I did a bit better than expected yesterday at the Business of Life. Amongst other things, I made an appointment to have my hair done next Tuesday. Charles himself will do it, as the girl who usually attends to me will be on holiday – she’s going with her boyfriend to a darts tournament in Blackpool, which sounds fun.

Today has dawned wet and disagreeable. St Swithin’s day has recently been and gone and seems to have got it essentially right. Certainly right-er than the people who were so confidently predicting a sizzling summer for us.

How will I manage in CT if it’s chilly? I haven't planned for that.

Knitting

I made a great discovery yesterday – I had been confusing “1” and “l” in my reading of Duchrow’s chart. It’s easily done, especially as the charts are reproduced photographically from the old leaflets. “l” means “1 Masche links stricken”, i.e., purl (I think). “1” means “1 mal unschlagen”, i.e., yo.

The jabot is full of double yo’s, with a clearly readable sign. I had assumed that all the yo’s in the piece were the same, and blithely interpreted all the “1’s” as “purl” without looking closely. This mistake is probably enough to explain all the missing stitches I have been complaining about.

I’m not going to unpick, and this may well reduce my current effort to the status of a trial sally. I’ll finish (I’m nearly done) and block it, leaving the stitches live for possible future edging.

My husband awoke to what I was doing yesterday, and thought the cashsilk too soft and droopy for wear with a dress kilt. He may be right. I have some DMC cotton somewhere (are those the right letters?) prescribed by Sharon Miller for the Princess. I think that’s what she knitted the prototype in. I bought one ball to try, but was easily diverted to her Gossamer Merino which had just then become available. I could try the cotton for jabot-knitting.

But first I must get to Kinloch Anderson and have a look. And feel.

Comments

Thanks for the help on acid-free tissue paper. How could I have forgotten Google, even for a moment? I’ll order some soon, probably from Amazon, and the postage ought not to be too bad.

Stash haus, no, I don’t need to have the blocked Princess out of the way before my husband gets home. I do need an uninterrupted stretch of time for the doing of it. No meals, no computer crises, no call for afternoon exercise. Annie M. wrote movingly the other day (July 8) about the pleasure of being alone in one’s house. It is a rare one, for me.

Dawn, thank you for the tip about how to deal with American websites that expect you to live in some state. I look forward to trying it out.