All went well – and today is starting well. I often lie in bed in the morning and pick which, of the chores which press and worry me, I am going to attempt to deal with. Today it was two bothersome financial ones, and I have dealt with both (=dealt with one, written an email which holds the other at bay) and it’s only 8:05.

Thomas’ and Lucy’s and Juliet’s visit was a great pleasure, enjoyed not least by my husband:

I’ll have better pictures soon, when other people’s pictures have been accumulated. Here, meanwhile, are:

Lunch on Tuesday. Helen is handing Juliet to her mother, Lucy. Her husband David is standing behind her. That’s Alexander, in the window. And:

Juliet with Archie.

Knitting

I am grateful for your help with the sock problem. I counted two separate socks from my husband’s drawer, and the answer seemed, in both cases, to be 80 rounds, ribbing to heel. That doesn’t feel right. I’ve done 90, and yesterday began the heel flap

And yesterday evening, I actually got back to the Uncia and am now ready – bar one row – to start the first chart. As I was knitting row 149, I remembered that I hadn’t put the rubbish out. That’s a vital and rather strenuous weekly chore, the harder to remember because it occurs in the evening. I put some clothes back on and got it done – not too late, after all. But that was enough, for knitting.

I bought Liz Lovick’s Pierowall Vest pattern. I doubt if I’ll actually use it, because I think, at a fairly cursory reading, that the stitch pattern isn’t vertically symmetrical (I hope I’m using those terms correctly). One of my great pleasures in Fair Isle knitting is the mantra-like effect, row by row, of the pattern that doubles back on itself: 3-1-2-1-5-1-2-1-3. Sort of thing. I made that up at random.

But she has much to say of interest about choosing colours. Where did she get those wonderful mini-skeins? It seems, again on a cursory reading, that she uses an equal number of foreground and background colours, meaning, I think, that the colours keep the same relationship to each other but not to the stitch pattern.

Whereas in my Odham’s-Encyclopedia-inspired system, background and foreground colours are different (say, 6 of one and 7 of the other).

Much to think about.