We had a nice weekend, and a good party. Thank you for your kind wishes. Everybody is gone now, and sorely missed. Greek Helen, the last holdout, is airborne Athens-wards as we speak.

There was a dark undertow. An extremely noisy party downstairs on Saturday kept me and Rachel and Ed awake for most of the night. My husband, at the other end of the house, escaped entirely. We had a power cut for most of Sunday – we were all warm enough, and fortunately the party lunch had been planned as a cold one, but still... And there was the news from Paris.

Lynn, I got the pictures you asked for, although I haven't seen them yet. My colourfully gloved hands can be seen, I hope, clutching Perdita in the group photograph, and there are others.

Helen made this mosaic – based, of course, on the famous one at Pompeii – for a dear friend who has been at hand with countless acts of kindness to me and my husband throughout this tedious year. It was handed over during the weekend. You may recognise the dog as one I recently knit.

Not much knitting. I have had two medical appts in the last two days – both kept so promptly that I haven't even crossed the final cables on the Greystone hat. I have successfully resumed the Tokyo shawl. I left it, all those weeks ago, with the first row of a stripe done. That was a good move on my part, if I do say so -- it meant that I could start knitting without having to puzzle out which colour to use next. The colous are muted, and November is dark.

Not that the knitting police would shoot at sight if I got it wrong. I have already made at least one such mistake.

The package from Webs is here (costly, this time) with more madtosh Whiskey Barrel DK to finish the Sous Sous and form the background stripe in a half-brioche pullover with Roast Hatch Chillis to the fore.

Thank you for the tips about possible hats to knock out for Christmas using left-over madtosh Composition Book Grey, perhaps with a red stripe. I've gone for the Awesome Hat you suggested, Kristie, because it's DK (as well as being awesome). I feel sure I've had deals with Eskimimi before. When?

I found in Mary Lou's blog the link to this delicious account of the choices facing the stash-reducer – the very job that Gosia and I are devoting our Friday mornings to. Don't miss.