James is back in Beijing with his family.

Another slow-witted morning.

I finished the patterning on Theo’s second sleeve and have started on the garter stitch band. Hey – barring disaster, and even allowing for re-doing the neck, I’m actually going to finish this puppy fairly soon. A picture tomorrow, before we go off for our Easter weekend on Loch Fyne. The forecast is for cold and rain and wind. I look forward to a log fire, my grandchildren, my knitting, my book (Ian McEwan, “Saturday”) and good food not cooked by me.

We’re going to Glasgow tomorrow, where the party will try to assemble at the Good Friday liturgy at Glasgow Cathedral in the afternoon.

I’ve been reading about mulesing on Ravelry. Jen, thank you for the link. For what it’s worth as a side-issue, the wool which grows on the sheep (Scottish blackface) which surround us in Kirkmichael is heavy and coarse and of little use for anything except carpet-backing. Now that carpets have gone acrylic and their manufacture has moved away from Scotland anyway, it’s of little use for anything, full stop. The sheep are reared for lamb chops.

But shearing is still necessary, as an animal-welfare measure; and has become a net expense rather than a source of income to many farmers.

I think I’ve got the Autumn Rose pattern ready for Ketki’s sweater, when I get to it. The requirement is not just that it be both vertically and horizontally symmetrical, but that it be unchanged when rotated 90 degrees, when rows become stitches and stitches become rows. There’s probably a word for that, but I don’t know it.

Beverly, thank you for untangling HALFPINT for me. (Have a Lovely Fantasy Project – I’ve No Time). I’ve thought of a safe place to keep it, too, in my electronic knitting Filofax.