Little to report. The first event today should be the district nurse coming to have a thorough look at my husband's rash. In a few hours he will have been home for a whole week, on the whole successfully.

We had a power cut yesterday for over an hour. It took this computer (a portable which I run on electricity, without even its battery in place) a long time to recover from the blow.

Knitting

I did take the v-necked vest back to the “v”, and had quite a good knitting day thereafter. I have recovered most if not all of the lost ground, and am being very careful. Patience and Judith, I have joined the two sides as you do – it certainly helps. Mary Lou, I had considered, even before your comment arrived, doing the two sides separately, and may well try that solution another time.

I keep looking at those Roasted Hatch Chillis and thinking about a cosy fisherman's rib for myself. Somehow or other I keep seeing cosy fisherman's rib patterns, not that one would need much of one. I nipped over to Jimmy Bean just now to refresh my memory yet again on the phrase “Roasted Hatch Chillis” and was gratified to see that they only have three skeins. I've got a whole sweater's-worth.

But first I've got to finish something. And then preferably something else.

I tried yesterday to buy Viveka Overland's new book about Bohus in Swedish and English, but – as has happened before – I got mired down in the Schoolhouse's new website. Amazon lists it but “we don't know when or if this item will be back in stock”. I first heard of Bohus in Sheila McGregor's “Traditional Scandinavian Knitting” and have meant, ever since, to find out a lot more.

Holidays

What happens here is that American commercial holidays creep into the system, in some cases overlaying and threatening to destroy a simpler local tradition. Mother's Day at least is still observed on mid-Lent Sunday here, but is otherwise more and more American. Halloween – which has deep roots in Scotland – is going the same way, pumpkins replacing turnips as the vegetable-of-choice for jack-o'-lanterns, and currently being offered for sale on a transatlantic scale. Easier to carve, I guess.

What we don't have is an American St Patrick's Day. That's strictly for the Irish.

I half-like the idea of standing up to Christmas, but it has to be done thoroughly. We tried, last year, resolving not to give presents but then exceptions crept in and by the end it seemed worse than doing it properly. If I ever have a Christmas when I can please myself and am still on my feet, I'd like to help serve lunch to the homeless. An energetic Polish neighbour does that, having celebrated Christmas Eve in proper Polish style. I could join her.