We can count in the other direction from here: 25 rows to go on the centre of the Mourning shawl. The last set of initials are charted and printed, and indeed I have started on the panel where they’ll go, although I haven’t reached the letters themselves yet. I use Stitch and Motif Maker for charting. It seems slightly amateur and clunky these days, but it does the job and is faster (I think) and more fun (certainly) than doing it by hand.

Three more evenings (or less) should polish off the knitting. Then there’s the top edge of the centre to be grafted to the fourth border – I love grafting. Tightening and tidying – there are two safety pins embedded in the fabric, holding stitches that tried to get away, and some other points, I fear, that may benefit from cosmetic attention.

A miniscule bit of sewing – the ends of the edging need to be attached to each other, and I knit an inch or so of the borders back and forth before embarking on the Fleegle system.

And blocking.

I always feel sorry for people who don’t know what they’re going to do next. They used to crop up on the Knitlist from time to time. For me, a major part of the pleasure of these last few days consists of looking forward to the next one, laying out the yarn, whatever. And I think the yarn from Amsterdam is here – when I got back from the supermarket yesterday, there on the mat was one of those dread cards from the Post Office – “While you were out…” My husband had been in the house, but didn’t hear the bell.

Usually, dread. This time, I let out a small exclamation of joy.

In the fairly recent good-old-days, the sorting office to which undelivered packages were returned was within walking distance of here. Then they moved it to the other side of town, no doubt informing me in a letter which explained that this was being done for my greater convenience. I have arranged for this particular package to be delivered to a relatively-local post office. It should be there tomorrow. It had bloody better.

Jared’s Brownstone pattern – for which the scarlet madelinetosh is intended – is done in the round, starting with a sleeve. If the suggested gauge on the label attached to the yarn is anywhere near Jared’s, I’m inclined to think I’ll just plunge in. I think Meg says somewhere that that’s what she does (doesn’t swatch, starts with a sleeve).

Knitting Oddities

A lot of the items in the file are clippings of news and feature articles relating to knitting – not really oddities at all. Or pictures of people wearing sweaters I happened to admire. A theme that keeps reappearing is the question of payment for handknitters – I have a long article that appeared in Scotland on Sunday in 2003 about a firm called Inverallan which was brought to book by the Inland Revenue for paying knitters (much) less than the minimum wage. The knitters, of course, were all having a lovely time, happy to help, £20 per garment will do nicely.

I can’t look up “Inverallan” at the moment because I am in the process of updating my browser. The article says that they now get their knitting done in Ireland and India.

I wonder how much the dress Cate Blanchett was wearing in yesterday’s illustration cost, and how much the crochet-er got. I am pulled both ways on this issue.