Pretty miscellaneous this morning.

 -- I ought to finish the first sheep chart today – and get Milano to the underarm increases as well. Except that Helen is due back from Venice, and for the moment all the boys are employed at various schools, and there probably won’t be much knitting. The English are having their storm today; all is peaceful in Edinburgh. I only hope she is flying back directly and not through Heathrow.

You’re right, Linda – I ought to record both her and my measurements in CustomFit. We’ll see how agonizing the procedure turns out to be. The first instruction is to tie a string around yourself at your natural waistline. Have I got a natural waistline?

Apart from measuring each other, we need to Talk About Christmas.  Helen and her family plan to celebrate it here in Edinburgh with us – surely the last time I will be even remotely in charge, even if Helen does all the work. I have told my husband that we’re going on a cruise next year.

Only three years ago I had the big idea of a last family Christmas in Strathardle, and booked the whole hotel. Alexander wanted to be at home with his family; my husband’s sister, here in Edinburgh, suddenly turned out to be dying; and the winter weather made it near-impossible to get to Strathardle anyway. My astonishment now is that I had the oomph to think of such a project at all.

 -- I discover from Zite that someone has made a picture book of the sweaters knit by that eccentric Dutch woman who knit for decades, putting everything away unworn. Then someone found out. Here is Stephen West’s account of visiting an exhibition of her sweaters. Here is a link to the video of her sitting enthroned while everyone dances in the street wearing her sweaters.

And the picture book looks good. It’s by Christien Meindertsma. The knitter’s name is Loes Veenstra. Amazon.com has got it; Amazon.co.uk promises to get it in for me.

 -- The Telegraph Magazine last Saturday had a brilliant spread on the new book ”Best in Show: Knit Your Own Zoo” by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne. I’ve ordered that, too, for my Curiosities shelf along with Knit Your Own Royal Wedding and Knit Your Own Great Britain. Indeed, there is a small fiddly thing from the latter book that I must get started on soon if I really want to have it ready for Christmas. My husband extravagantly admires the leopard from the Zoo book, as pictured in the Telegraph. Would I have the energy to knit that, too?

 -- Kate Davies’ latest blog post is interesting, as always. She has been working on top-down design using Susie Myers’ Contiguous system. I’ve never done top-down at all. So much to learn!