I had a good time with Archie yesterday – all too brief, as I had to hurry back for lunch. He seemed in good health and spirits. He had a long day ahead – first, quite a while in Edinburgh Airport, since Archie like his father and maternal grandmother (me) likes to check in well ahead of take-off time. The Mileses prefer to skid in at the last moment. Later, a three-hour lay-over in London.

I haven’t heard from Athens yet. I trust he’s safely there.

Nor have I heard from my sister, about how she and her husband are faring in the CT snow.

I got round the Fleegle-Strong heel of that sock. The foot-length looks plausible this time. It’s now in a state where I can snatch it up in an emergency and knit on up the leg. So today I will lay it aside and start swatching for the tee-shirt.

Much energetic behind-scenes action has been going on lately concerned with my 80^th birthday in August. Everybody will be there, in Kirkmichael: we’ll skip the Games, later in the month. The knitting assignments are horrible this year, anyway. The same cast assembled in 2007 for our Golden Wedding Games, except for the notable absence, this time, of my husband’s sister, who died two years ago.

That was a glorious day. I won the Glenisla Shield for Sam the Ram, and our children gave us a golden Scots Pine (pinus sylvestris aurea) which later got eaten by a neighbour’s horse.

This time, it all seems a bit much. We will sit there in the middle of it grinning foolishly like those centenarians photographed with their Loved Ones on their 100^th birthdays. So does one insensibly decline, day by day, week by week.

Just to cheer you up.

Nothing much to report on the knitting front, apart from the above. A blog-review turned up on Zite this morning about the new Cooperative Press book about “Borgello Knitting” which I mentioned a few days ago.

Turns out, it’s a matter of dividing space-dyed yarns into little balls and knitting them as intarsia. No thanks. For intarsia, I’ll stick to Kaffe. And for space-dyed yarns, I still hanker after – no, the word has deserted me. The effect you get when you lay out the skein and determine the length of the repeat and knit accordingly. Somewhere, I’ve kept a link. And sometime today, I’ll think of the elusive word.

But no, to Bargello.

Thank you for your comments about spinning. The Sirens! Through the Looking-Glass! I haven't done anything about it yet, but will at least consider the issue today. I wasn't just kidding when I wondered whether I was strong enough to get to the Edinburgh Wool Festival. It takes a measure of organisation at this end, as well as the actual getting-there. Craftsy is a most attractive option.: I am grateful for the suggestion.