A satisfsctory day yesterday. My husband was some comfort to his anxious sister, and helped draft a letter to the city building authorities. He thinks the whole fuss might have been avoided if the neighbours had been open with her from the beginning. And I got the files in order for transferring to a CD for his publisher, and wrote the covering letter in which he found surprisingly little to grumble about.

So for a moment I have the heady feeling you get when a big job is done, that I have all the time in the world at my disposal. I will cut, or burn, or whatever it is you do, the actual CD this afternoon. We’ll mail it from the village when we are in Strathardle. The next job is to tidy up my neglected papers, I think.

Here’s my new yarn. I’ve taken Kaffe’s Pattern Library off the shelf and will browse happily. This yarn is DK, as is the kit I bought on American eBay recently (for a lot more money). I will browse with that in mind.

The veil is a little more edged. The Doris pattern is so easy that it’s very difficult to do – I often can’t remember, 30 seconds later, which row it is I have just finished. There are lots of mistakes, therefore.

Thank you for the comment, Mandella. I am vaguely aware that People's Friend and Woman's Weekly still have knitting patterns. I'll resume my old habit of having a look, as I stand dreamily in front of a magazine display.

My sister and her husband have been visiting big game in Swasi. Here is a picture of a baby elephant, born on Christmas day.