Archie is safely in Athens, and my sister is snowed in. Both Helens – Archie’s mother and my sister -- phoned yesterday.

My sister has power but no internet. Presumably they have plenty of food – they’re used to this sort of thing, in CT. Snow was still falling as we spoke, but an enterprising youth had already knocked on the door and contracted to dig out their driveway. The roads are forbidden to all but essential and emergency traffic. I don’t think they could do that in Britain for anything short of a nuclear attack. It’s kind of fun, deep snow, until you find yourself starting to have a baby or a stroke.

Bless you, Allison. “Ikat” was indeed the word I was striving to remember, and I don’t think I would have got there without you. I had got as far as “Koigu” when your comment came in – and I knew that wasn’t it. And you’re also right about centenarians and their families. My sister was just back from Dallas, where she had been involved in our very dear Aunt Louise’s 100^th birthday.

Aunt Louise is our mother’s brother’s widow. She lives at home, with carers, in the house I remember although I haven’t been there since Alexander was a toddler. A near-by daughter comes in every day to run the household. She – Aunt Louise – is the one who was waiting at that luncheon which President Kennedy’s motorcade never got to.

Tricia, thank you for the pointer to the Pooled Knits group on Ravelry, which I find, to my somewhat embarrassment, that I am already a member of. I should spend more time with Ravelry. It’s a marvellous resource.

Mary Lou, geometric intarsia has a sweet rhythm of its own, once you reconcile yourself to making rather slow progress. I have tried and failed to knit Kaffe’s cloud-like designs, but Tumbling Blocks and its variants are a different story. But look at me – not going back yet to that jacket in my sidebar.

I started swatching for the tee-shirt, on 50 stitches, and so far the st st curl is simply following me up. Purling is uncomfortable after the delicious experience of an EPS. I wonder if the main part of this thing could be done in the round? And I find that I don’t have any beautiful Knit-Pro Symfonie circulars of appropriate gauges for sock yarn. I am richly endowed, by now, with all I could ever need for sport-weight.

So there’s scope for some self-indulgence.

And Scotland won a rugby match! That’s more than France have done, so far – and at the end of this afternoon (my date with Brian O’Driscoll) Scotland will be level with either England or Ireland at won one, lost one. A brief, illusory glory, I fear.

I won’t be here tomorrow. I’m going for a walk with our niece, and will need the early morning hours to organise my husband’s breakfast and lunch.