Blimey. My colourwork is not very good. I started using balls, have had to buy some bobbins. I’ve done one side, and I think I can go down to three of the main colour and only one of the contrast on the other sides. I can carry the contrast across two stitches of main, I’m not carrying the main across 8 stitches of contrast! But it definitely goes faster with bobbins. Sometimes they only have a couple of yards on them for short sections.

The pattern says to use white for the light. I suspect I’ll see if I’ve got a very pale blue instead. (No, have had it confirmed by An Expert that it’s white, so that’s what I used!)

24/9/10 - have just swiss-darned the windows and lettering on the first side while watching TV. Washed and blocking - on to the next side tomorrow!

Base and top knitted as squares from the outside in, which has been very successful. I’m going to make it firmer by lining sides and base with pieces of semi-rigid foam sheeting.

1/10/10 - after a small panic due to finding out I’d made the top panels on two sides too small for the lettering, frogging and reknitting a dozen rows on each, all four sides are now done! I tried embroidering ‘Running In: Please Pass’ on the white notice-board panel but couldn’t make it work, so it’ll just get a few random squiggles and an AA badge. I contemplated ‘stuffing’ it with a box of Yorkshire Gold teabags, but have decided not to on the grounds of cost. However, it may travel to Germany with me unstuffed with the stuffing in a vacuum-pack bag, to be finished off on Friday evening!

5 Oct: I’m calling this ‘finished’, though in fact it will not be till Friday evening, but it’s finished enough for travelling with! I have cut the foam-sheet linings to size, I have the stuffing in a vacuum bag, I have yarn to sew it together with.