I've just heard that AA Gill is dead. I mentioned him in an earlier post, not all that long ago, along with his cancer diagnosis. I don't think anybody expected the end quite so soon. He will be missed. A final column by him, about “Facing up to Cancer”,  is promised in tomorrow's Sunday Times. I can safely predict that it will be very good.

What else? I knit a swatch for Ross's hat. Weinstein says, engagingly, "Make a stockinette swatch...to determine approximate gauge." I love that “approximate”. I knit it with two strands held together, as mentioned yesterday. The fabric is distinctly tight with the needle size I more-or-less randomly chose, and slightly uncomfortable to knit. It wouldn’t be quite so bad knit circularly, with no purl rounds. But I may try again tomorrow, up half a centimetre or whatever it is we're talking about, in needle size.  Weinstein wants a tightly-knit fabric, so maybe I’m better where I am.

Swatching is not too bad, once one gets started on it, if one can steel oneself to the fact that nothing will have been accomplished by the end of the day. The great thing is that one is in charge, making a judgment on the fabric rather than the other way around. If one finds oneself thinking, this isn't working -- well, throw it away. It's only a swatch.

Then I did a couple more scallops on the second-side edging of the shawl. Thank you for the algebra, Sara. I'll weigh the ball when I finish this second side and see what conclusions I can draw. The ball appears completely unaffected by all I have knit from it so far.

“Shetland Oo” came today, and is as good as expected. Tom’s photographs are magnificent.