Grey and wet again. Weather like this in May is said to herald a good summer (and often does). But this isn’t May.

   However, Christiansen’s book on Shetland lace turned up as hoped. (I spelled her name wrong yesterday.) It’s very good. It is entirely devoted to pieces in the museum in Lerwick. Motifs are illustrated, charted, re-knit in modern lace-weight yarn (they look astonishingly different), and given their traditional name when possible. There are no patterns per se. You have to fit them together for yourself.

   I have learned that Shetland lace was almost never worn on Shetland — it was done to earn money. The skill of the spinners was even more extraordinary than that of the knitters. Starting with a sheep — the fine, soft wool under the chin is what was wanted — they plucked and cleaned it, and spun not only super-fine, but ideally, and often, all in one go.

   My own knitting advances slowly. I have finished the bottom hem and started picking up stitches for the collar. I’ve never been much good at picking up stitches. I’m halfway around. All the stitches are picked up at once, but are soon to be divided I gather as the two halves of the collar are knitted separately.

   Wordle:A green consonant this morning and two browns, one v. one c. Not easy, but not agonizingly hard either. I scored four. So did everybody else over here except for Thomas: five. Theo, in DC, another five and as often we’re still waiting for Roger.

   Later: Roger was another four. He and Thomas and Ketki and I approached the solution through the same grid.