Let’s keep calm, and make a list.

There really needs to be a name for these last few days before the solstice, of darkness, fear, and hope. “Advent” is too mild. And I love your idea, Gretchen, of a “slow Christmas” movement. But I suspect we haven’t a hope.

My husband had a much better day yesterday, cough subdued, out of bed for much of the day. Antibiotics are clearly working. But he is still weak, and looks drawn, and has expressed doubt about whether he will be able to go to Loch Fyne for Christmas. James and his daughters (not, alas, Cathy and their eldest, Alistair) will be here on Friday. Alexander and his family will come over on Saturday, the brothers’ only chance to see each other this holiday.

(We have a good local delicatessen and, if energy serves, a great one, Valvona and Crolla, not all that much further away. That takes care of lunch except for clearing the Christmas card operation off the dining room table and I wonder if I have washed the tablecloth since my husband’s birthday.)

And I must wrap the presents for Alexander’s family and for Rachel’s (who are expected at Loch Fyne on Boxing Day) so that they can go back with him on Saturday, just in case we don’t make it. I’ve done the James-Mileses.

I am pretty sure each one of you has a similar list. It doesn't sound so bad, anyway, when you write it down.

Knitting (a much more manageable subject)

I did spend my osteoporosis-half-hour this morning with Arne & Carlos. I’m doing Pattern 43, the Christmas Pig, which is interesting because there are only two pigs, not four – that is, the four sections of the bauble are not identical this time. I’ve got up to 12 stitches per needle, 4 more to go, and have established the feet of the pigs.

And last night I turned the heel of the first KF hand-dyed-effect sock. I did reinforce it, which was irritatingly fiddly. My husband has one pair of Oliver’d socks, and likes them – I’m late, and won’t look up the link. So I’ll do that again.

We have ordered a couple of things from Amazon.fr in our day, the most recent a work on the control of moles which had been recommended in the FT. This morning I had a message from them, all in French, about some knitting books I might be interested in. That’s what I call an algorithm! I’m afraid I ordered “Tricot- Modèles originaux et variants” simply because I felt so flattered. I’ll tell you about it when it turns up.

Mark Lou, thanks for the tip about “strikkegarn”. I’ve google’d that, and sources seem to be plentiful. Maybe Dale has decided to concentrate on selling ready-made sweaters and sort of abandoned Heilo. Doesn’t “strikkegarn” just mean “knitting yarn”? I remember Candace Eisner at Camp Stitches on Lake George in ’99 telling us that she had scoured the world for a man whose name meant “knitting” and when she found him, married him. Candace Eisner Strick.