All well. They should be taxi-ing out for take-off any moment now.

David and Helen went out to Merchiston yesterday to spend the afternoon with Fergus, since they couldn't be at the beginning-of-year service for boys and parents this morning. They came back to say he is now happy as Larry, beginning to make friends, full of talk about what he has been doing and is about to do. He will make his first public appearance in a kilt at the service today, and wants to get to Marks and Spencer to buy a polo shirt to wear with it at a forthcoming ceilidh.

(Archie went to a ceilidh early in his Merchiston career, tripped and fell during a reel, and hasn't been to another, nor worn a kilt happily since.)

So that's good.

I got a customs charge bill yesterday, surely for the yarn from Jimmy Bean. That was quick. I've paid, but it won't be delivered until Wednesday perhaps because tomorrow is an English bank holiday. That gives me time, I hope, to finish the dog and give my husband's new sweater, whether it turns out to be Whiskey Barrel or Roasted Hatch Chillis, the dog's place in the rota.

I also got “Free Spirit Shawls” yesterday. It's good, although I really don't need another shawl book. There are a number of interesting designs, many of them neckerchief-type. Gunderson's “Heath”, for which I bought the book, is a particularly happy use of Noro Taiyo sock yarn. I need more time, and must start making better use of the time I've got.

I moved the Tokyo shawl onwards yesterday, at least somewhat. Today's target is to finish the 22^nd band (of 29) –  which will be the end of the current Tokyo session.

I have been thinking of extending it, as a couple of Ravellers suggest. The pattern consists of a series of bands, alternating st st and reversed st st (so that the finished shawl will be reversible). Two broad bands followed by a narrow one.

I think this means that it takes six bands for the pattern to come back to its beginning: st st broad, reversed st st broad, st st narrow, reversed st st broad, st st broad, reversed st st narrow. So if I extend it, I should be prepared to do that much, and should ensure that I have enough yarn to do it, so that the ends of the shawl will match each other. Maybe that's too fussy, but I think it's necessary.

Non-knit

All the food writers seem to have discovered health simultaneously this season. I bought Jamie's “Everyday Superfood” this week, on sale cheap at the supermarket. Some good stuff, but largely too crunchy for my toothless husband. I think I'll get Diana Henry's “A Change of Appetite”. Nigel and Nigella are waiting in the wings.