A whole day gone, from this new and interesting year, and what have we accomplished?

I spent much of it thinking about the Unst Shawl – the impossibility of, but also the how-to's. The pattern is written to be knitted from the centre out. It never actually mentions how many stitches there are at the top of the borders, which is where I will first encounter them. You have to count from the chart. I've now done that, and reconciled the result more or less with the fifty points each edge will have. Fifty – making 200, altogether, for the circuit. This is ridiculous.

Here's where I am so far, just over halfway on the first side. I can't figure out how to crop, still less to save-with-fewer-pixels, but at least I can produce a picture, and rotate it if necessary. I can't find my copy of “Windows 8 for Dummies” which might (or might not) touch on these problems.

Sorry -- can't seem to get this morning's picture out of the camera. That's a picture of my Chinese mink yarn, as a consolation.

I also wondered, as I thought about things yesterday, whether it's going to be all right to knit the border from the outer edge inwards without change? That's not always appropriate, with lace. I'm inclined to think I'll just do it anyway, and rely on those galloping horses.

The edging pattern is a four-row repeat over ten stitches, on the right, and 12-row diamonds on the left, forming the points. They are separated by a column of faggotting. I love faggotting, and it serves the useful purpose, here, of isolating any mistake – and there are lots of mistakes – on one side or the other.

Do other lace knitters share my tendency to feel just a tiny bit more cheerful and energetic during the increase rows of a scalloped edging?

I've now mastered the pattern, and also learned how the four-row repeat marches with the 12-row one. This is where the really bad mistakes become possible, as the mind wanders and one suddenly looks at the work and tries to remember where on earth one is.

Here are the hoped-for pictures of Lizzie with the Sensible Christmas Project, a Kansas University beanie. It looks like a reasonable fit. The Silly Christmas Project has begun its journey to Beijing.

Non-knit

I watched the BBC's “The Thirteenth Tale” the other evening without much profit – was that because I wasn't paying close enough attention (due to the Unst Shawl edging)? Or because it was a bit turgid and unsatisfactory? I suspect the latter. I bought the book yesterday for my Kindle and am reading it with much pleasure.