Politics

That was a disappointment. My feeling this morning is not, I could murder a glass of cider; but, I’d reely reely like to spend ten minutes at Jigzone.com. (Both sources of restoration currently embargo-d by Lent.) Aristotle, in the “Politics”, never claimed that democracy was ideal, just that “the principle that the multitude ought to be supreme rather than the few best,…though not free from difficulty, yet seems to contain an element of truth.”

Back to the real world...

...of knitting. Theo’s second sleeve has progressed, and the whole garment, lying casually about between sessions, has assumed a rather satisfactory aspect. Of course when it’s finished I’ll block it meticulously with tape measure in hand, but for now it looks like a sweater that might fit Theo, neither, “oh, dear, far too big”; nor “are you sure that’s going to be big enough?”

Yesterday, restored to full vigour, I went back to K1 Yarns. When dear old HK Handknits was going down, I bought a bagful of a dusty pink Araucania in the closing sale, all they had. My current thought for the Next K*rkmichael Sweater is something like this one on the left, which I knit for Rachel two years ago.

That’s Koigu, but I think the Araucania gauge will be close enough. (Famous last words.) I like K*rkmichael knitting to be easy, to sooth the weary spirit and make few demands on the intelligence, after a day toiling in the fields. My reference books agreed that the amount of yarn I had bought was not quite enough.

K1 has the yarn. The shade looks identical – Araucania doesn’t go in for dye lots. It’s said to be a “solid” colour -- the skeins of the earlier purchase are deliciously blotched, this new one less so. (Old on left, new on right, in the picture.) But if I use the new one for the ribbing, all should be well. I had thought to use for that purpose left-over browny Araucania from the child’s sweater now drawing to a close, but feared that it would look too much like the expedient it was.

I’ve hauled out the old VK’s and contemplated possible patterns for this year’s Games – “pair of slippers” and “sweater with motif”. The Turkish slippers are simply too fiddly – back-and-forth colour knitting over too few stitches. I’ve searched Ravelry for “Turkish slippers” with the same result. I’ve searched Ravelry for “slippers” and found a possibility.

The dinosaur sweater knit for Thomas-the-Elder decades ago, on the other hand, still looks sensational, if I have the patience to tackle it again.

This topic will recur.