That was a better-than-usual Sunday for knitting. I think I got four whole rounds of Rams & Yowes done – I require two of myself, before sinking back with Milano/Relax3. I’ve nearly finished the second row of sheep – and I’m half-way through the first sheep chart. There is still a long way to go – the centre chart is slightly longer than the sheep charts, and when the centre is done, there’s the second sheep chart, upside down, and then a little edging pattern.

And a prodigious amount of knitting for the final edging – but that will be single-colour and therefore less stiff.

And it’s something, to be half-way through the first sheep chart.

This excellent Shetland-Wool-Week blog led me to this one. There might be more. The first one, the Domestic Soundscape, includes a picture of Rams&Yowes, as displayed at Jamieson & Smith last week. It’s clearly not as stiff as mine – and it must be knit with the right yarns. Maybe I’ll go up another needle size today.

The second one has a blissful account of a day’s outing to Unst. But they didn’t see Muckle Flugga!

I have still a whole happy 10cm to go with Milano/Relax 3 before the underarm increases. I think I’ve adjusted the stitch count successfully. I can spend a jolly time this evening counting, and putting in the half-way marker.

Comments

Thanks for yours yesterday, Foggy Knitter, about Fair Isle. It’s something about the geometrical patterns, and the way the stitches usually move left and right one place at a time, and the way both hands contribute, that makes it all utterly soothing. Lace knitting has something of the same quality, but without the contribution from the other hand.

And thanks to everybody else, for the comments about baths for the elderly. We don’t have a shower, and they have their own dangers, anyway. I had showers my first two mornings on Shetland, and then decided that I was seriously afraid of slipping and falling and so abandoned the practice.

Our current procedure for my husband’s bath is that he sits on an inverted plastic box in the bathtub – I don’t know what it was originally intended for. Perhaps a planter for a small tree. Until recently, all I had to do was come in and scrub his back. The box is slightly lower than the edge of the bath. He can more or less slide from one to the other, and from there to the bathroom chair, but it’s now a struggle. We will have to tweak our technique.

There’s a shop near here called something silly like the Galloping Tortoise, full of aids for the infirmities of later life. I like the sound of a transfer bench. I also like the idea of a Community Occupational Therapist. Thanks for that, Hat. The shop is staffed by a cheerful and helpful young man – a species of which I am particularly fond – who might be able to advise on both fronts.