Archie is safely home in Athens.

The latest news about the plane crash in the French Alps is infinitely depressing.

It turns out – or so they told me, when I got there yesterday – that my hair appt is for this morning. So that's still to be done. Today's other major activity is to pack for my husband. I have been making a careful list all week – it should just be a matter of ticking things off. An email from Rachel this morning suggests that all the food he will require en route should be on board at departure, so that's something else to do. She's taking a train up after work and will – insh'Allah – be here late this evening. He's a notoriously slow starter. We'll have time to bustle about in the morning.

On top of everything else, a tour bus crashed near the Rest and Be Thankful yesterday, and the road is closed. That may affect Alexander's journey here tomorrow.

This is a picture of my Chinese chillies in our friend's kitchen. I am sure they will be far happier there. I have them in a north-facing window, no direct sun, far from ideal, because that is the only window in our kitchen, and it's warm in there.

Knitting

After reading all your kind and helpful comments yesterday, I pulled myself together and tinked two and a half long and laborious rows, and re-did that cable cross. Although I'm sure you're right, Kristie, that I would have forgotten all about it ere long. At least I grasped in time that I could stop tinking as soon as I had released the mal-crossed cables, turn the work at that point, and start re-knitting at once.

This is an image from the Loop website. The pattern was designed for them although also, I believe, available on Ravelry. I hope I'm not violating copyright.

As you see, there are three ribs involved in each of the two cables. The impression is that the inner rib and the outer rib change places at each intersection, while the centre one continues uninterrupted. That's not true. The centre rib becomes the new inner one. The outer rib takes its place in the centre. It looks like one operation, but it takes two cable rows, four rows apart, to bring it about. Most ingenious, and a lovely effect.

So a mis-crossed cable (I had crossed the wrong rib over the wrong rib) is worse than a simple over-which-should-be-under. I'm glad I re-did it.

There are only a few yards left in the first skein of Whiskey Barrel. More winding looms. I'm going to change the basis for awarding percentage points in the sidebar. I will assume I've got enough yarn and that therefore each skein consumed (there were eight) represents 12.5% of the knitting.

The other thing perhaps to do, today or tomorrow, is to get the Pakokku socks re-started, for knitting aloft. I took them to the dentist on Wednesday and found myself in some sort of muddle and ripped it out. It would be nice to knit these socks for C., who will be travelling with me. But I am sure she has small feet and the other time I tried, Pakokku didn't swirl properly over 56 stitches. It needed 64.

So I had cast on 64 this time – that restricts the possible recipient-pool to Greek Helen or Ketki. But, apart from the muddle, it didn't seem to be starting off in a swirl so I am trying 56 stitches again and we'll see what happens. It would be good to do a few rounds of that so that all I have to do on the plane is take them out and get going.

I'll try to post a final pre-Athens bulletin tomorrow, after the London-bound party has departed, therefore several hours later than usual.