I’m a bit further forward with the Spring Shawl. (Maureen, if you’re here, avert your eyes.) I’ve started the few simple rows which Sharon calls (I think) “slanting sticks”. They all slant inwards to the centre stitch. We had something like that, but much fancier, with the Princess shawl where some Paisley-type motifs – there’s a name for them, which I’ve forgotten – all nod inwards toward the centre.

This time, I seem to have gotten it wrong. I’ve started the second pattern row, and find (I think) that the sticks in what was the second half of the first row, are slanting in the wrong direction. It’s easily corrected, and I’m doing it – but what if I’ve got it wrong this time?

I’ve had a pleasant and rather strenuous day, starting with a dental appt. The dental surgery is very near at hand, but uphill by two strenuous blocks. C. drove all the way across Edinburgh to give me a much-valued lift. Teeth were fine, and are now brilliantly (and expensively) polished.

An hour or so later, C. and I went to see “Mustang”, an interesting film. It concerns a programme – you may know this – in which prisoners in American jails tame mustangs (of which there are an astonishing number). The horses are then sold at auction and the profits support the programme.

The film is at many points violent, and prison life is unattractive. The director is a woman, with a fancy, unfamiliar name – she’s good. The story has the core of sentimentality which you might expect from such a plot. It’s well-buried and brings tears to the old eyes when it comes.

Andrew and Andrea, sure enough. I realised at the end of the afternoon that I hadn’t heard from them. I usually get an alert from Patreon -- had something gone wrong with my patronage? But all seems to be well. The alert had been classified as a Promotion, for reasons only known to Googlemail. I haven’t watched much of it yet. The prime subject is a Danish designer, unknown to me.

And all is well with Phineas Redux.