Calcutta Cup Day

Italy beat France yesterday – that’s simply impossible. And Wales beat Ireland with a illegal try (=touchdown). Someone ran with the wrong ball. Ireland protested vigorously, but the referee hadn't seen the switch and allowed the try. That sort of thing, if not quite impossible, is pretty rare in international rugby. It would be a shame if today’s match didn’t offer some corresponding excitement.

We’ve got our tickets to London for Wednesday. If today’s rugby offers any scope for knitting, I’ll work on Joe’s socks. And I will press them forward determinedly while we’re down south. Alexander and Ketki are gathering us all under their wings on the shore of Loch Fyne for Easter (makes Lent worth while – it’s the only way to get there). More sock. The 21st birthday is in July -- I must keep that in mind.

Rachel and all her family will be there for Easter, and, I hope, Matt in his socks.

I stooged about a bit yesterday thinking about Madeleine Tosh yarns and the Effortless sweater. There seems to be very little Tosh yarn in Britain, and what there is doesn’t include the quality I want in any colours I’d be interested in.

I might as well buy the Effortless pattern and download it. I share your hesitation, Dawn, about all that fabric drooping down the front. But I have long been interested in this general sort of thing – at least since Helen C.K.S. knit the Anhinga. It’s everywhere at the moment – extra fabric dropping down cardigan fronts -- not that I have ever aspired to march in the vanguard of fashion. I asked after the Anhinga when Helen and I had lunch recently – I gather it’s not entirely satisfactory. The enthusiasm for the Effortless of knitter after knitter on Ravelry is a powerful spur.

I have half-promised myself that if Scotland win, I’ll press ahead, although in that case of course the Little Boys’ Victory Sweaters will shoot to the top of the queue. Rachel Miles of Beijing – Rachel-the-Younger – is going to CT this summer, I think. She could bring some Tosh yarn back, if I ordered it and had it sent to my sister. I don’t so much begrudge the UK government the Value-Added Tax they would charge if it arrived in the mail, as the Post Office the £8.50 they would demand for their trouble in collecting the VAT.

Anyway, the i-cord now goes almost all the way around the perifery of Round-the-Bend. That leaves the cuffs, which shouldn’t take long; the buttons; the loose ends (there aren’t many); and the blocking. I’m worried about the buttons – it’s just the sort of vital detail I am infinitely capable of messing up.

Those loops in yesterday’s picture have to be twisted into figures-of-eight and tacked down on one side; buttons sewn immovably into the tacked-down loops; and corresponding buttons located on the other side for the free loops to go around. It’ll look good if I can do it.

It is surprising how heavy the total object is. That’s garter stitch for you.