Sunday, March 04, 2012


Archie and I didn’t fare very well at the Farmer’s Market – I got some rolled shoulder of mutton for lunch today, but there was no fresh pork at the pork stall – all bacon and gammon; and no offal anywhere. We had a good time on Princes Street to follow.

Today’s outing is to the airport. He is anxious about checking-in, for some reason, so I will see him through that and then leave him to enjoy the airport by himself until the plane boards. Without anxiety on my part – he takes after his father, a man after my own heart who worries about being on time and likes to leave generous margins. Archie’s mother (my daughter Helen) takes after her father, and prefers last-minutes.

Ogden Nash has a poem on the subject, winding up with the line “each other is what they always marry.”

Meanwhile back at the ranch my husband’s blood sugar level went through the ceiling yesterday. I suspect him of forgetting to inject insulin in the morning, after Archie and I left. I usually stand over him. He insists that he did it. We’ll see how things go today. Again, I’ll have to leave before he has done it, but I don’t think he’ll forget again.

Not much knitting got done in the midst of all this, but the vest progressed somewhat. Jeanfromcornwall, thank you for your formula for picking up stitches around the neck (comment yesterday). Stella, the professional pattern-writer who did the Japanese shirt pattern for me, wrote with the same formula. I’ll go with it.

Annie, I know I ought to do it properly. You’d like the instructions in “Principles of Knitting” – make a ribbed swatch, measure it in repose, measure it stretched, take an average… I can’t bear it.

Another couple of sessions should take me to the shoulder.

3 comments:

  1. Jean, you know you 'ought' to do it the way that works best for you! I think my caution comes from the fact that I rarely knit to a pattern other than my own, and I often publish those designs for others to knit. I've discovered that writing even the simplest hat pattern becomes an exercise in second-guessing the million ways in which novice knitters might mess it up. It's one of the reasons I so love your blog ... you totally know what you're doing with needles and yarn!

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  2. Phyllis11:18 AM

    The "pick up three, skip one" ratio works for front band edgings, so I would use that on the v neck.
    Archie knows how to pick a school, taking its measure by its animal population is an excellent sign.

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  3. Have you considered an insulin pump for your husband? Control has been so much simpler since I got my pump and pumps themselves have made strides forward in the last 5-7 years. My mother was dubious when I first got mine, then she got one herself (and she got her 50-year medal last year).

    I'm JPatience on Ravelry if you want to discuss. I'll just say, would a bolus history have come in handy to settle the argument yesterday?

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