Septuagesima Sunday

Scotland lost, as usual. Takes the pressure off the knitting schedule, anyway. I found it a scrappy, unsatisfactory match. When England beat Scotland in the Rugby World Cup recently – off in the Antipodes somewhere – the match was far more exciting. Or did it just seem so to me because it was played early in the British day? whereas yesterday I was already exhausted by kickoff time.

There were passages of good play, but the England defence held, and Scotland didn’t score a try. As usual.

We had a nice time with the Mileses. They are going to host Easter again, with Rachel and her family coming up from London. That will be something to look forward to, through the tedium of Lent.

Two knitting decisions, a propos:

n      I think it will probably be best to photograph the sky over there every morning and knit the relevant stripes into the Sky Scarf when we get back, rather than travelling with a whole bag of oddballs. Even this morning, six weeks into the year, I needed an entirely new yarn to express a golden glow in the eastern sky. The designer doesn’t discuss the question of moving about, I don’t think. But nobody stays in the same place for 365 consecutive days, do they?

n      When the current socks are finished (soon), I’ll cast on a pair for Ketki, who didn’t get any socks in ’11. If I apply myself industriously while we’re there, I ought to be able to reach the first heel. I will try something different, while I’ve got Ketki on the spot to try it on. It can be part of my vague experiment-in-’12 project.

I’ll have a look at the Flutterby socks (which come with Sockupied, but have to be downloaded separately), as you suggest, Bonnie, for the sake of the Sweet Tomato Heel. Love the name. Queer Joe likes his own version of the “Andersson heel”. I google’d it, but it seems to be exclusively toe-up and there, for the moment at least, I draw the line.

n      The cast-on would be fiddly, and would deprive me of the pleasure of that little bit of Kitchener at the end.

n      The ribbing comes last – a bit like eating the icing first.

n      I am not confident in my ability to achieve a sufficiently elastic bind-off.

And I’ve got nothing if not books – I’ll read up on heels. There is much sensible advice in yesterday’s comments, for which I thank you.

Non-knit

Helen and her eldest son Archie are due in London today, whence they will set off tomorrow to look at a possible school for him. England is suffering badly from snow this morning (none in Edinburgh). I hope they’ll be all right.