My husband has now been four months home from hospital.

Today was a better day – than last Saturday, I mean. Scotland beat Italy by a tidy score, without letting them score anything at all. AND IRELAND BEAT ENGLAND! That one was on a knife-edge until the concluding seconds. England had been pretty well taking it for granted that they would win, and thereby win the Grand Slam, so-called, which would have meant they had beaten every other nation in the tournament. Pride goeth before a fall, not infrequently.

The tournament is now over for this year. We came fourth.

The Tannehill sweater was perfect for rugby knitting, round and round in st st. I got a fair amount done, and am nearly finished with the first skein. It’s lovely stuff. Why did they give it up?

I thought a bit about what to do with all my madetosh leftovers. And you’re quite right, Beverly, about “Tart” – I had forgotten that single skein of red I got to make facings for Archie’s sweater. I’ve found it (I hope – it’s unlabelled) and added it to the pile. I’ve always rather fancied this, from a VK of about 50 years ago:

It’s written for a 4-ply yarn, but I think could be converted to DK without too much difficulty. And I think there would be enough “Tart” for the smallest stripe. On the reverse of this image, that is, on the preceding page of the magazine, is a sleeveless Fair Isle cardigan-vest by Kaffe, his first published pattern, I believe. 

And he is a good idea too, Beverly, as a source of inspiration, except that he so often uses far more colours than I have to hand.  I wanted to have a look at Sally Melville’s “Styles” but I can’t find it. I haven’t looked at it for years, have never knit from it, but that’s no excuse for its not being where it ought to be, on the “design” shelf with the other Melville’s.

Beverly, you’re right, too, about recording FO’s in Ravelry. My practice is to date the pattern leaflet and put it, or my notes, or at any rate something, in a manilla folder. When it gets too full for comfort, I transfer the contents into a box file and start again. I have been doing this since sometime in the ‘70’s. But it’s a bit messy and sometimes incomplete. Ravelry would be much more secure.

I took a guess and looked today in the box file that runs from the late 70’s through the early 80’s, and found several things from my Fair Isle Phase. The notes for two of them had, as a notation of the needles used, “9 and 11”. That takes you back. 9=3.75mm so I’ll try both that and 4mm. I’ve got short circulars for both those sizes. Are they so short that my hands will hurt?

So I’m ready to attempt the Feral Knitter’s swatch-scarf. She suggests 128 stitches on a 16” circular. Any day now.