It’s difficult to ignore the negative connotations of the words ‘designing’, ‘scheming’, and ‘calculating’ when you’re knee-deep in writing up a pattern. I certainly wouldn’t appreciate being labelled with any of these words, but I have been occupied in them nevertheless. It strikes me that some schematic templates for basic knitted items wouldn’t go amiss either, since it’s a bit fiddly drawing them neatly, though not particularly difficult. I have also been re-reading Edward Tufte’s amazing Envisioning Information (uk | us) for inspiration. I highly recommend it for anyone, even if you’re not interested in design it will help you recognise and appreciate good design when you encounter it. Just flipping through the book is a small epiphany. It is full of beautiful images from many cultures and eras, and the text that accompanies them always appears on the same page; no flipping back and forth! It makes me itch to sort out those indecipherable Arriva Trains Wales timetables.

In the meantime, my boyfriend’s opinion on garment ease brought me a smile: ‘it’s nice if there’s room for two’. Aww.