Yesterday was another tough day on the nursing front.

The knitting of the new hap, however, progressed regardless. Or, irregardless, as we used to say. I have reached the point where the rows seem long, and they will be a good deal longer before I reach halfway. I hope to finish the first 25-gram ball of yarn today. That will make me feel I am getting somewhere.

Maureen in Fargo, thank you very much for your comment. It’s interesting to know that Gudrun recommends knitting the last stitch in each centre row tbl in her Craftsy class – I think I have watched that one all the way through twice, but I had forgotten that. And I think I agree with you, that I like that crossed-leg effect when picking up stitches, although memory is vague as to what I am talking about. Perhaps it is the picking up of stitches from the flat edge of an edging in preparation for my preferred, Amedro-style, borders-inward shawl knitting.

This experience may change my mind about that, at least for basic haps. I do like the look of those loops along the edges.

Mary Lou, it’s hard to compare Gudrun to Sharon Miller’s book because Sharon is so diffuse, describing so many different ways of doing things. I don’t think I had even been aware of what she calls “cruciform” haps, where the shawl is knit borders-inward without mitred decreases at the corners. Whereas Gudrun has written a pattern: do this, do this, do that. It will be very interesting indeed to see how KD handles all this – only three more days now. You’d think there would be balloons outside Kathy’s Knits, but there’s nothing but a hap poster in the window, illegible from street level.

Franklin’s book is wonderful. I long to rush out and buy a set of pens and carefully colour it in. It deserves to be preserved in colour. But the only time available for such an enterprise is Knitting Time – I am sure Franklin himself would be the first to appreciate the difficulty.