Elephants

My husband is given to remark, from time to time, that I don’t look at things, or read them, thoroughly. That’s certainly what happened here – I am deeply grateful to Marcella and Judith, yesterday, for putting me on the right track with Sandy Terps’s filet lace system. I had read the symbol-list at the beginning of her shawl pattern in “Gathering of Lace”. I had flipped through the book to see whether there was an omnium gatherum symbol-list for all patterns. But it didn’t occur to me that there might be a second list for the shawl in question, on the next page. There it was!

I spent some happy time yesterday charting that little elephant. I used Stitch and Motif Maker again. It let me define the whole 2-stitch 3-row thing and then paste it en bloc into each desired spot. No more than you would expect of a modern computer, indeed. My first attempt ended in failure when I realised I was charting the elephant instead of the silence surrounding it – which is what you need to do with filet lace. I got it, the second time.

He’s still very big – 60 rows and 72 stitches. I can take off 12 rows and 8 stitches by omitting the checkerboard border. Better. My sister had wanted an elephant on the shawl I’m just finishing off, to commemorate her time in Africa, but even borderless he would have been far too big. I’ll contemplate the Princess shawl anew, elephant-wise, as soon as I can get back to it. I think it’s a possibility, there, the shawl being much bigger and the stitch-count, even more so.

The chart, as I said, was done in Stitch and Motif Maker, the sister pattern to the Sweater Wizard. I can export it, apparently, to “Paint” – that’s a utility which lurks somewhere in the computer, right? So if anyone wants a chart for a large filet lace elephant, either in Stitch and Motif Maker, or Paint, you have but to ask. Jean at milesandmiles dot demon dot uk.

Disappointment: I heard yesterday evening that the two Vogue Knitting Books I thought I had added to my collection yesterday morning, weren’t available. It is not often that something is wrongly listed on Abebooks. I felt sad and cross. I’ve checked both Abebooks and eBay this morning: zilch. I’ll try to get into the habit of doing that regularly.

Non-knit

It’s high time we had a picture. Here are some beans which are growing on the doorstep. They are a dwarf bean called “Hestia” which is meant to have pretty flowers as well as beans. “Ideal for the patio.” It’s easy to see why Jack swapped the cow for those beans: they are so pretty, in one’s hand, and when planted, they come up.

I’ve decided on Monday for Strathardle. The forecast is not promising. Maybe I could find a Man to come in and cut the grass.