I found the missing skein of madtosh "Tart", sure enough. It was a case of the Purloined Letter. It was in plain sight, on the sofa in the sitting room. The skein itself wasn't visible, but there was the bag it was in, lying there by itself. It had previously been hanging on the doorknob of the stash cupboard. And sure enough, the yarn is much darker than the new skein from Loop. I'll have to knit myself a nice red Awesome hat.

I finished the plain st st part of the Dunfallandy blankie border, as hoped, and have embarked on the garter ridges. I'm doing the purl stitches backwards as requested. When I started, I thought it wouldn't matter much since I am a slow and clumsy knitter anyway. I am about halfway around the first circuit and am getting pretty tired of it.

Here's a snapshot of the current state of play:

I continue to have a nice time thinking about London. I had forgotten the big Celtic show at the British Museum – I'll have to see that. Not many in the crowd will be actively engaged in knitting the Dunfallandy blankie. Liotard at the Royal Academy has already been to Edinburgh. It's a great show.

I'm poised to file the tax, I think. I'll try to get the spreadsheets printed today, and aim to do the actual filing on Monday. If I survive that, I might manage to get my hair done later in the week.

I must also write out the daily routine for Greek Helen and the professional carer, with asterisks against all the items (such as "make porridge" or "turn on central heating") which have to be explained or demonstrated. Not just the routine, but the one-offs. "Put the recycling out on Thursday evening." "Leave the left-hand side of the plate rack free for the cat."

Helen and I will overlap by a few precious hours on Sunday the 24^th.

And I must figure out and write carefully down what yardage of dk I'd need to knit my husband a sleeved sweater, just in case I see the perfect thing at Loop.

Miscellaneous: Queer Joe posted recently about an LYS owner (if I've got this straight) who bought a single copy of a pattern of his and is distributing copies of it with yarn sales. He is irritated, as well he might be. The interest for me is that it is a distinctly nice Koigu scarf pattern. I think I will buy it myself and salt it down.