After a fairly droopy day yesterday, I suddenly felt much better in the evening. Today we’ll head for the hills. Back here Wednesday, I should hope, with a full report on the peas. There hasn’t been a similar improvement in the weather.

Alas, Roobeedoo, I don’t think Loop is quite ready for me yet. The new colours are listed at the bottom of the page – without illustrations. I went to the madeleinetosh home page and tried for a while to find the colours, but the range is considerable and they aren’t listed alphabetically and I decided it was a ridiculous waste of time to persevere. Also, there are still a lot of out-of-stocks among the colours they’ve had all along. “Lichen”, “Graphite” and “Duchess” are all high on my Possible list, and all are still out-of-stock.

Admittedly, there are some which are illustrated and available which would do. “Milk” is an interesting one. But is “would do” good enough, when I have waited so long and am going to spend so much? I’ll hold out for a few more days, anyway. That steam-driven computer in Strathardle should be up to this job, just about.

I’ve done a full repeat of what is going to be the central panel of my Aran sweater. It was worth swatching – I think I’ve got the hang of the pattern now, and of Starmore’s chart, but it wasn’t entirely easy. Traditional Aran, like Fair Isle, goes in for simple, memorable rhythms. This meandering Celtic stuff is harder to get to grips with. But I love the result.

Disregard the colour entirely. I posted a picture a few days ago of the whole box of yarn, photographed in the sunshine. That was much better.

The fabric seems a bit stiff. I think I’ll try another half-repeat, at least, with the next size larger needle.

(Having written the paragraph above, I began to wonder about the good old River Maeander, in south-west Turkey. Do the Turks still call it by the name which has given us so pleasant and useful a word? Hard to say, is the answer. It’s called Buyuk Menderes now, and “Menderes” could be “Maeander”. The m and the n and the d and even the r– it must be. I have been much struck, in later life, by how many native American place names there are on the East Coast of America, from Manhattan to Nantucket. The early European settlers must have talked quite a lot to the people who already lived there. I don’t think the Turks had that much truck with the Greeks they displaced.)