A picture for you, Rams & Yowes in action in England. My guess is that they're safely back in DC by now:

I had fun copying that one into both my Family14>Ted folder and also into Knitting.  It is only the second thing I have finished this year, the other being the Milano/Relax3 for Greek Helen. Maybe I'd better polish off those Pakokku socks before the bells ring on December 31.

And I'd also better get back to the Unst Bridal Shawl. The wedding planners need to know how big it is. I hope it's not going to be too much of a disappointment, after the Princess and her successful outing. It's pretty minor, by comparison. Rachel is moving into mother-of-the-bride mode – Hellie and Matt are to be married on September 19, 2015 (insh'Allah) – that's any moment now.

Meanwhile Archie's sweater moves laboriously forward. I think I'm in position to finish off the raglan increases today. There's still one more buttonhole to add to the placket. I wonder whether something will have to be done to emphasize the buttonholes? They are formed with simple yo, k2tog's and they totally disappear into the ribbing. But on the other hand, they aren't going to be much used. The sweater will presumably be worn with (say) four buttons buttoned and the other two open at the top. Maybe emphasis won't be needed.

The Meadow Yarn order didn't turn up yesterday, although it was dispatched first class on Monday. My husband always says that first class is a waste of money. It's a lot of money, too – I could have cooked a delicious and nourishing meal for two, in my early married years, for what a first class stamp costs now.

Archie himself has an exeat this weekend – they seem constant. As I am fond of remarking, the more you pay for education, the less of it you get. But he is going south to his other grandmother where he will have aunts and uncles and cousins about, preferable to bad-tempered gloom in Drummond Place. I hope we will see him soon, and at the worst I ought to be able to drive him to the airport for the Christmas holiday in December, and squeeze in a fitting before we set out.

Carol Sunday has a wonderful new pattern called “Shakespeare in Love” – cables all over the place, as they seem to be this season, and an uneven hemline to boot. Alas, life is too short to allow one to knit more than about 1/10^th (at a generous estimate) of the things one would like to knit.

Zite – the Mail Online has a video clip (in Serbian) in which a journalist visits some farmers who are knitting willy warmers for themselves. The journalist models one. The video is very modest, and even pixilated at the vital moment so you don't need to worry.