Knitting moved forward on several fronts yesterday.

1) I started the Nudibranch. I have been sort of worried about this project because (attentive readers will remember) I had to abort my first attempt at a swirly scarf, probably in November, because it was so tight that I simply couldn’t hack it. This time I must finish, for Lorna’s sake. But all is well so far. I’m nearly finished with an increase-in-every-stitch row (Row Three, it is) and two plain ones follow.

2) I heard again from the Guernsey yarn supplier – my yarn will be in the mail today. We hesitated between two and three cones: she offered to sell me two and keep one aside of the same dyelot, but I opted to buy all three. Less stressful. But it was kind of her.

3) I downloaded this shrug pattern (one of the links Judith sent me) – but on peering at it, I discovered that it is knit on Size 11 (US) needles, at a gauge of 3 sts to the inch. I feel that’s not me. So my current plan is to use this Shrug pattern generator, another of Judith’s links. I had a brief mental flirtation with the idea of ordering some kettle-dyed Malibrigio yarn, but Google failed to produce a British source and I suspect I’ve got plenty of suitable stuff in stash so I have tried not to think about it too much. There was a little story in the paper yesterday about how a lot of heroin-smuggling is done by mail these days, but there was no explanation as to how to address the package so as to avoid a customs inspection such as always seems to happen with yarn. Perhaps you have to bribe someone.

4) And I joined KnitTalk, a Yahoo group. It’s kind of fun, doing all the talking myself, but I miss the sense of community. Thank you, Barbara.

Non-knit

In the Good Old Days, the priest wore purple vestments at Mass, rather than green, on the three Sundays before Ash Wednesday, so one had some warning and time to rev oneself up for Lent, if desired. Nowadays, the only warning comes from the foodie magazines with their articles about pancakes.

But Shrove Tuesday (=Pancake Day) got sort of squeezed out this year. The February magazines, published in early January, were all about the Chinese New Year, and the March ones, published in early February, skipped ahead to Laetare Sunday in mid-Lent, although they’d be surprised if you told them so.

So I went to Mass yesterday really not knowing whether Ash Wednesday was this week or next. It matters, because the Calcutta Cup is this week and one would like to drown one’s sorrows in something stronger than Schweppes Bitter Lemon. I am very likely the only person in the world who has ever knit the Calcutta Cup into a Christening Gown – scroll down to the bottom of the page, if you visit it, to find out what the Cup is.

Ash Wednesday is next week, so it’s OK.