Here we are again: Fat Tuesday. It is Rachel’s piety which has spurred us all, in recent years, to knuckling down for Lent. Ketki is celebrating her birthday today although it doesn't actually happen until tomorrow. The Greek family is going to give up meat, as Greeks do – Helen says that the supermarkets are full of food for fasting. I asked for details. It’s rather sweet – it means that people do fast. British supermarkets, which have been selling Hot Cross Buns since Boxing Day, are now stuffed with chocolate Easter eggs.

Rachel herself rang up last night, not sure she could face it. I told her it’s never quite as bad as one expects.

Knitting

I have turned the final corner of Round-the-Bend, and begun attaching back to front as I knit towards the sleeve.

One of you kindly referred me to a Q.&A. in one of Meg’s newsletters, when I was beginning the back and worrying about mirror-imaging. I’ve looked at it again this morning. Some poor soul was having trouble attaching the shoulder. I think I even said I didn’t see how anyone could get that far without understanding what she was doing.

Now I do.

Her question, I’m afraid, was badly expressed: What is meant by the reverse "no sew for the shoulder seam"? What would that look like in words? I have tried everything and ripping out 8 times.

And Meg misunderstood it, and answered in terms of SSK, and even recommended the video. The video, as I have already mentioned here, skips straight from finishing the first half to the i-cord finishing of the whole.

The problem at the second shoulder has nothing to do with SSK v. slip 2 purlwise. It’s a question of origami. I’ve ripped out once – I think I’ve got it this time, but it’s too soon to feel entirely confident. I can’t imagine why it’s so hard when the first shoulder went smoothly enough, but Meg’s questioner was right – something is very difficult here.

Clearly those Zimmermanns – including Cully -- have an engineering gene that lets them see and think in three dimensions while the rest of us bump along with two.

I had a good time yesterday planning the sweaters I will knit for the Little Boys to celebrate Scotland’s utterly unexpected victory in the Calcutta Cup match this coming Sunday. They are to be ganseys, nothing terribly fancy, similar sweaters but two different patterns to keep me interested. Towards the bottom of each I will incorporate in seed stitch the wearer’s initials and “2011” and an image of the cup – and the score, if there’s room for that much information.

I also thought, as I knit peacefully along (before I got to the shoulder-attaching bit), that this sort of knitting, slow and steady, good old garter stitch, must be making inroads on my abundant collection of sock yarn. Should I go on to a Bog or a Tomten – or both?

The Schoolhouse does a leaflet for the Tomten. The Bog only turns up in a video for “Knitting Around” – where the printed instructions are full and intelligible anyway. I’ll wait until next week – after Scotland’s famous victory, I’ll probably feel like treating myself to Meg’s Guernsey pullover DVD.