The second tier of jabot lace is finished but for one edging repeat. A friend is coming to lunch today – what to feed him? – which will delay blocking slightly: the dining room is the normal locus for that operation.

And it’s more fun than anything, blocking something so small. I enjoy the operation in general, but crawling around from one edge of a shawl to the opposite point can be athletic. With a jabot tier – a doyley would be the same, but I’m not going to start knitting those – the whole job can be done from one position.

James wrote from Beijing yesterday: “Frothy and fruity! This will be a true test of nerves. I did see one person wearing a jabot at the last ball, but I think he was a foreigner.” What exactly constitutes a “foreigner” at a St Andrew’s Night ball in Beijing is left unspecified.

Koigu

I’m cooling off on the shrug idea. Shandy’s remark about how they tend to slip off the shoulders meshed with something I had vaguely felt as I was posting that picture yesterday. I’ll have a look at everybody’s shrugs on Ravelry one day soon, though.

What about a sleeved Ribwarmer? Woolgathering #58. For that one, EZ seems to have abandoned her fine talk of “your gauge” and “K” and just written it at 4 sts to the inch – which will hardly do for Koigu. But that much thinking I think I can manage, especially because I have knit a ribwarmer and can work from the actual object.

And the Socklady has found some promising free sock-yarn sweater and jacket patterns at the Garnstudio.

My current thought – no doubt there will be something different here tomorrow – is to knit that VK scarf I mentioned yesterday in Koigu when the jabot is finished, and then put the whole question aside while ideas, we might hope, jell. I’ve got plenty of Koigu – there will still be a couple of jackets’-worth when the scarf is subtracted.

I might turn next to Kaffe’s “Green Granite Blocks” from “California Patches”. A dear friend gave me the kit years and years ago. I think it may have ripened sufficiently. I got it out last night. It looked good. It is an emotional necessity for me to have the Next Big Thing lined up in advance of the completion of this one.

KnitCamp

Janet did meet Franklin in Seattle, and says that he is looking forward to the camp in Stirling – so maybe I can stop worrying. I can see that not sending anything in the post saves them a very considerable amount of time and money, but I do feel that the occasional “Dear Camper” email would provide a helpful sense that someone is in charge and that plans are moving forward.