Cardinal O’Brien

The lead story in yesterday’s Herald – a Glasgow newspaper – was that the Vatican got in touch with the Cardinal on Friday and ordered him to leave the country. That is, not to move into the house in Dunbar. The story has been removed from the Herald’s website, for whatever reason. Other newspapers have repeated it in the 24 hours since, most of them directly referring to the Herald and none of them adding any further news or any specific source. Here is the Scotsman’s version. The by-line is one that has not been attached to a Cardinal-O’Brien story in the Scotsman before now.

As you can see, everything is anonymous. That has been the way with this sad business from the beginning, except, of course, for poor Keith Patrick himself.

Knitting

There has been a sensational development in the Shetland story. I’ll keep it to myself for the time being. That was just a teaser.

My agent bought two splendid-looking skeins of Pakokku for me at Maryland S&W. (But no Vampires, alas.)

I am three rounds short of the second heel in the Pakokku I’m actually knitting. One of the several merits of the Strong-Fleegle heel is that it is easily memorised. I don’t think I’ll have to refer to a printed text at all for this one.

I had been sort of half-thinking that the new Rowan sock yarn, “Fine Art”, which will burst upon the world at any moment, might be the right thing for the toe-up socks which will actually fit my husband. An appropriate name for an art historian, too.

But there is a review of it in the new issue of Knitting which arrived yesterday. The reviewer – Jeanette Sloan, who used to have a first-rate LYS here in Edinburgh – is enthusiastic about it. But the final sentence is “Cool hand washing is recommended or dry clean with care.”

They must be kidding. Dry clean with care?

So I hesitate. The composition is 25% polyamide, which ought to be OK. Perhaps the answer would be to knit one sock and put it through the normal sock-washing routine two or three times and see what happens.