Tamar, I will never doubt you again. This, this morning, from Kate Davies herself:

“I noticed this morning there had been some discussion about the identity of the various bits of Mrs Hunters knitting at the KCG on your blog. The guild has several pieces which are identified as being knitted by Mrs Hunter - one is the tree of life hap which you knitted, and another has an old shell / feather and fan border.  Its this second hap that has the sacrilegiously stapled label - which is of course part of its history as it suggests how these textiles' Shetland 'authenticity' clearly carried value for Patons' and their customers.  Both these haps are identified as being knitted by "Mrs Hunter" and were acquired by Norbury around the same time, and there are a few more as well - which were similarly used by him as the basis of his baby shawl patterns. 

I obviously didn't make it at all clear on the blog post that I was looking at several haps - effectively a whole Mrs Hunter collection! All these pieces are beautifully knitted and are to my eye the obvious work of an Unst knitter of considerable skill and experience.”

So that's that!

Non-knit

Marilyn, you’re right! A daily walk! The circuit of Drummond Place Gardens is about ¼ mile. (Why do I think I know that?) I did two circuits yesterday, and will try to keep it up. Devoted readers will remember that I used to do four before breakfast, at a very fast walk/slow jog. No longer.

However, probably not today. A Television Man is coming at some point between 12 and 4 – and I had to use the hour after the carer arrived at 11 for some essential local shopping. Many days are like this one.

I also did some doorstep gardening yesterday – got my beans in.

We have pretty well decided that our television crisis is Richard Branson’s fault (= a defect somewhere in our Virgin cable system). Our kind and energetic friend battled through the system yesterday and actually spoke to an actual human being on a telephone, and booked the engineer mentioned above.

My sister has posted some engaging pictures on Facebook of her new apartment in DC. After what must be about 30 years in CT, she and her husband have returned to DC and moved into a retirement community. I envy her, for having gotten rid of all the stuff. It has been a tough, uphill job, I know, but now it’s done and there they are in their nice apartment with nice rugs and nice pictures on the walls. Who needs stuff, in these days of iPads? Except, of course, for one’s stash.

Knitting, again

Not much knitting has been done of late, but I continue very pleased with the Neap Tide shawl:

 Garter stitch is notoriously difficult, and I am a notoriously clumsy knitter, but the overall effect is good, I think, and blocking will improve the few glitches, at least somewhat. Old Maiden Aunt’s beautiful yarn (50-50 merino and silk) is rather gently twisted. Split stitches are a danger – the one mistake that can’t be fudged, according to EZ.

At present I have done about 72cm, and I think you will agree that it needs the full metre if one is to be able to flip it with insouciance about the shoulders. The moral is, when substituting yarns, to pay a lot of attention to the ratio between weight and yardage, as given on every ball band.