A normal day! To be followed by another, and another! The sky will probably fall in before Tuesday lunchtime, but for the moment, this happy grey morning, I revel in it. And in my two new followers.

The birthday was a great success.

Greek Helen produced the best card:

The Little Boys made place-cards for each of us. I got the best of those:

Daisy-grubbers

I only discovered the existence of this tool from Bob Flowerdew’s column (that’s really his name) in last month’s Kitchen Garden magazine. Googling them, I am astonished at the range. Raveller, could you tell me how long your long one is? And what brand it is? – I could, after all, order it from the US if necessary. I’ll now get to work on googling “grabber”. It sounds to me as if the combination might achieve just what I’m aiming at – tools to allow my husband to extirpate dandelions without kneeling. It would (as they say so often of children’s toys) keep him happily occupied for hours.

I love your Ikea stash cupboards.

Art Historical Sock Yarns

Barbara, thank you for the pointer to Opal’s “Hundertwasser” yarns. I had never heard of him. I wonder if my husband has? Modern German is not his favourite territory, art history-wise, but he keeps looking, and indeed makes a practice of going to exhibitions by artists he thinks he doesn’t like. I do agree with your observation that yarn purchased in a museum shop doesn’t count as stash. I wonder if the National Galleries of Scotland know about Opal? – they have an enterprising shop in the Gallery of Modern Art; Van Gogh might do well there.

November is maximum-temptation-month, yarn-buying-wise, and my husband’s sock drawer is not as full as it should be. Should I order a Hundertwasser and a Van Gogh?

Knitting

The big Brownstone is now in London, and the little one is coming along nicely.