I got Wordle in three. That’s better. My two starter words yielded one green and two brown tiles. I didn’t let myself enter another word until I had thought of one that filled all the requirements – the green in its place, the two browns not in their original places, and no use made of any of the seven common letters I had eliminated. It took me a while to think of a word that qualified, but when I did it worked a treat.

 

And it’s been a pretty good day otherwise. C. and I got around the garden. That’s five days in a row. I advanced the Baby Surprise. I decided that, since I was worried about not having enough yarn, I would knit on until each of the five balls was completely used, even if it meant – as it almost inevitably would – attaching a new yarn on the wrong side. Then I began to entertain the opposite worry – what if I have an abundance of yarn, and this system means that all the colours won’t get used?

 

Well, in that case I’ll know before the end and the final balls can make smaller contributions. Today I finished the first ball. I’m glad I’ve got Cully’s book: after all these years of knitting it blind and bewildered, it’s nice to know where I am. There are quite a few little differences between this original pattern and the one I have been using, although the only one so far is a bit of fulness at the wrist.

I still haven't sewn those buttons onto the Aroon jacket.

 

This week’s Cowal Peninsula essay is a bit tendentious, to my taste. It’s not by Kate herself.

 

I’ve had the monthly preliminary announcement from Amazon that cider will be delivered not this week but next. That means I’ll have some on Mother’s Day which is a nice touch on God’s part. (Mother’s Day in Britain is mid-Lent Sunday, so it moves around the calendar like Easter itself.) But if I want some on Easter, I’ll have to put a bottle or two aside, because the April delivery won't be here by then. I’m quite pleased with my system. It gives me something to look forward to, which diminishes the pangs of temptation.