Alexander came over from the west to visit his father yesterday; I stayed home. Helen came, with a Romanian cleaning-woman/friend who is thinking of relocating to Edinburgh. She’s wonderful, and so is Helen. They blitzed the house and did all the ironing. I now can’t find anything, but it’s all clean and organised. Today Helen and I and her middle son Mungo will visit my husband – Mungo on the threshold of the Oxford Experience.

So the only knitting was the Uncia. I’ve done 209 rows – and had trouble in the 209^th. I found myself a stitch short at six equivalent points in the row, so I added one at each point. As soon as I picked it up this morning, I saw my mistake – I had misread a cross-two symbol as a cross-three, so of course I was short a stitch. I think the result will be fudgable. We’ll soon see.

I should have known. 209 is not mentioned in the errata. This very complicated pattern has been very meticulously edited. The fault had to be mine. The moral is, perhaps, not to attempt the Uncia after 6 pm.

No hospital meant no Whiskey Barrel sock.

Jared has a new collection ready: wow! I feel myself increasingly drawn to a yoke sweater – you’ll see the relevance of the remark when you follow the link. I’ve already bought Kate’s kit for “Miss Rachel’s yoke”. All I need to do is knock off a couple of UFO’s, and I can add it to the rota. But that won’t be this week or next.

Isabella, thank you (comment yesterday) for your encouragement on the Debbie-Bliss-cowl front. I think it will probably happen, with you as the enabler.