Call for test-knitters! I have a pattern I need test-knitted before I can make it publicly available - we are talking one ball of Rowan Kid Silk Haze plus beads. Knitted lace. Get in touch by email (distantsunATgmailDOTcom) or via Ravelry. Today is Midsummer's Eve. In Denmark they will be lighting bonfires and singing songs right now. I always miss my Danish friends and family whenever special events come around. Midsummer's Eve, or Skt. Hans Aften, is that curious Danish blend of pagan and Christian traditions. You gather with people near water - beaches are popular although many places it will be near a lake - and when dusk falls, you set fire to a big bonfire adorned with an effigy of a witch which is said to "fly to Blocksbjerg" (most Danish names for Hell are places in Germany. I kid you not). Oh, and the Danes sing. We sing whenever we can and, since Midsummer's Eve is a Big Thing, we even have a special song (although most people prefer singing the modern version).

The photo was taken in 2006, my last Skt. Hans Aften in Denmark. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic tonight - especially because I know tonight most of my Danish friends are gathered just north of Copenhagen and I would have liked to have celebrated the longest day of the year with them. The older I get the more attached I become to my personal traditions and I have lost a fair few of them in recent years. It's a bit difficult to stage a big bonfire here in Glasgow without getting arrested for disorderly conduct .. "Honest, guv, I was just celebrating Midsummer's Eve. That old woman burning up? Well, it's tradition.."