Health

The great man said, essentially, that there is nothing wrong with me. He had another ECG done and it was normal. He thinks, like others I have mentioned, that too much cider has weakened the system. (He had a vaguely Scandinavian name and looked as if he might be a cross-country ski-er.)

I think the only thing to do is to take his expensive advice and behave as if I felt perfectly well and see how I get on. I have started today with a cup of coffee – I had been eschewing it lately as too stimulating – and feel better already. We had long planned to go to Strathardle the week beginning April 7 with our niece, so that's now definitely “on”. I spoke to her last night.

And Rachel's son Joe had, long ago, proposed himself for a weekend there. I've emailed him to say, any time! My reluctance to be there alone with my husband remains in force.

Knitting

All went well yesterday. I have put the stitches back on the precarious long needle so that I could see what I was doing. So far so good. I have established the border pattern (of the Unst Bridal shawl, we're talking about) without difficulty on all four sides. It's a long way around, and it'll get longer, but it's fun.

This is the point at which I had determined to get the Rams & Yowes blankie out and allot a couple of days a week to it. I can't bear to, at the moment, so exciting is the shawl, but I must bear in mind that it's to be done.

I got a your-order-has-been-dispatched message yesterday from Heirloom Knitting about the new needles (I ordered two different lengths). I opened it, and it begins, “Dear Jean, How wonderful to hear from you again!” which was a marvellous boost. I mustn't forget to send them pictures of Thomas's bride wearing the Princess shawl when the time comes.

Kate Davies has now posted a whole blog entry about her new pattern, Machrihanish, a man's Fair Isle vest, with her usual brilliant photography. Tom couldn't have taken any of these pictures, because he's in all of them. I warm to the vest, which is knit from Jamieson & Smith's “Shetland Heritage” yarn.

I bought a vest's-worth of that yarn when I was there, and a Fair Isle vest is still high on my to-do list. My hesitation about this one – from Kate's new Cross Country Knitting venture, mentioned yesterday – was that the patterns tamely repeat all the way up. I have long believed that in “real” Fair Isle, they should each be different, although so similar that you have to peer closely to see the difference.

But that's a small difficulty – I've got nothing around here if not pattern collections. I could easily make substitutions which would use the same number of stitches and rows. I had my eye on something of Meg's from, I think, Knitter's for this vest, but maybe I should have Kate's pattern too. The fit is magnificent. This is the project for which I am going to get that Shetland knitting belt out and try, try again.