Another day. A dear friend – the one whose dog I hope to knit when life calms down – has offered to come and look for the missing iPad. I have to agree with her that either it is still here, or we have had a thief in the house. Not a pleasant thought, and I still believe it unlikely.

Knitting

Mary Lou has sent me a beautiful skein of Shibui linen in a good navy blue. I would have cast it on last night when I finished the silk square, but that as so often I was tired and chose the line of least resistance. I cast on the ball (already wound) of Rowan Cotton Glace which I bought that day when I also got the Rowan linen.

And I am full of enthusiasm. Cotton Glace makes my garter stitch look good – that's little short of a miracle. And the colour is right (I think). It would be a bit small if I made the square to the pattern, so I will enlarge to six or six and a half inches and send to London for comment.

I am using an utterly basic pattern which a cyber friend suggested – and which I had on the iPad last Thursday evening, the 5^th, when I embarked on this adventure. Cast on 4. Knit 2, YO, knit to end. Repeat that row until you have 44 stitches (or until you decide it's big enough). Then knit 1, k2tog, YO, k2tog, knit to end. Repeat that one until you are back down to four stitches. Cast off. It's a washcloth pattern, and a good one.

London may want something fancier. This will give us a basis for conversation. And who would have thought that I could knit garter stitch?

The new IK turned up yesterday. I don't think there's anything to push ahead of anything else in my HALFPINT queue, but I like the little faux-gansey on page 39, and was most interested in the article about Coopworth American gansey yarns.

I have knit with Frangipani (see p. 16) – a pink gansey for Ketki using Beth Brown-Reinsel and “Mrs Laidlaw's pattern” from Gladys Thompson's marvellous book. It appears to fit well. She (Ketki) wears it sometimes to rugby matches where I suspect it serves as excellent armour against the weather – just what a fisherman needs.

The whole issue left me feeling that spring is stirring, and a new year begins here.

Non-knit, and very local

For my two or three readers with access to Broughton Street: Mr. Bee, of “Something Fishy” at the top of the street, is soon to retire. We have been buying fish there for the 20 years we have lived in Edinburgh, because Mr. Bee, and his brother who kept the shop before him, can fillet a fish. In Birmingham where we used to live, we were constantly picking little bones out of our mouths and didn't attempt fish very often.

The good news is, there is to be a new Mr. Bee, nephew of the current incumbent, son of the previous one. He will be the 5^th generation of the family to be an Edinburgh fishmonger. He is tall and handsome. The down side is, he has no previous experience of fish-filleting. I told him yesterday that he was following not one but two grand masters.

“No pressure, then”, he said.