I have almost finished my shawl

And yet, because it is a circular shawl, all I can show you is a slightly bigger white lump.

I cross out my completed rows in a mad obsessive manner carefully

And, not even that much bigger. Because, as it is a circular shawl, you finish the middle bit quickly and then the edging essentially takes you The Rest Of Your Life. You labour and slave for days and nights, heedless of the passage of time, heedless of the play of clouds, sunshine and shadow, outside your neglected window. Your hair grows. The skin under your eyes darkens. Cross-eyed and frantic, you sit with your fingers working independently of your conscious mind, your body twitching frenetically. Lo! You have knitted a row and added a mm to the diameter of your shawl.

When people say to me, gosh, knitting, I am not sure I would have the patience, do you know what I say? I say, yes, I agree, I am not sure I have the patience either, I shall give up the whole thing and do something easier. Indeed: come on, Andrew Lansley, bring me your white paper or your green paper or whatever it is, I am sure I can draft you out something that will be acceptable to the BMA, Nick Clegg, that woman who told you off, hardline conservatives and popular opinion as evidenced in the Daily Mail and Loose Women, and it will only take me half an hour before dinner and will be easier than knitting this damn shawl.

Entirely hypothetically, if I ever wanted to think about collecting 2 skeins of different-coloured sock yarns to knit a Cladonia at some possible point in the future, does anyone have any ideas about where might be a good place to look?