Helen came. She judged it still too dangerous for me to go out, and so walked me up and down the house. She has taught me how to use the “Health” app on my telephone which, for a few days at least, will be a great incentive to keep moving. C. was meant to come tomorrow, but agrees that the pavements are dangerous. We'll hope for a day next week -- but the forecast isn't good.

 

And I got some more knitting done. I think there must be about 90 stitches left, of 144. Each one represents a row to be knit – but the rows are getting shorter.

 

I did a bit more pile-tidying this morning (but no more going down on one knee to put a book away) – and found “Glorious Knitting” at the bottom of the pile. It was a great happiness to find it. I knew it had to be here somewhere, but that wasn’t much comfort. Kaffe came and gave a talk at a Birmingham department store once. It was a dark and rainy evening, and there weren’t many of us there, but he was as enthusiastic and inspiring as if we had been an auditorium-ful. I took my copy of “Glorious Knitting” along and asked him to sign it for me. So it’s not a volume I’d care to mislay.

 

My sister has embarked on a beautiful Kaffe cushion in needlepoint. The design is one of circles within squares, and she is finding, as we knitters do, that that sort of thing is harder than his geometric designs with straight lines.

 

Reading

 

Janet and Sara, could you recommend a starting-point for Willa Cather?

Shandy, I’ve read “Barchester Towers” too recently. I agree – in every other respect it’s exactly what I want. In fact, I have re-read all of Barchester and the Palliser novels within the last two years – except “The Warden”, for some reason. I could read that. I bought a late and obscure Trollope this morning, “The Vicar of Bullhampton”. It starts off all right. I gather it contains a fallen woman as a sympathetic character, which was a sensational move at the time. Meanwhile I am re-reading a Ruth Rendell I found in my Kindle, “The Killing Doll”. It’s not very cheerful. I should perhaps re-read a Wexford.

So I’m at a bit of a loss. I don’t think Pym’s “Crampton Hodnett” is going to fill the bill.