I can’t tell you what I’m knitting, except that it is progressing nicely and won’t take long. That leaves space for what I’m thinking about.

I just tried Googling for “knitted lace jabot”. Surely I must have done that before? This time, I hit pay dirt – a man who wears one his wife knitted, based on something in VLT. Scroll down a bit; there are some nice pics. His name is Matthew Newsome, and I have pursued him via the links provided and sent an email expressing admiration and asking for tips.

I had sort of got the impression that James wasn’t brave enough to wear such a thing, but he mentioned it rather wistfully at Christmas, and I think it’s time I got back on the job. I mean to start again from the beginning, despite the claim of the progress bar.

And I’ve got the Vertical Kaleidoscope Cardigan pattern. Yesterday’s time-consuming problem centered around the fact that even after I figured out how to pay for it, and had successfully done so, I couldn’t download it. It was worth the struggle.

I have also chased up a couple of other ideas suggested by the Ravelry search for swing jackets, in particular Shiri Mor’s “swing cardi”, no.19 in VK Winter 2007/8. Cynthia, I spotted it in the VK sale you recommended me to have a look at – but there was no need to buy it. That one, like the Kaleidoscope, is knit side-to-side, and swinginess is achieved with large short-row wedges, wide at the bottom hem, narrowing to a point somewhere near the armpit.

Could I add some wedges to the Kaleidoscope? Do I want to? My new, improved shape still involves an old woman’s solidity of waist and thigh. Is that an area one entirely wants to draw attention to? Still, it’s fun to think about.

I am interested in Shirley Paden’s new book about designing knitwear. I greatly admire her work. She has a stunner in the VK just mentioned, No. 17. But am I ever going to do that much designing?

I spent some time yesterday catching up with the Socklady’s blog – link in sidebar. She is particularly good at evoking the sense of life lived cheerfully and simply cheek-by-jowl with powerful and dangerous nature, and she also knits beautiful socks.

Non-knit

I think I won yesterday’s round with the electricity board. Their first line of defense put up stiff resistance, but once I got through to the higher-ups, they agreed very quickly that the figures I was providing suggest that something is wrong. Someone is now booked to come and inspect the meter, although not until next month. I never throw utility bills away, but until recently would have been hard-put to tell you how a five-year-old electricity bill could ever be of any subsequent use.

They were very useful yesterday. Recently, our average annual consumption was just under 2000 units a year. Now, we’re apparently using that much and more in a quarter. As students are endlessly being told in the margins of their essays, Be Specific. It does help advance an argument.