A knitting-heavy post today.

I'm moving forward. I got the Tokyo Shawl all sorted out yesterday – I couldn't find a divided container, but I have packed all the yarns in order into a box where they fit snugly, and put it in a fairly kitten-proof place. I also made notes about what each colour looked like. The pattern identifies them by number only.

The Sous Sous is slow – there are lots of stitches, and no st st whatsoever. I am ready for the big cross-over of the 8^th repeat. The redeeming feature, apart from the delicious pattern, is the absolute wonderfulness of Madelinetosh DK in Whiskey Barrel. And I mustn't forget that they now do a sock yarn. Whiskey Barrel will make grand socks.

My current Craftsy class is Mary Jane Mucklestone and a Fair Isle vest. Reminding me that I mean to knit one – I still have the yarn I bought for that purpose at Jamieson & Smith. The Craftsy pattern won't do, because it repeats on the way up. I (think I) know that the proper way is for each pattern stripe to be different, but not very different – you have to look closely.

Meg has designed one such for Knitter's. When I got back from Shetland, I retrieved the relevant issue from my pile and put it in a Safe Place. It is no longer there. It has not been put away with the yarn. I am inappropriately distressed – I can perfectly well design a Fair Isle vest myself. Meg sells a leaflet – it's for a man's vest in sub fusc colours but they could be brightened. What am I worried about?

More thinking for the even-nearer future: as soon as the pocket squares are dispatched, I mean to add a Jack Russell terrier to my WIP list. The pattern is in Muir & Osborne's “Best in Show” and the specified yarn, Rowan Cashsoft 4ply, is, predictably, out of print. I may have found some of the base colour in Nottingham – email for availability, it said, and I did. I found the contrast colour in Houston, TX but when I tried to order a ball, it said I had not reached their minimum order level of $10,000. No kidding. There seems to be some in Singapore, as well. And in some Ravelry stashes, but nobody's letting go.

I've looked at the pattern on Ravelry. Dozens and dozens of people have done it, using whatever came to the surface from stash. There is no need for me to fuss. But I want to get it right.

I was discharged from Ambulatory Care at the hospital yesterday, into the arms, so to speak, of the GP. And today, for the first time, will have neither an injection nor a blood test, just rat poison. Tomorrow I go to the GP for more blood-letting. I gathered, when I made the appt, that this stuff is pretty common.