The weather continues savagely cold, although there’s not much snow here in Drummond Place. The newspapers have stopped talking about worst-for-30-years (that would be, The Year We Lost The Cat) and switched to worst-for-50 (that would be, The Year Helen Was Born, although I am sure she would have me add that it wasn’t quite 50 years ago).

(The cat managed to escape from the car during a kerfuffle in Blairgowrie as she was being driven north for her Christmas holiday. After a long, anxious search we were forced to drive on without her. Helen and I got up before dawn the next morning and went back. Helen’s shout of joy from the Bank of Scotland car park must have awakened the town, and still echoes in my ears. That night, it snowed and snowed and snowed. It would have been impossible, 24 hours later, to get the car up our driveway.)

Comments

Moorecat, I have read about the crochet method of securing a steek, but have never applied it. I will certainly use it on the sleeve-holes this time. I haven’t had the sewing machine in action for years, and don’t relish the prospect.

The neck, on the other hand, if I steek it, will involve cutting stitches in a situation where they might think of running downwards. Maybe I’d better grit my teeth and knit the shoulder pattern back and forth after all. It is 17 rows deep, of which only eight would have to be purled. It’s finite.

FiberQat, I hope you’ll blog about your ASJ, The worst stretch, I can warn you, is that second, outward mitre. I’m jealous of the pic of you and Franklin – I’d better get around to booking Stirling today.

Julie, thanks for the info about Norwegian and Scottish steeking. I like to know that sort of thing. And thanks for the review in your blog of the new VK. I’ll go back to that when my copy turns up. It’s interesting, your remark that photographers aren’t credited. In My Day, VK credited the photographers and didn’t bother mentioning the names of the designers. Diane Arbus and David Bailey come to mind, in different generations.

Stash haus, I am interested in what you say about unspun Icelandic from the Schoolhouse Press not needing to be secured if you want to cut it. That yarn has been at the edge of my consciousness for a long time, and I think I’ll put it on my buy-when-the-fast-is-over list. I have a vague feeling that football players can only be bought and sold during a relatively brief “window” once a year. Maybe I should approach yarn-buying in the same way.

Actual Knitting

I haven’t quite reached the point where the seeding starts. And haven’t quite finished the first ball of yarn. Both of those things should happen today, and the Progress Bar can get its first boost.