And yet another follower! Soon I'll have as many as Joe!

Today is the day we are going to call on C. Before every visit since this dreadful thing started I have been afraid of what we’d find – and every time, even the really scary visit three days after tremendous surgery – every time, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Our children have said the same of their visits. But it can’t last.

Yesterday I began to get grips with 2011, like a newly-emerged groundhog. I made an appt to have my hair cut and heaven-help-me styled. It wasn’t done at Christmas, as chaotic frozen day succeeded chaotic day, and now looks pretty awful. And I got most of my seed order in. I order from lots of different people, to keep them all in business, so it takes time. Some websites are better than others.

I’ve been consuming cider at a holiday level all through January, counting on Lent to put me right. But Lent is late, this year, and I’ve put on three or four pounds, so it’s back to Sundays-only. Pretty soon it’ll be time to get out there walking around Drummond Place Garden in the morning again, too.

Knitting

Round-the-Bend moves forward nicely. I’m turning the final square of the left back. Despite the relatively fine yarn, and the notorious slowth of garter stitch, it seems to keep going. It’s something about having the work divided into recognisable sections. I’m approaching a tricky bit where front must be joined to back at the shoulders – it’s one of the points where Meg gives instructions in absolute stitch numbers rather than percentages so I approach with caution. Must have another look at the DVD.

However, yesterday’s excitement lay not there but in a message from a cyber-friend, a professional knitwear designer, offering to write me a pattern for the Japanese shirt. I have accepted with alacrity. I’ve still to swatch and measure and think, of course, and I’ll postpone those pleasures until Round-the-Bend is finished. Theresa, you’re right that looseness and fine gauge will be important. But I’m so excited.

Ron, I followed up your lead and looked at EZ’s golf shirt. It’s very like my stalled Strathardle project. That one is knit in the round up to the armpits. I’m somewhere not far beyond that point, and have been stuck there for a long time.

What if I took it back to the armpits, counted the stitches and called the answer “K”, and proceeded from there with EZ? It’s such fun knitting with her hectoring voice in one’s ears (Meg is much gentler), and I greatly admire her i-cord treatment of the placket and collar. This could be just what I need to get started again. I’ll stick with long sleeves.

The difficulty here – you may have spotted it – is that the same yarn, the dusty pink Araucania, is now being used twice. We’ll have to think of a way around that. But it’s great to have the old motivation back.

Beverly, thanks for the tip about the Ravelry group called “Pooled Knits”. I’ll go have a look right now.