Row 87 done, of the centre of the Mourning Shawl. If I maintain my present pace – but Sundays are not altogether conducive to knitting – I should reach the actual middle row today. More serious counting, at that point. I’ve started the frame for the numerals, but haven’t yet embarked on “2011” itself.

iPad

Thank you for your kind and encouraging note, Ron. I went to the iTunes store yesterday and searched on “knitting”. Nothing of the remotest interest.

But the new issue of Piecework arrived from heaven and inserted itself into the iPad. Wonderful! Browsing it, I found Interweave’s ad for “entreknits”, an “emag” with some big-name designers, including Meg.

I went haring off in pursuit of it, but by the end of the day I had concluded that it is for PC’s and Mac’s only. I would be happy to be contradicted on that. It is an interactive magazine – you can zoom in close to look at things, and there are videos to illustrate tricky points. It is certainly an interesting idea, and I think they’ve missed their target if it really can’t be had on an iPad.

They say it takes fifteen minutes to download, or is it twenty? I’m not at all sure my now-rather-antique desktop has that sort of memory to spare, and anyway I don’t want to huddle in here amongst the unfiled financial papers when I’m reading a knitting magazine.

Other

Thomas-the-Elder’s “electric red” sweater looms nearer, as the centre of the Mourning Shawl progresses. He wasn’t able to come to the Games this year, but he sent a favourite sweater which I have carefully measured. That’s almost always a better option than measuring the actual chap.

I had pretty well decided on Cascade 220 “Christmas red” but yesterday I was suddenly overcome by madelinetosh thoughts. The advantage, perhaps – or disadvantage – of not buying yarn too long in advance.

Loop, in London, has only one even-remotely-possible red in stock, in the needed DK/light worsted yarn, and not enough of that. A Google search for UK retailers produced nothing better. OK, I thought, let’s just pay the customs duty – but visits to Knit Purl (who got me started on madelinetosh), Patternworks, String, and Webs left me equally empty-handed.

I then did what I should have done at the beginning, and went to Ravelry. The madelinetosh group has a vendors’ list. Almost at once I found Yarns Apart in the Netherlands. Their madelinetosh list doesn’t have any of those depressing “3 skeins” or “out of stock” notes next to the colours one might want. Next to “scarlet” it said only “in stock”, and I have ordered a sweater’s worth.

And one thing undoubtedly to be said in favour of the EU is that there will be no customs duty.

I do like the sound of the Supreme Possum Merino they offer. Have a look.