My purple cardigan is going slowly - had some problems with dropped stitches in my first decrease section, so I ended up undoing a night's work and starting the section again. It's looking much better now. Still haven't successfully learnt how to pick up a stitch, or to decrease in purl (left slant), but the decreases I've done are on the very edge anyway, and I figure they'll be invisible once the whole thing is stitched up.

Have knitted my brother a nice scarf in the last two days - black yarn and a multicoloured semi-slubby yarn with lots of browns, beiges, greys, etc. Am blocking it as I type this. Hoping it will stay in the blocked shape as the rib pattern made it rather skinny and curly.

Today I will tell you about my two cats. Marcie is about 13 years old. We're not sure about her age exactly, but she strayed into my family's house 11 years ago, gave birth to kittens, and has stayed with me ever since. So has one of her babies, Pia, who is now 11. Pia has earned the nickname "Wondercat" from a good friend of mine. She is gorgeously fluffy and round and friendly. She is indeed wonderful. Marcie is equally wonderful in a much more subtle and subdued kind of a way. She is very sweet and loving but hates cuddles. Nevertheless, she sits on my desk most of the day when I'm working, follows me to the loo and goes to sleep next to me on the bathmat when I have a bath. She likes to leapfrog over my head in the middle of the night when I'm asleep; very unnerving! Pia is queen of the cat food and will eat until all food is gone, whether it is hers or not. She is obsessed with the goldfish in the pond outside, and loves to watch them being fed in the morning. She even watches them at night when it's dark. Spooky!