That's the best quarter of the year gone already.


Sorry about yesterday. I used up all the blogging time struggling (successfully, in the end) with an on-line task set by my husband. He is that most dangerous of spouses – and they must be a rather rare breed, by now – who fully appreciate the wonders of the internet but can’t do it themselves.

This morning, I have expended almost as much time trying to pay a customs charge to Royal Mail. The card came yesterday, and that’ll be the yarn for the snood. I have several reasons for feeling pretty sure that the trouble lies with Royal Mail and not with my credit card. That’s not much comfort, as the weekend ticks away. I will have to go to a post office tomorrow and buy stamps to the value of the charge – thus losing two days, at least.

But I’m having a wonderful time with the Zauberball sock. Isn't that grand?

The first job today will be to put the stitches on some waste yarn and try it on. How much foot protrudes? How much further do I have to go, allowing for a bit of negative ease?

I did a Dutch heel, in the end. As you see, the yarn elected, rather stylishly, to turn very dark just as I got to the heel, so it’s impossible to see the details. But all seems to have gone well. I did “eye of the partridge” (if that’s the right game bird) for the heel flap and extended it under the foot. The result looks neat.

The Dutch heel is very like the heel flap-heel-gusset number we’re all used to. It seems superior in doing away with that maddening little hole between gusset and instep.

And I think I am beginning to get the lay of the land. Basically, there are two types of heel: this one, and the sort where the heel is a pouch formed by short rows. The Sweet Tomato would fall into the latter category, and its claim to fame is that you don’t have to wrap when you turn.

But then, the Afterthought Heel doesn’t quite fit into either of those categories. And toe-up, when I get there, will add a whole new dimension.

I had a bit of a struggle, despite (or because of) all my books, in figuring out exactly how to do the Dutch heel. The penny finally dropped, as they say, when I read Judy Gibson’s concise explanation on-line. An interesting side-issue to this project is the attention it focusses on the subject of instruction-writing.

I love the Zauberball, and allowed myself a wee Google on the subject yesterday. There are lots and lots and lots of Zauberballs, not widely available in the UK but someone has an eBay.co.uk shop with a good range. I couldn’t possibly buy Zauberballs when I have only recently bought four pairs of unknit socks and won’t even start on them until I have knit Hundertwasser from last year. Could I?

But if I am at all worried (see above) about whether a Bad Man has cleaned out my credit card, that might be a pleasant way to find out for sure.