Everything keeps coming back to the Zimmermanns, doesn’t it?

I moved slowly and inefficiently through my morning’s domesticity yesterday, as usual, still thinking about shawl collars, and eventually remembered that vest in Meg’s book “Handknitting”. I don’t care for the pattern much, but that’s irrelevant – it has a shawl collar.

I had a look, and there it is – it might have been Jared’s inspiration. There are significant differences, of which the most interesting is that Meg doesn’t wrap-and-turn, she just turns. I had wondered a bit about that – does it make a difference that in this case each row is a bit longer than its predecessor? Whereas in the more usual short-row situation each successive short-row is shorter and then in the end you knit across, incorporating all the wraps? You don’t have to wrap when you’re turning a heel but in that case you are also decreasing so maybe that makes a difference.

Anyway, I’ll certainly try not-wrapping when I’m doing Little Thomas’s sweater, and see what happens.

Did you wrap when you were doing Rebekah’s collar, Kristie? Presumably so, since the pattern was Jared’s. I’m not very good at wrapping. Meg’s article in the current VK was useful.

My sister says the madelinetosh Dried Rose for my Effortless has arrived in CT. She will be here in mid-November, insh’Allah. That's any day now, but I should have made a good start on Little Thomas’s sweater by then, so Effortless will be next in the queue. I might even cast off Big Thomas’s Brownstone today – there’s excitement for you.

iPad

I’ve joined the “I love my iPad” group on Ravelry, although it could just as well have been the smaller “iWant/iHave an iPad”. I thought I might tell them about Zite and start a discussion going about importing Interweave workshops: but how to find out, in all that stuff, whether the topics have not already been covered exhaustively?

Zite currently has an article about the Brownstone from theraineysisters, increasing the sense of uncanniness. They do get it wrong sometimes, but there is a way to tell them so which theoretically means that the selection will get better and better as we go on. They can also be told when something is spot-on.

Non-knit

I’m feeling better, and was at least inspired yesterday to ring up and make an appt for our flu injections. We were drifting along expecting to be summoned for them, but it turns out the practice has had several clinics already and didn’t bother telling us. There are those who say the whole exercise is useless, just as many old folks die of pneumonia when you don’t inoculate them, but my husband and I firmly believe in flu injections.