The computer is being unusually sluggish this morning.

Here’s the scarf so far – I’m casting off the first stripe, and should at least, today, progress as far as casting on the next. How easy will it be to hit the precise point required for the joins – the stitch between two M1’s? Blocking this baby is going to be as bad as lace – every point will have to be pinned.

Knit Camp

I continue uneasy, if only for having spent so much money and having absolutely nothing to show for it. The Ravelry group is some comfort – the enthusiasm of the knitters will carry things forward despite the organisers, to some extent. All I really need from on high is an indication of what building(s) on the Stirling campus will be devoted to classes. I have a nightmare of getting there half an hour early and not being able to find Franklin.

What bus to take (if I arrive by train), where to find it, how often it runs, where it will put me down – all that I can find for myself, if need be.

Annie Modesitt said the other day that classes are filling up FAST. But she said that a month ago, and registration has been open since the first of the year, so it can’t be true. A recent Q&A on the Ravelry group would seem to hint that no class has yet sold out.

I wonder how they mean to deal with classes that don’t attract enough punters. Do they just say, Sorry, Franklin, we won’t be wanting you after all? (I choose his name per impossibile; but there are others who might suffer that fate.) Can you treat famous knitters like that? What does Knitter’s Magazine do when not enough people sign up for an advertised class at Stitches? Many -- most? – of the teachers are American. Who is paying their air fares? Annie is fussy, and won’t teach for Stitches, so they must have offered her what sounded like a good deal.

As far as we hear from the organisers at all, it is all about the Knit Camp T-shirt and choosing a list of Ten Iconic Knitting Patterns and, in short, rather girly.

Non-knit

We went to a “hustings” last night at which appeared the candidates for the parliamentary seat of North Edinburgh and Leith. It was rather interesting. Worth being reminded, as this election gets more and more American, that what actually happens in Britain is not a vote for Cameron or Brown or Clegg or Salmond, but for some un-famous soul to represent a relatively small geographical collection of people, including oneself. I don’t think we have gerrymandering here.

None of the candidates was remotely slick. All were politicians, wittering on from their internal scripts about schools! and hospitals! and scrapping Trident! The audience was more interesting – large and angry and frightened of a future which will soon involve paying down the deficit.