Country Knitting

TWO people have written to suggest that the Baby Surprise (previous post) be edged with attached i-cord. I am astonished and humbled to learn that as many as two people read this Blog, let alone that they should suggest so excellent a solution. When we got back to Edinburgh last night, I ripped out my silly picot castoff and started attaching i-cord. It looks good. I'm more than half-way around, and will soon report further.

Burnside, Kirkmichael, Perthshire
This is where we've been. It is not quite as idyllic as it looks, due to cold, damp, and the hard work necessary to maintain it, but we love it and go there as often as we can. I knit a lot there, especially in the dark, cold months on which we are now embarking.

While we were there last week, I finished the Koigu sweater I have been knitting for my nephew Theo. Finished the knitting, and finished the finishing. I was afraid it was too small -- Theo was here for our local Highland Games at the end of August, and tried the sweater on, not-quite-finished, stitches popping in all directions. It was skimpy, both length-wise and width-wise. He gallantly said he thought he had put on weight since Games Weekend, '03, when we made our initial measurements and calculations.

The idea is that as many people as possible should wear something I knit, to my funeral. I was afraid, yesterday and the day before, that this sweater wouldn't quite do. I wanted something that Theo could fling on comfortably, not just on the day of the funeral, sucking in his stomach and tugging at it from time to time. Goodness, would I have to knit Theo something else, at the risk of having to postpone the funeral?

But when I blocked it this morning, I found I could add inches in all directions -- rather alarmingly, if that had not been what was wanted. I'm happy with the result, size-wise, and will produce a picture and pattern notes soon, I hope.