Kindle along when I go cruising (not a chance).