Not much was accomplished around here yesterday.

However, the scarf now has but eight inches to go. A couple more evenings should do it. Zite came up this morning with Lorna Watt’s Chunky Turban Headband (Ravelry link). I’m not thinking Christmas-present. I’m thinking leftover-yarn – from both scarves – and I’m also thinking baby-it’s-cold-outside. The pattern wants super chunky and I don’t think either yarn qualifies as that, but I also think adjustment would be within my capacities.

So I bought the pattern. Someone commented recently that she always prints out a pattern right away, after downloading it: so do I. So that one is ready to roll.

I’ve also been thinking about what sweaters to knit for the Little Boys on the shores of Loch Fyne, if Scotland win the Catcutta Cup next year. It’s good fantasy knitting, because Scotland won’t win. Quite apart from the fact that we are rubbish at the moment, and England really rather good, the match is played in London in odd-numbered years. Scotland never win there.

The 2012 celebratory sweaters (not needed, in the event) were going to be Norwegian. This time, I’m thinking of carrying on from Ed’s Gardening Sweater and knitting smaller EPS Seamless Saddle Shoulders (KWT) in beautiful madelinetosh.

QueerJoe in his post for December 3 says without explanation that he has “started getting regularly scheduled deliveries of madelinetosh yarns” – I want in on that one! He illustrates a wonderful colorway called Bitterroot, not far off Firewood with which I am soon to begin knitting.

“Knit Your Own Scotland” turned up yesterday, and it’s delightful – but, oh! Kristie! There’s no haggis!

Comments

I had the same idea – that it would be worth my while to pay EasyJet to let Archie take another suitcase. Helen’s husband David did the work, and reported that it would cost £14 for a physical extra bag plus £69 for up to 9 kilos. That’s booking-in-advance. So I’ll squeeze anything I can into his suitcase – and his mother has told him to wear as many clothes as possible – and face up to posting the rest.

Dawn, when I was in China I saw, like you, museum attendants knitting, and others with jobs that left time on their hands. One day James took us out in the country to visit places where bits of the Great Wall exist (as well as the famous site near Beijing where princes go).  In one village, there was a group of women sitting on the pavement in the afternoon. One of them was knitting a one-piece baby garment into which it looked as if a small child could usefully be sewn in November. She didn’t want to be photographed, even when James asked her politely in Mandarin.

The only Chinese patterns I’ve seen are western spin-offs. But on the strength of that one baby-gro I’d like Kirsty to probe more deeply. If people in the cities knit, there could be a country tradition behind them.