Who would have thought cricket could be so exciting?

Comments

I’ve had a successful first cider-less day. I always feel much better and more sprightly without it, which is slightly embarrassing. Catherine, I was happy to hear that you agree with my approach: the first line of defence is to eliminate one high-calorie regularly-consumed item from the diet and see what happens. I’m lucky in that my husband’s diabetes eliminated sugar some years ago. He misses it more than I do. And, Kate, I had thought of what you say – that my activity has been limited these last two months, because of the arm, and especially since there have been no trips to the country.

Thanks for much for the help on Adobe Reader, and for the warming that Liz Lovick’s gansey files are going to be removed at the end of the week. But is it possible to download a pdf file without calling Adobe into action? I thought it sprang to life at the first click. Foxit sounds interesting and I will investigate.

Janet, that was tough about missing your birthday flight to Edinburgh. You would have found it pretty stormy here, too. As for airport chaos, we had more than a bit of that on our way to Thessaloniki, and I sympathise.

An early start is always difficult for my husband. We planned to have his first insulin injection of the day, therefore, and breakfast, at Gatwick itself, after we had checked in and done security. It was crowded and pretty awful, but we managed those tedious hurdles and found somewhere that promised a possible breakfast, although crowded, and just as we addressed ourselves to the menu, the entire airport was evacuated because of a fire scare. My husband wound up injecting himself outdoors, and breakfasting on the emergency rations I had provided. The Diabetic Association says always to carry food when you travel, and never let it out of your sight.

All this to postpone talking about knitting…

I had to rip back half-a-round of the Calcutta Cup sweater yesterday. The pattern is so easy that the row-below doesn’t always provide the guidance one expects of a Fair Isle pattern as to whether one is doing the current row right. Off the needle, the circumference of the sweater looked alarmingly large.

And sure enough, spread on my knee, gauge seems substantially off. Why should this be? I have lots of experience, and careful notes.

I think the only thing to do is to finish one pattern repeat and then take quite a few stitches off, perhaps 50 or so, put them on a thread, and try to get a serious idea of what gauge I am achieving. I am mentally adjusting to looking on the whole enterprise so far as a big swatch. It would be sad to have to do the ribbing and the Calcutta Cup again, but it may come to that.

I am forming some notions about simplifying the colour changes. It won’t be entirely time wasted.