Yesterday was an unexpectedly good knitting day. The eye appt went on all afternoon. I had finished off the second pocket square at home, and by the time optometry was over, I was nearly halfway through the third (eight are wanted). I pressed on in the evening, counting up to 62 stitches and then beginning the decreases, before reverting to the Sous Sous.

The simple and excellent pattern I am using begins every row with k2, YO. Or K1, k2tog, YO, SSK, for the decreases. It makes a very nice little edge. But what about something just slightly fancier for the bridegroom himself? I'll think about that, and perhaps turn back to my Craftsy class on lace edgings with Franklin.

(I wish he'd do another class for them. He offers several in real life which I'd like to attend, and he is the most exemplary of teachers.)

And then a bit of Sous Sous. I am poised to do the fifth of ten cable crossings for the back. It is a good thing the yarn – madelinetosh DK in the shade called Whiskey Barrel – is beyond wonderful. Otherwise I would find the knitting tedious – a cable panel embedded in double moss stitch, nowhere to kick up the heels and just knit. But I love it, love what's happening. A picture tomorrow might be nice. Franklin's class on photographing one's knitting might be nice, too, although perhaps not enough for a whole Craftsy course.

Non-knit – a) loss

I was most encouraged by your story of the found keys, Mary Lou – spotted from the back of a galloping horse, indeed (more or less). We're going back to Strathardle this weekend for only the second time after that famous loss. I haven't much hope. Greek Helen asked once if I found I was putting things in odd places – she has clearly been reading the literature on demented parents.

The answer, I think, is no. And anyway, that day, I had no motive to “put” them anywhere. I was pacing about, with the keys in my left hand – Archie confirms that – waiting for my husband to emerge from the bathroom so that we could head back to Edinburgh, leaving Helen and her boys to clean and close the house. The keys dematerialised. I suddenly realised I was no longer clutching them. And they haven't been seen since.

The disappearance of the iPad is equally, although differently, puzzling. Observing my behaviour with its replacement, I don't see how I could mislay it, it is so constantly in use. Could a Bad Man have got in here and snatched it after all? But how? how? Don't forget the near-contemporaneous appearance of that baseball cap on the bedroom floor. That remains unexplained.

Non-knit – b) Scotland

One of you has written to ask what to do on a two-week trip to Scotland next summer. A wonderful question, solutions invited. It depends, of course, on whether you want to eat, or walk, or look at art, or visit gardens, or...

Repairing my own failures, I would want to fit in a mini-cruise of the Western Isles. I don't know if such a thing is offered formally. It could probably be constructed from the ferry schedules. The Isle of Bute would be high on my list. Until I went to Shetland with Kristie and Kath, I had never been to a Scottish island. That's shameful.

Knitting again

Is anyone going to Maryland Sheep and Wool? One of you was planning to buy a couple of skeins of Vampires of Venice for me, but family health problems have prevented her from going. Email me – address in sidebar – if you can help. I can reimburse you with a check in USD.