I’ve been checking Gumtree for cats roughly every twenty minutes all day. In fact, there was a distinctly good one at the top of the list (=most recently posted) when I first logged in yesterday. It didn’t seem quite right, to find a new Hermione so easily – and by now, of course, she’s gone.

There are a great many “ragdoll” cats on Gumtree, at considerable cost. The vast majority of the others are black or black-and-white or ginger. That’s what I don’t want. I’d be happy with a nice tabby. They’re surprisingly rare. This cat (I hope it reproduces well), fully three hundred years old, shows that the design I have in mind is well-established.

I have gone on working on the Soutache, partly because it’s fun; partly because I am afraid I will forget everything I have painfully learned, if I stop for a day. What a remarkable achievement is Nancy Marchant’s, to have devised all this! Carol Sunday (designer of the Soutache) gives her full credit in the pattern notes.

The difficulty is that every increase and decrease must involve two stitches (or four). I am finding increases easy, but haven’t yet settled down with the basic decreases, left and right, which are so easy in ordinary knitting once one has learned that the stitch the needle enters first is the one that winds up on top. I think I should get it soon, and then all should be plain sailing.

I find myself much drawn – and especially, perhaps, at this time of year – to the idea of communal knitting, KALs and subscriptions to yarn packages . I know it would be folly. I have more than enough to do without new self-imposed targets. But…

Carol Feller’s about-to-begin Camira Cardigan is a particular temptation.

Greek Helen has whizzed back to Edinburgh for a mosaic conference, largely organised by herself. She agrees with Perdita, that we don’t need a kitten. I’m afraid I’m too deeply committed emotionally to take her advice.