I think I must be getting better – if only because I got some knitting done. There were days and days in there when I did none, but today, as hoped, I finished the cast-on and started the ribbing of the Kirigami sweater.

I always prefer, with circular knitting, to do a couple of rows back and forth first, to make it easier to join up without the fatal twist. This time, it occurred to me that that wouldn’t quite do – Gudrun must intend the knits to go into the stitches cast-on by the long-tail method, and the purls into the Crossed Germans. And the cast-on ended with two Crossed Germans.

I considered joining the circle straight away, but was uneasy. So I knit back and forth as usual, starting with two purls. But was that right? I have essentially turned the work inside out, from Gudrun’s point of view. It has now been joined up, and looks neat, at any rate.

Ella Gordon has a new podcast. She is enchanting, but her breathless, amateur approach makes one appreciate the hard work Andrew and Andrea put in.

I learned from Ella that the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers (whose lace book I have) have published a book of Fair Isle designs. With a bonnet on the cover which might be just the thing for a great-granddaughter. I ordered it at once. I am tempted, too, by Chihiro Sato’s “Enjoy Fair Isle Knitting”, if only because she is Japanese. It was published last year but came in under my radar.