We had some blessed rain this morning. Scotland often feels sorry for itself, with some justification, when England basks in summer sun and we have nothing but cloud and midges. But England – and indeed much of Europe – sounds too hot for comfort just now whereas things are very pleasant here. A dry spring has meant fewer midges than usual, too. Today’s rain has gone and the sun is now shining, gently.

 

Helen came and we got all the way around the garden with my new walking machine.

 

I’ve finished the Lilias Day except for blocking. I have seen tidier underarm grafting in my day, but in general I am very pleased with it. Now I’ve got to face back up to those legwarmers. The secret is to keep at it.

 

I had a message this morning from Misa Hay about the fourth volume of Shetland Wool Adventures, which will be with us soon. It was she who organised and led the woolly trip to Shetland which I went on relatively recently. I have been tempted by previous issues of SWA but have abstained: too expensive. This one I think I’ll go for. Here's the link. The patterns look good and the text looks interesting.

 

Wordle: My two starter words yielded only one letter, but that one green. I used a Jean-word in line three, which yielded another green and a brown. I set myself to find a possible word for line four – and it was right! Alexander also got four, five for Mark, six for Ketki. So I wasn’t the class dunce today!

 

Michaela found the first legwarmer, a great relief. And it was “right around here somewhere” – under another piece of knitting which I wouldn’t have lifted for a long time, had I been searching on my own.

 

Much of today has been devoted to thinking about my blasted hip. Helen rang the surgery early (no small achievement) and booked a telephone conversation with our doctor. I think I see things slightly more clearly. I’ll go on like this, at least for the summer, working hard on my exercises. I think the dr doesn’t think that I’m a desperately good candidate for surgery. He also thinks that increasing discomfort/pain may made up my mind for me.

 

I didn’t get out for a walk because I was waiting for the doctor’s call until a few minutes before Michaela left.

 

Not much knitting. I have finished off the neckband of the Lilias Day and bound off. I’ll finish it tomorrow, and then I’ll probably block it, moved by your comments. KD gives careful instructions, and for one who has blocked large pieces of Shetland lace, the procedure holds no fears.

 

Wordle: Ketki and I needed five, Mark and Alexander only four. I will have to tighten up my technique again. I used Jean-words in both lines three and four. They were both very useful, but if I’m ever to score better than five I’ll have to start using actual possible answers in those rows.

 

Progress on various fronts. A good day.

 Here is my Lilias Day:

 It lacks but a couple of rounds of twisted rib at the neck, the bind-off, and a bit of finishing including underarm Kitchener-ing. I’ve run out of the basic colour and must therefore wind the last skein, all 100 grams of it. That’ll take a while. Will I then block it? That remains to be seen. I am terribly pleased to have finished a grown-up, serious project. It’s been a long time since that happened, I feel. I started this one in late May, just in time to take to Cramond with me for those two weeks I spent in care. That was late May, so the whole thing has taken less than two months. That’s pretty good, too.

 

The next job, not attractive, is to finish the Calcutta Cup legwarmers. There’s not far to go. It’s not much fun, doing Fair Isle over so small a circumference. The problem here, however, is that I don’t know where the finished first one is. A general sense of it’s-around-here-somewhere has gradually given way to anxiety. I’ll put Michaela onto it tomorrow. She’s not an absolutely brilliant finder like Daniela, but she’s pretty good.

 

The project after that will probably be an attempt to confect some sort of Evendoon for Helen, replacing the one her washing machine ate, using the abundant Schiehallion left-overs I seem to have in stash. If some of them have to be augmented, I think that can be done: there are enough colours that the same-coloured stripes aren’t near each other. As long as one doesn’t introduce a new dye lot in mid-stripe, it shouldn’t be obvious (or even detectable).

 

Wordle: five again for me. Three for Ketki, four for Alexander, five for Mark. Alexander and I suffered from the familiar Wordle problem: we had the word except for the last letter;  there was more than one possibility; we guessed wrong.

 

Helen came this morning, and I pushed my new machine perhaps a third of the way around the garden: further than I have taken it before.

 

I am grateful for your kind messages yesterday. I feared I had jinxed myself forever by venturing into politics.

 

Michaela and I got over to the garden this morning with my new walking machine. She observed that animals in this country are very well educated. C. came to see me. She has been staying away lately after being exposed to Covid but has decided that she has now had enough days of testing clear. She is not long back from a week’s holiday in Italy, very much enjoyed. It was in the north – Lake Garda – which is not where my heart lies.

Her daughter Christina, son-in-law Manaba, grandson Hamish are expecting kittens any day now. I am promised a visit.

 

Wordle: three for both Alexander and Ketki, four for Mark, five for me. Nothing from Thomas again – perhaps he’s losing interest. It was one of those dreadful days when my starter words yielded four browns and I was stuck with anagram-solving. I could not think of a qualifying word – lines three and four were both Jean-words, which couldn’t have been right. However, as often, they yielded useful information, including a green tile for the missing fifth letter.

 

Knitting: again, not much. I’ve done the final decrease round, however, and was glad to discover that my needle is not too long – it will see me through the final four rounds of colour knitting. Then I will have to go back to my basic needle as far as gauge is concerned, but a shorter one than I was using before (or dps, of course). I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

The laptop computer was slower even than usual to boot this evening, although it seems to have pulled itself together in the end. It must be getting on for ten years old. I really begin to wonder if…

 

Scotland has at last been given a share of the tee-shirt weather which has enveloped the rest of the island for the last fortnight. Michaela and I got out for a walk this morning, but didn’t reach the garden. My leg – the one attached to the faulty hip – wasn’t strong enough. Perhaps it was too soon after my morning exercises. Helen is overwhelmed with house-guests and didn’t come.

 

Nor did I get as much knitting done as I would have liked. Still, I did some, and the end is nigh.

 

Wordle: another toughie. I got it in six. Alexander and Ketki both needed five. Four for Mark.

 

I am not paying much attention to the all-consuming question in British politics, namely: who is to be our next prime minister? My choices would be Michael Gove, who doesn’t seem to be standing; or Rory Stewart, who isn’t even in Parliament since the last election. But I am pleased at the diversity of sexes and races among the actual candidates, and pleased that GB has so far abstained from commenting on the candidates from that point of view, and has also so far shown no inclination towards the American obsession with firstness. (For instance: Condoleeza Rice was the first black woman to be Secretary of State. So what? She wasn’t the first black in the post, nor the first woman, yet she was celebrated for that irrelevant reason. It seems to me to detract something from her merit to speak of her in those terms.) (Similarly Biden’s announcement in advance that he was going to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court. It sounds as if he found a thoroughly worthy candidate, but I disapprove of finding the categories first.)

 

Oh, dear, will I be shot down in flames?

 

It was a worthy final. Djokovic beat the disagreeable Greek but the display of friendliness and good sportsmanship at the end quite made up for negative sentiments one might have harboured towards either. 50 weeks to wait until it happens again. 

 

And knitting progressed well. I have wound and attached the final colour to the Lilias Day yoke, and should finish the coloured bit, at least, in the next couple of days – barring disaster.

 

Rachel has sent some lovely pictures of her seven granddaughters – who are also my seven great-granddaughters. I’ll sort through them and show you a couple soon.

 

Four for Wordle today. Alexander and Ketki both needed five; only three for Mark (and Rachel). I’ve forgotten how Thomas fared. I had four browns again, after my starter words, and this time I gave up and put a Jean-word on line three, omitting one of the brown letters and including a consonant I had already eliminated. As often, that proved a useful move: the three browns I had included all turned green.

 

A good day – although, without tennis, it did stretch out a bit. Michaela and I got across to the garden this morning with my new walking machine. That was a real achievement. I was pleased to discover, in the conversation as we walked along, that she and her husband were keenly supporting the Romanian girl tennis player, eliminated in the quarter finals. I would have followed her too, had she progressed further, for Michaela’s and Daniela’s sake.

 

Knitting has progressed well. There are 11 or 12 rounds of the yoke remaining. The new, slightly larger, needle does help quite a bit, but the experience still isn’t quite the happy one I remember. I think the problem – that word is too heavy. I think the reason is DK yarn, as contrasted with jumper weight.

 

Wordle: we have a real Wordle special today. My two starter words gave me four brown tiles: effectively, an anagram. I’m no good at anagrams, but I stuck gamely to the principal enunciated yesterday and finally found a qualifying word. My four brown tiles were transformed into four greens – but the fifth letter was wrong. I thought of another possible letter – also wrong. And another – wrong again. I was running out of plausible letters to try by this time, but found one that at least made a pronounceable word and tried that on the sixth line. And it was right.

 

Alexander and Ketki both got stuck in the same mud, but Alexander guessed right on his third guess and Ketki was able to start guessing on the second line (not third, like me and Alexander): so both of them scored five. Mark’s starter gave him green tiles at the end of the word where the difficulty was, so he was able to score three. We haven’t heard from Thomas yet.

 

Hbqueen (comment yesterday): I use TRAIN and HOUSE for starters. I think maybe I got them from you. I use HOUSE instead of MOUSE because, if either T or S turn out to be in the target word, it will be useful from the beginning to know if either might be followed by H.

 I was happy with only one semi-final today, in which Djokovic beat the handsome Englishman. The temperamental Greek got a walkover because of the absent Nadal, and will be with us for the final on Sunday. In the olden days they played both the men’s and the women’s final on the same day. Not now: the women’s final is tomorrow, and I can skip it.

 

The pattern of the Lilias Day yoke is now extremely simple and I got quite a bit of knitting done during the change-of-ends. The penultimate colour has been wound and attached. And I found a one-size-larger needle – just the right length, too – which gives me the ease I was hoping for.

 Wordle: it was a good day on that front, as well. I got it in three. So did Alexander's friend Mark. The others (and Queer Joe, who often posts his results to Facebook) did worse. My two starter words gave me two greens and a brown – all vowels. I struggled valiantly to find a word that used them all and didn’t use any of the already-eliminated consonants. And when I finally found one, it was the answer.

 Helen came, and we walked out with my new machine. I had ambitions to get across to the garden, but didn’t feel strong enough when it came to the point. However, we walked up and down a bit and it was grand to be out. 

 

 

I got out today with my new outdoor walker. It was a wonderful summer’s day, with just that thread of Scottish cool to make it perfect. The walker works wonderfully, and I look forward to extending my range – there wasn’t time for much today.

 

Knitting continues to move forward. I am getting near the end of the fourth yoke colour, of six. The next decrease round is also approaching. I think when I have done it, and changed colours, I’ll look for a needle half a mm bigger. The knitting is a bit stiff – not enough to spoil the result, but I wonder if stiffness is why I don’t quite feel I am achieving the blissful colour knitting experience of yore. Maybe that only happens with  Shetland jumper weight.

 

Today was women’s semi-final day at Wimbledon. I gave myself the day off, since I am not interested in the fates of any of the four women involved. Tomorrow is men’s semi-final day so if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know why. Nadal isn’t feeling very well. If he is going to withdraw, it’s a pity he didn’t do it in the fifth set yesterday, rather than depriving us of a semi-final. The two players who aren’t either Nadal or Djokovic are a) a pleasant-looking Englishmen, designer stubble and all and b) a villainous Greek who seems however to be an Australian. I've forgotten who's playing whom but it'll be entertaining either way, and then the Nadal-Djokovic final should be riveting -- if Nadal is there.

 

British politics have become remarkably interesting but I don’t think I have anything to contribute to the conversation.

 

I was the class dunce in Wordle again today: I scored five, Ketki had four, Thomas and Alexander and Rachel in London, three each. I am trying to discipline myself to make every entry, after my two starter words, a possible answer: that is, a word which makes use of all the information already gathered. It’s often remarkably difficult. Today, for example, my starters gave me two green tiles, both of them vowels. It was a titanic struggle to think of any word that would fit, using only letters that hadn’t yet been eliminated. And it wasn’t right, and neither was my fourth line.

 

Sorry about that. Blame Wimbledon. I’ve just watched Nadal win a five-set thriller. Yesterday Djokovic did the same. That sort of thing cuts badly into knitting-time and blogging-time.

 

Knitting, however, moves forward well. I’ve found the needle gauge and moved the stitches onto a slightly shorter needle. That helps a bit. Since the decrease round, the pattern has become so simple as to be almost difficult.

 

Wordle: I failed again yesterday. Got it in five today. The interesting thing about today’s word is that Alexander, Ketki, Thomas and I all got it without a single brown tile. Mark spoiled the group symmetry a bit by having two.

 

Helen is safely back for the moment. She had a good, hard-working time, I think, teaching mosaic-making on Mt Pelion. There were three couples from Texas in her class, Texan as all get out, enthusiastic Trump supporters. She found them delightful. Life is full of similar surprises. Lisa, she was delighted with the postcard, and more than a bit envious that you managed to see the Unswept Floor in the Vatican museum. It is a favourite of hers; she has made an adaptation of it. But she has never managed to see the original.

 

A physiotherapist brought me an outdoor walker today. I hope to take it for a spin tomorrow. Current thinking on the hip is that I will press forward enthusiastically with exercising, and wait for my NHS referral to orthopaedics to come up with an appointment. I would probably have to wait quite a while for an actual hip operation, but the hope is that orthopaedic advice may come fairly soon.

 

It’s frustrating not getting out in this perfectly reasonable weather, but otherwise all is well. I’ve done the first decrease round in the yoke of the Lilias Day, and most of the next round. I can’t find my needle gauge – in my experience, it’s the Knitting Accessory Most Likely Not to Be There When Wanted – and so, although I sit there festooned with circular needles, I hesitate to go down a size length-wise.

 

Mary Lou, I was sorry to hear about your lost ball of yarn, and interested to hear about the striped linen tee-shirt. (Comment, Saturday) I love stripes. I have been rather impressed lately with the quantity of Kate Davies’ Schiehallion there seems to be in my stash cupboard. And Lilias Day will contribute more – the kit I bought contains ordinary 50-gram skeins for each of the yoke colours, far more than needed. Maybe I could make up an Evendoon of my own, to replace the one Helen put in the washing machine. I suspect a winning stripe design is not as easy as it looks. I hope your tee-shirt is going into your Ravelry shop in due course.

 

Wordle: I failed again. It is one of those Wordle specials – I had four greens, middle square empty, but there were too many possibilities and I chose the wrong ones.  Ketki failed too – that never happens -- with a very similar scenario except that in her case it was the second square that was empty. What a versatile word!

 

My NHS physiotherapist rang up. She is going to come around on Wednesday to deliver the outdoor walking frame, with seat for resting on and container for my sausages. I told her I would be grateful for some conversation about the future. The more I hear about arthritis, the odder it seems to choose hip replacement when I’m not in much pain. I can’t walk because I can’t trust the leg to support me, but maybe that’s a different matter. We’ll talk about it when she comes on Wednesday.

 

Little to report. Archie came to see me. We don’t even attempt walking these days. I did my exercises vigorously, however. Helen will be back in Edinburgh late tomorrow, air transport permitting; C. on Tuesday.

 

I also knit vigorously. I’ve set myself to get around the yoke of the Lilias Day three times daily – it’s a long way around. I’ve now done 18 rounds, and the significance of that is that round 20 is the first decrease round, and decreases are severe – four stitches lost in every pattern repeat, and I think there are 14 repeats in all. So that will be exciting and maybe I can do more than three circuits thereafter.

 

Wordle: I struggled, as usual. Got it in five. Everybody else in my little group did better, but at least I didn’t fail.

 

I hope you Americans are all enjoying your holiday weekend and eating plenty of corn on the cob. Goodness, I do miss that.

 

Not much to report, but I’m inching forward with the knitting. There’s a Wimbledon match on this evening which should do nicely for background noise as I get once more around that yoke: that will finish the second colour, and send me to bed with the feeling of something accomplished. The next colour includes the first decrease round for the yoke, although not at once. If I keep at it, I’ll get there.

 

I had a nice time talking to my sister on Zoom. She thinks it very likely that industrious physiotherapy could restore my hip to a degree of usefulness which would render unnecessary the expense, pain, and recuperation time required by surgery. Let alone, the question of who is going to look after the cats. Where am I to turn?

 

Wordle: I failed again today. That happens too often. I need to lift my game. Mary Lou, when I write about Wordle (as I did just then) I am referring to the current one. Since I post in the early evening, that means even British-based readers still have time to do it. East Coast American readers are only now having lunch, and anyone further west has even more time to get around to Wordle-doing. I hope I have never said anything to provide a clue.

 

I feel that my inability to walk is getting in the way of having anything to say to you, but that’s probably not true. I will visit my sister by zoom tomorrow and we will no doubt talk about hips. Archie is coming on Sunday. And my support team will begin to reappear next week – Helen from Greece, C. from Italy, air transport allowing. 

 

I knit slowly but steadily on. The first round of yoke decreases appears in the colour section after the one I am doing – a great incentive.

 

If I am going to impoverish myself and risk my life under the surgeon’s knife, I will need some easy knitting, as the body and sleeves of Lilias Day proved splendidly to be in my care home. Helen used to have a colourful Evendoon (Kate Davies again) until it committed suicide in a washing machine. She regretted its passing – maybe she’d like another.

 

Wordle: an American-ate word again today. My third line was a complete anagram – that is, I had all five letters, but in the wrong order. I don’t remember that that has ever happened to me before. I got it on the next line. Everybody else in my group (and also Rachel in London) scored four as well. We haven’t heard from Mark yet. I noticed that Thomas also had a complete anagram, a completely different word from mine, and I think I know what it was but I can’t congratulate him on it until we hear from Mark.

 

Tennis continues entertaining. Mostly today I have been watching Djokovic shredding a fellow-Serb. He did it so briskly that the late match should afford me some watching before my bedtime. I didn't get to see any of Coco Gauff's match yesterday evening because it was too late for me, but I'm happy to report that she won.

 

Thank you for all your comments about my hip. There’s much truth in what you say, and I think I have ¾’s decided to go with your advice and pay for an operation in order to get it done quickly. Helen will be back early next week. I won’t take any action until I have her here. I will talk to my sister by zoom at the weekend. She is anxious to press a doctor (GP or surgeon) to establish for sure (as much as possible) that nothing can be done to get me moving again without surgery. Oh, dear. Don’t get old if you can avoid it.

 

I’ve had a pleasant day’s Wimbledon, with Coco Gauff still to come this evening.

 

I forgot to tell you that I failed at Wordle yesterday. I’ve forgotten the word. It was off the beaten track, but still in my working vocabulary. I thought I was going to fail again today, but squeaked through in six. Thomas Miles needed six as well, and he’s clever.

 

And the knitting moves slowly forward. I’ve added the second colour. Slowly, but things definitely go better when I don’t have to spend half or more of each day’s knitting time helping Paradox with her bit. And the longer needle helps, too. It’s a pity that tennis doesn’t lend itself to colour knitting.

(image copied from Kate Davies' website)

Lisa, thank you for the beautiful postcard which I will give to Helen to keep once she is safely back. (It’s from Rome, with an astonishing mosaic.)

 

 

Wimbledon, knitting, sore hip. I’ll start with the hip.

 

Last week it was x-rayed, you’ll remember, and then I had to make an appt to talk to a doctor by telephone. That day was today, and our own doctor rang up (not just a stray body from the practice). He said the hip is badly arthritic, no surprise, and recommended surgery. It won’t get better by itself, he said. We considered the possibility of going private, but his guess at what that might cost was really rather too much for comfort, so he has put me forward for an NHS hip which might, these days, mean waiting quite a while. My sister doesn’t think I’m a very good project for surgery anyway.

 

But it’s dreadful to think of hobbling on like this forever. I still enjoy cooking; getting around the kitchen with a zimmer frame is very slow and very awkward. I made some panzanella for my lunch today. It was delicious, but it took hours.

 

So that’s something to think about.

 

The knitting has inched forward. It doesn’t flow over the fingers like colour patterns of old. I wondered if I’d be happier with a longer needle, at least until the next set of decreases, so I’m trying that. EZ says somewhere I think that 24” long is all you’ll ever need, and that’s what I was using, but it was a tight fit.

 

Wimbledon continues very satisfying. The final Centre Court match today will be Andy Murray against a man named Isner. In 2018, I think it must have been, Rachel won the chance to buy Centre Court tickets for Men’s Semi-final day. I went down to join her in the enjoyment of them. Isner was one of the players in the first match. Nadal, I remember, was scheduled for the second match. But the first one turned out to be an epic, history-making bore. It went to five sets, and in those days there was no tie-break in fifth sets. It went on to a score of something like 26-24. They’ve changed the rules as a result: nowadays we have tie-breaks in the fifth set. But Rachel and I are unlikely ever to forgive Mr Isner and Whoever-It-Was.

 

Sorry about yesterday – I got swept up in Wimbledon, and then the afternoon was gone and I had had no nap. I have been more abstemious today.

 

There has been a major cat-induced glitch in the knitting. It has been recovered, but it took a while. I will never leave the room again without pitting it beyond paw-reach. It’s hard to recover colour knitting because, once everybody is back on the needle, you still have to consider the colour of every stitch – is it the colour it's supposed to be, or has it slipped back a row or two? In this case the balls themselves were tangled as well. So, no progress, but I’m back in the saddle.

 

Wordle: I am pressing ahead with my resolve only to enter words that might be right. I was rewarded with a three yesterday, with which I beat both Thomas and Alexander. I didn’t like the word, and now can’t remember what it was. Ketki also did it in three. Today Alexander and Ketki and I each got five, and their son Thomas had four. Friend Mark has mysteriously disappeared.

 

Comments: Beth, I forgot which PD James you recommended and have wound up with Shroud for a Nightingale. I will have to go on to the Private Patient.

 

Tamar, thank you for the meanings of WIELD. I love such words, my particular favourite being CLEAVE which has two opposite meanings.

 

I got the London Library magazine yesterday. I am a life member. The magazine has Antonia Fraser on the cover which made me wonder, Goodness gracious, am I really that old? (We are much of an age.) I think perhaps, after a bit more PD James, I will read her – Fraser’s – biography of Mary Queen of Scots. It’s very well recommended.

 

Archie and his youngest brother Fergus came to see me today. No walking, alas, but they were here when the Waitrose order arrived and got it stashed, under my supervision.

 

I heard from Rachel, She has just had a birthday, as I told you. She says her son Thomas gave her a Scotland rugby shirt, signed by all the team. Now she will have to figure out how to get it framed.

 

I have knit on, but not very far. Have I lost my mojo, when it comes to knitting colour? Or is it that DK is intrinsically less fun than Shetland jumper weight? I hope I’ll speed up, as life goes on. And of course it will eventually get smaller and quicker. My favourite blogger, Queer Joe, has been writing recently about the delights of starting at the widest point, where feasible, and knitting ever faster and faster as you near the end.

 

Wordle: four, today. Both of my guesses – lines three and four – were possible answers, incorporating all four of the brown tiles I had accumulated, each in a new position, and using, for the fifth letter, one I hadn’t already eliminated. It sounds obvious, but I don’t know that I’ve ever done exactly that before. Line three was wrong, line four was right. Ketki and Thomas got it in three, Alexander and Rachel (in London) needed only two. We haven’t heard from Mark yet.

 

A long day. Michaela (Daniella’s summer substitute) came early. The rest of the day rather dragged. Archie will come tomorrow (postponed from today) and I think we ought to try to walk – with little hope of success.

 

That sounds gloomier than I feel. Knitting went forward well. I have set the colour pattern for the yoke of my Lilias Day. When I actually faced up to it, I had a moment of doubt. The basic pattern covers 24 stitches. The whole pleasure of colour knitting lies in symmetry and rhythm. However, despite the long repeat, all is well. And I can tell you that, despite my having done no stitch counting during the recent plain-vanilla stretch which introduced quite a few decreases and established the yoke, it came out perfectly, to the stitch. I was prepared to do a modest bit of fancy footwork, if necessary.

 

Wordle: thank you for your comment, rheather. I do emphatically agree that part of the pleasure of Wordle is that it’s over and done with so soon. I think a lot of us share your experience of not being able to remember today’s word, even half an hour afterwards. It took me five again today. I was very proud of my third line  -- WEALD. I don’t know what it means, but it met the requirements: A in the third place, a green; E somewhere else, a brown; and none of the already-excluded letters repeated. Everybody else in my little group did better, but never mind.

I've finished my re-read of "Tiger in the Smoke". It's good, all right. I hadn't fully grasped, from previous readings, that it takes place in "real time": the opening scene runs on continuously until the final one. Some characters get some sleep, others not.

 

Wordle: I got it in three. After my two starter words, I had one green and three browns. As every morning, I struggled to find a word which fit all the requirements. This time, unusually, I found one. It didn’t seem a very likely word, but I typed it in, and it was right! Everybody else in my little group also got three, except for Alexander. That took a bit of the icing off.

 

After a very considerable struggle, I got through to my doctor’s surgery on the telephone this morning. and have booked an appt for a doctor to talk to me about my arthritic hip next week. The struggle involved dialling again and again, as you might imagine, and as I struggled I thought of your comment, Melinda, and called up Allingham’s “Tiger in the Smoke” from my Kindle library. By the time I had made the appt, I was re-hooked. I think I’ve read it fairly recently, but that hardly matters. It’s awfully good.

 

As for knitting, not as much as one might have hoped. I’m currently knitting the final plain-vanilla round on the yoke. I had to devote quite a lot of time this morning to putting right Paradox’s well-meant intervention of yesterday.