Snow showers forecast, adding to anxiety. But I think we’re going to attempt Strathardle anyway. If we live to tell the tale, I should be back here at the weekend. Here in Edinburgh, this morning, it is warm, for January, and damp. Today’s stripe in the Sky Scarf is grey again. The scarf so far, indeed, is a rather pleasant study in greys. Blue scarcely figures.

I finished the anthracite socks, polishing off the last few stitches, the Kitchener’ing and the tidying, during this morning’s osteoporosis half-hour. So at least I will have one evening with “moor” when we get back.

You have persuaded me to keep the income tax rebate for something other than Vintage Knits. And Roobeedoo, your blog entry has sent me off on a quest for Knit Now magazine. I was thinking just yesterday how it is the knitted accessories (hats, mitts, scarves, socks) that get used the most – but I didn’t know there was a whole magazine devoted to them.

I don’t always buy books with much expectation of actually knitting from them. Sometimes it is just a vague thought of enhancing my “library”. But there is no doubt that the ones which actually get used are the ones which become part of the family. It was particularly nice, knitting those Christmas tree baubles, to add Arne & Carlos to the party. And a significant part of the pleasure of knitting the Grandson Sweater in ’10 was moving Susanne Pagoldh’s “Nordic Knitting”, which I have long enjoyed, into the “used” category.

What are the books I use, or have used?

Off the top of my head:

Mary Thomas, Barbara Walker, Vicki Square’s book of schematics for basic shapes [there are other such books that would do as well, I think], the Zimmermanns, mother & daughter; Kaffe; Sheila McGregor, Gladys Thompson, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Margaret Stove, Sharon Miller, Gladys Amedro, Lynne Barr. Quite a few, in fact, and I must have missed out several.  I’m pretty sure I’ve never knit a Starmore or a Debbie Bliss, although they occupy quite a bit of shelf space between them.

And I realise that’s not true, as soon as written. My failed entry in last year’s Games, “Aran sweater, any size” is Starmore-based.

And then there are the books of techniques I might get around to – double knitting, brioche knitting, shadow knitting.  I have had “Knit Swirl” down from the shelf the last few days, trying to think ahead to the day when I finally tackle a big Koigu project. It would be hard work to adapt one of those to Koigu, but probably worth the effort.