It’s dark, again. I’ll be glad when I know that Helen is safely back from Kirkmichael.

 

She wrote last night: “The only damage is to the rowan tree – it’s split at the base”. Many Scottish and Irish houses have a Rowan tree, as Google will tell you – they’re to ward off witches. Will ours grow from the roots? Will witches be impressed by a secondary growth? I trust Helen will have a photograph. I deplore superstition, but it seems nevertheless an ill omen with which to face 2022. Maybe it would be better to plant another one. Mr Cochrane the gardener would have to build a little house for it, to ward off deer.

 

It has been a quiet day – in fact I haven’t seen anyone, which is unusual. I did a fair amount of knitting, interleaved with reading Le Carre – goodness, he’s good – and trying with little success to do some more on-line Christmas shopping.

 

Kate Davies’ new club, “Argyll’s Secret Coast”, opens tomorrow. I will be there in the early-morning queue. Her clubs are a wonderful way to navigate the dark months, and the Argyll coast is close to home, in a sense: Loch Fyne, where Alexander and Ketki live, is a sea loch opening off it.

 

(I’ve just had a message from Helen – she’s safely back.)

 

Comment

 

Beverly, you’ve said it. The “Carp-Beth” pattern is in grey only. KD’s one fault is that she doesn’t offer yarn options, as (for instance) Brooklyn Tweed and Carol Sunday do. She even offers some kits which don’t specify what yarn is supplied. I’m sure one could look up the patterns in Ravelry and find out – it might even be possible by that means to see whether the Carp-Beth could be knit in Schiehallion, my fave of her coloured yarns. But that’s too much work for my dulled solstice brain.