A better day, today. Not difficult, as yesterday I did nothing at all.

Today

n  I tidied the kitchen somewhat. It’ll have to be more than somewhat, by the time James and Cathy get here on Tuesday to carry me off to Strathardle. It’s a start, however. I now have a dishwasher, which makes things easier, but still, a finger has to be lifted.

n  I watered the plants. That sounds easy, but I have a lot of pots out there on the step, and water is fearfully heavy.

n  I cleaned the litter trays. That’s easier than it sounds.

n  I got all the way to the corner shop to buy the weekend Financial Times and some Brillo.

And there will still be time, after my nap, to do a couple more things – pay an important bill and perhaps sweep the kitchen floor; plan the meal with which to welcome James and Cathy on Tuesday. And do some knitting, I hope.

I sit here surrounded by Zimmermanns, plucked from their place on the shelf, I think, to help me decide where to divide Alexander’s Calcutta Cup vest for the armholes. I find myself wondering whether my knitting life would have been different if I had stayed in the USofA. Would I have discovered her sooner?

I think I first heard of her through an article in the Sunday Times Magazine. One was invited to send an s.a.e. for a copy of the Baby Surprise. I still have the mimeographed sheet, now more than a bit tattered. The pregnancy code names of the various grandchildren I have knit it for are all recorded on it.

I think the first was Rachel’s daughter Hellie, now approaching 30. Therefore this must have happened some time in the late ‘80’s. But Woolgathering was launched in the late ‘50’s, not long after EZ started selling patterns to magazines. “Knitting Without Tears” was published in ’71. When were the Public Service television series? And would news have reached me? Until the internet entered my life, in the mid-90’s, my knitting was a very lonely business. And would I have had the wit to let her change me?