Little as I approve of the general concept of knitting little bits of things and joining them together, I enjoyed doing the front of that shrug yesterday. It’s finished; I’ll start the other front today. Increasing at different speeds at the two sides turned out to be easy, and all went very briskly because it was so small.

Another flaw turned up – there are two more rows in the back than in the front, before the major cast-on for the sleeve. I think the front is the one that’s right, not that that matters. The galloping horse test is easily met, but I doubt if the judges in the Home Industries Tent will be mounted.

Miscellaneous

I learned yesterday that Sharon is awaiting delivery of some cashmere-and-silk gossamer yarn – and that she’s busy designing for it. I won’t even say “Oh, dear”. I’m not tempted. I am wedded to my Princess (pure wool gossamer) and I certainly don’t intend to start her again. Just thought I’d mention it.

Blogger’s home page has a rotating menu of blogs, and sometimes I idly click on a few of them. That’s how I met Swapna. I hardly need say that there’s a quantity of drivel in cyberspace which beggers human comprehension. But yesterday I hit a keeper. No knitting: cooking, vegetable gardening, organic farming, literate prose in Missouri (of all places). Everything is much further along for her – but she’s got marauding deer to worry about even in the summer. They wait for the cooler months, on the whole, in Strathardle. You win some, you lose some.

Life

I retrieved my debit card from Waitrose (yesterday’s entry) without colliding with a lawyer. There are lots of them in this part of town.

I got a Summary Warrant in the mail relating to the Council Tax for the house in the country. The tax has been paid; all are agreed on that; the warrant relates to a supplementary £80 which I didn’t think I owed. My inclination however was to pay it to save myself anxiety and distress. However, my husband was having none of that, and after a bit of time on the telephone Perth and Kinross Council actually apologised. I had sent them a direct debit mandate in March which they had never activated. They found it.

The experience has left me feeling low and restless.

No movement on that VKB. The auction closes on Monday, so maybe we’ll see some action over the weekend. There’s another one on which I’ve now left a low bid. I’ve already got it, but this one is in much better condition. I won’t pursue it any higher, though.

Janice, thank you for the tip about irfanview. I’ll follow that up today. I use a photographic freebie which I downloaded from (I think) Kodak, called Ofoto Now. It does well enough, but it doesn’t shrink things.