Now chicken pox has struck both in Beijing (James’ and Cathy’s youngest, Kirsty) and on the shores of Loch Fyne (both Little Boys). It’s a nasty disease, quite apart from having shingles up its sleeve.

I didn’t get in a session on the Surface yesterday, as I had to go to a bank and talk about a maturing bond. And may not today, as someone is coming to lunch. My plan is to download everything from Dropbox and arrange the files in the folders my husband is used to (since the downloading process is sort of awkward – I hope I can do it in batches).

As for knitting, there is but one more increase round to do, and then about 25 plain rounds – I’ve made a note of the exact number. Two more sessions, at worst. And then the exciting moment when sleeves are added to body and I move on to the third of Meg’s articles in Knitter’s 2000.

You are right, Kristie, that it’s disconcerting at first, just after the amalgamation,  to find how long it takes to go around all those stitches. But it’s fun to find them diminishing, as one seems to knit faster and faster. And it’s also very satisfactory to have the whole thing in one piece. That was always a great moment in my (largely unsuccessful) dressmaking career – when everything came together.

The new, longer circulars in “Symfonie wood” are on their way from Meadow Yarn. I paid a bit extra for first class. They should be here in time.

I recently bought Bruce Weinstein’s “Boyfriend Sweaters”. I like it, as I liked his earlier “Sweaters Men Want”. And I’m glad to see he’s all in favour of some ease, unlike Franklin. The ten-page introduction is excellent on the basics, illustrated with good drawings. There’s a tempting honeycomb stitch pullover in the Texture section, the one point in the book where I felt the lack of a drawing. “Insert right needle under and behind the strands across the front of the two previous right-side rows, then knit into the next stitch, lifting and catching the two strands”.

I suppose I could get it with a bit of practice. I wonder if it could be done in the round.

Still waiting for that Winter VK.