Back from Kirkmichael

I got a lot done on Mungo's Koigu sweater while we were there -- I'll post a picture tomorrow. For today, here's a picture (also taken at Kirkmichael, in August) of

Jamie in his Koigu sweater


and me in my political tee-shirt. Jamie's sweater is compound of sufficient different elements that I regard it as my own pattern -- it's given in full on my website www.jeanmile.demon.co.uk. I went to the supermarket one day with tape measure in hand, to measure something plausible in their children's clothing section for size. The children's clothing section was shut that day, so I picked a likely-looking boy in the vegetable section and asked his mother if I could measure him.

She was very nice about it, and my victim's brother gave me a parsnip. The baby himself looked as if he would have liked to call security had he had the vocabulary. But the result was spot-on, size-wise.

I had a lovely time at Kirkmichael knitting Mungo's Koigu. Our next visit (which should be soon, d.v.) will get me to the armpits. The Tempter suggested that I bring it back -- Koigu is delicious to knit with. If I worked on it in Edinburgh, Mungo could have it for Christmas....

I resisted. Good thing, too. The heart utterly sank when I picked up the Stillwater last night. I will never again knit a Fair Isle pattern which isn't symmetrical. Is there a break-even point in a knitting project after which one carries on and finishes it, no matter what? I doubt it. It was hard (despite good notes) to figure out where I was and what was going on. I succeeded in the end, and knit a couple of rounds, but it wasn't fun.