Today is the day we are going to a funeral. Our friend was once a Big Cheese in Edinburgh. He had a stroke in 2001, and a miserable time of it since, helpless and clear-headed and cross. It will be interesting to see whether the establishment turns out, or whether he outlived himself. We went to visit him in hospital when it happened, and I learned not long afterwards that Gladys Amedro was dying in that very hospital at that very time.

HK Handknit

You still haven’t heard about my visit there last Thursday. Helen and I went because she had heard that they had the new KF sock yarn. And they did! I bought two pairs-of-socks-worth. I cast on one of them on Friday morning, in the last few minutes before we left for Glasgow.

And look at this, knit on the bus journeys and while sitting about in Alexander and Ketki’s house on Friday evening:

I’ve loved yarn that changes colour since childhood, but I don’t think I’ve ever knit with one that was quite such fun as this. It’s a sock for Rachel, who
a) wears socks a lot;
b) likes them short in the leg; and
c) has small feet.

So she’s the ideal subject for trying out sock yarn on. If I can maintain this pace, I should be able to finish this pair easily in time to leave them behind with her in London when we go down later in the month – 4 ½ hours on the train going south, six nights there.

Alexander liked the look of them, so I will probably knit the other KF yarn for him.

I also fell for this:

It’s called “Araucania”, hand-dyed in Chile. And it’s a bit more sophisticated than you might expect, being 25% polyamide, like a sock yarn, and therefore machine washable. I need some knitting for Strathardle, now that Ketki’s gansey is finished. I had thought to take Rowan “Tapestry” to knit something for one of the little boys. Now I think I’ll take this instead, for its superiority in the washing machine.

I’ll have to swatch it, though, before I can run it through “Garment Styler” to generate a pattern.

Back at the ranch, I have pressed on with the Shawlette, and should finish this evening.