Progress, all round. Alexander rang up yesterday to talk about arrangements for Easter. Maybe Lent will end, one day! The sky is blue again this morning. I should finish Ketki’s socks this weekend. Athens sounds pleased with the idea of my knitting kilt hose.

In more detail…

Lent

Tomorrow is Laetare Sunday, the traditional day for mid-Lent relaxation (if you’re keeping the Sundays at all, as I am – strictly, they aren’t part of Lent, and if you count, you’ll see that there are 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday without them). I’ve got some cider lined up. Rachel’s daughter Hellie and her lovely boyfriend Matt will be in NYC, for reasons which I hope to fathom when we meet on the shores of Loch Fyne. Something about work. My sister and her husband are going down to the city to have lunch with them, and looking forward to taking a glass or two of wine.

Socks

I’m round the heel and cruising down the foot of Ketki’s second sock. I have decided what to cast on next for the emergency bag. Whatever it is, should progress considerably over the Easter weekend. Well: it will be the Crazy Zauberball Kristie gave me, for myself, with an afterthought heel.

I figured that was something I could master and not have to worry about peering at an instruction book while the party happens around me. I’ve done it, just now, although it took a while to find a tutorial that cut to the chase. Everyone seemed to want to be cute, or to take up a whole 15 minutes (plus loading time) on YouTube. But here’s a good one.

The Van Gogh "Bedroom at Arles" yarn, and the Italian flag, arrived yesterday. What treats are in store!

Kilt hose

Helen writes: “Socks knitted by his grandmother will blend in much better than a pair of bought ones which will only be striving in their bought-ness to look as if they were made by someone's grandmother. You can ask him what colour he'd like and we'll scour the Merchiston on line photo albums to make sure the colour is more or less what everyone is wearing.”

I haven’t yet found a European source for the solid-colour Schoeller & Stahl Fortissima Socka recommended by the Kilravock pattern-writer (link yesterday). Lots and lots and lots of self-patterning. Buggered if I'll order from America and pay tax to re-import it into the European Union.  Robeedoo, I like the OnLine yarn you recommend and will go for that if one of the colours turns out to suit.

Vest

I'm beginning to look forward to getting back to it. The interval has been just right. Ron, thank you very much for the Zimmermann references. I've now read Meg's newsletter – how did I ever get unsubscribed to that? I have rectified the omission – and am ready to roll.