All well. I did my garden outing, all by myself. One almost begins to feel that God is laughing at us, with this preposterously beautiful spring. Had things been otherwise, C. and I would now be gathering ourselves together for our cruise, sailing from Oban on the 10th of May -- planning for our cats (me) and worrying about her unborn grandchild (C.). At least we are spared those anxieties.

The Virus Scarf is coming on nicely. Tomorrow I will have to wind the second 150 gr ball of the base colour. It would be cheating to stop when I thought I had wound enough – wouldn’t it?

Andrew and Andrea posted today, as promised, and are delightful. Theirs is really a terrific McGuffin – she an expert knitter, with all that that involves in willingness to unpick and unpick again when things aren’t right; he a willing beginner. The main interview today is with Alasdair Post-Quinn. I am absolutely sure that double knitting is something I will never attempt (let alone master) – but there is no doubt as well that his work is interesting and inventive and beautiful, if you’re up for it.

And Andrea, as always, is a first-rate interviewer. Time is not wasted.

Non-knit

I should probably leave this out.

I (and a lot of others) had a message of encouragement and sympathy today from Prince Charles. I am a Marshall Scholar, and he is our patron. I didn’t even know that. I was one of the original 12 Marshall Scholars, in 1954 (like one of those dim apostles you can never remember the name of). When we set sail from NYC – for that was the way the sea was crossed, in 1954 – Prince Charles was coming up to his sixth birthday, so he probably wasn’t our patron then.

It was a sorrow to me all my married life, that my husband never grasped Marshall Aid (in honour of which, in gratitude for which, the scholarship is named). He had it mixed up with WWI War Loan, probably from having heard his parents grumbling in his childhood, and most inappropriately resented American exigency.