I’m making real progress. There was a rugby match on television this afternoon, just interesting enough to keep me from having a nap (Scotland lost to Wales). I finished the OXO I was engaged upon when I resumed work on the Calcutta Cup vest, and am now well into the ensuing peerie. Soon I must choose colours – and the pattern itself – for the next (the final?) OXO.

Some will remember, if you haven’t drifted off long ago, that the patterns for the OXO’s are derived from what I call the “Museum Sweater”. Jamieson & Smith offers it as a kit. It is based on an original in the Shetland Museum and the gimmick here (perhaps unique?) is that every OXO is different. Jen A-C charted it for Jamieson & Smith from the original in the museum. And my friend Maureenfromfargo has actually knit it.

I’m not attempting anything nearly so ambitious. All my OXO’s remain the same all the way around, although each round of them is different. That’s the usual way.

The next thing I must do, now that everything is going so well, is to count stitches again and deal with minor discrepancies.

Shandy, thank you for your comment about Fair Isle necklines. I do indeed remember the bit from the interview with Hazel Tindall. I have done that sort of thing myself in the past, boldly cutting out the neckline I wanted from a too-high one. I can’t entirely remember whether I paved the way with basting and/or machine stitching. My experience of life suggests that Fair Isle knit fairly snugly with proper Shetland yarn – which is very “sticky” – scarcely needs such precautions. It won’t unravel.

I must now write an account of my recent Italian adventures for my tutor. I have sent her the account which you have seen, but she says not to try to translate it, but to start afresh and tell the story in Italian. Oh, dear.