I like February – nothing is expected of it; every spring day (and there are usually a good few) is a bonus. The light is coming back. The groundhog shouldn't have much to disturb it tomorrow – the weather has been blustery and overcast. And next Saturday I'm going to the Calcutta Cup.

41 scallops done – I could even finish the edging this weekend.

I am now completely bewildered about how to cast on for the centre. Like Epaminondas, mind how you step on them pies. And there's a German folk story, isn't there? about a father-and-son pair (perhaps) who keep trying to act on successive pieces of advice, Not Clever Elsa – her problem was creative worry. Anybody?

• Sharon Miller's “knitting on” technique leaves a nice little row of loops for picking up later, she says. It's sort of like the cable cast-on, but not quite. She says that the line is more visible than using waste wool, which is the only alternative she suggests. I had thought I was going to try that.
• But Purl Bee's tutorial yesterday inspired me to try the crocheted chain again – I have been humiliated by that one in the past, and now I think I could do it. I am sure you are right, Ellen: the chain should be made with a slippery-smooth mercerised cotton.
• On the other hand, the crochet-the-provisional-loops-straight-on-to-the-needle approach which you mention, Mary Lou and Ivy, is a sure-fire way to do it. I learned that from Candace Strick, in one of her mitered garter stitch jacket patterns.

Other suggestions yesterday, Judy's Magic and so on, sound to me more appropriate for a circular shawl knit centre-out. But the Unst Bridal is Shetland-type, with a centre square. I've got to cast on 120 stitches or so, and later pick up the stitches to knit the border outwards.

So, goodness knows.

Non-knit

Thank you for comments about the picture sale, and for not mentioning the artist's name. Rachel sent a note of commiseration yesterday with this picture to cheer us up:

That's Hellie's lovely boyfriend Matt, on the right. The other man is Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batsman cricket has ever known, worshipped as a god in India. Rachel doesn't mention where they met, or how.

Northof49 has posted an interesting article about some super technology which allows you to switch back and forth between audio-book and reading for yourself, depending on whether or not you are knitting Fair Isle. She says it is disconcerting, because the characters you see in your head when you are reading the page yourself are not the ones the actor creates.

I vividly remember going to see My Friend Flicka when I was a child, expecting that the movie would make visible for me my mental construction of that well-loved book. It was All Wrong, from beginning to end. On the other hand, I would put in a rare vote for the BBC's Pride and Prejudice a few years ago – the one that left us all in love with Colin Firth. That was good. It was even illuminating.

Nothing suits me for reading just now. I've got half-a-dozen books on the go, each of which I mean to go back to, but not just now. So I am re-reading Mansfield Park for the 37^th time. Goodness, it's good. She is as good as the 19^th century Realists, as Evelyn Waugh himself, at absolutely skewering a character with a bit of quoted speech. No comment needed.