Sometimes...

I really miss Scotland.

That's where I used to live!

~♥~

Glasgow

really is photogenic you know.

Also I may have developed a serious thing for the RetroCam app on Android.



Glasgow Central. I love railway stations at the best of times, and Central is a particularly nice one. The roof is awesome.







Of course, you can't go far wrong with the Botanic Gardens.



and Royal Exchange Square is always picturesque, and a great place to people-watch.

So anyway, to explain, Jules rolled up this weekend for a couple of days. We roamed Glasgow (I walked his legs off hahahaha) did some shopping,(Jules was very patient) wandered the West End, rode the subway and picnicked in the Botanics. I wanted to go to the Necropolis, the photography opportunities are just droolworthy, but SOMEONE didn't get his backside over to my house until nearly 10am. Tut tut.

I realised that I'm growing to really like Glasgow. It's unpretentious and mainly non-touristy, unlike Edinburgh, but there's always stuff going on and something to see. It helps that I'm finally starting to get to know the place (though I still won't drive into the city centre other than on the M8) This trip I saw a group of musicians in Highland dress, and one had a spinning wheel :-) There were also two fabulous steampunk girls on the subway - goggles, cameos, scary contacts, the works. There were also a group of very happy football fans at the station on the way back, singing loud enough to raise the roof...some things will never change...

Sunday we drove out to Loch Lomond, going via Helensburgh and Faslane and up to Tarbert:



Obligatory car pic, somewhere between Faslane and Finnart.

It's actually stunning up past Faslane looking over Gare Loch, but a) there's few places to pull over safely to take photos; b) Jules was driving and c) I didn't want to get shot by the MoD police :-) I didn't see any submarines though *disappointed* but I did see more razor wire in one place than I have ever seen before! We then headed back down the A82 and called in at the Loch Lomond Shores, which kind of knocked me for six a bit. I was expecting a few wee tat shops and coffee and a scone, and found a huge car park, an entire shopping mall, (Jenners! Yay!) food court and an aquarium. The food hall is bloody brilliant btw, and the cake was nice too :-)




The aquarium

We then made the obligatory stop at Nardini's in Largs for meatball baguettes and coffee, and gawped at Scandinavian navy ships pootering about on the Clyde. I need to get some binoculars. Oh and a DSLR with a good zoom lens :-)

All this means I have got next to nothing done of course, but I did iron nearly All The Things today (I ran out of coat hangers) - Bank Holidays have their uses.

♥

Having a Deacon Blue moment

A Ship Called Dignity.

Taken at Lochranza, Isle of Arran, Sep 13th 2009.

Still here! Still here!

Just about :-)

Until May anyway. Yes, I have had to take the fateful step of handing in my notice on my beloved, if chilly, cottage. There's little to be gained by staying any longer, sadly. The job market here still seems terribly depressed, and I'm having no luck with applications south of the Tartan Curtain either - maybe my location is putting people off? I don't know.

So, unless a miracle happens and I get offered a job in the meantime, I will be off back to Staffordshire. My parents have very kindly said I can stay with them until I can get back on my feet financially. Well, I can stay as long as I want actually. It makes sense, as even if I can't command the sort of salary I've been used to, my bills will be reduced to just the car, mobile, investments and internet, rather than the £1000 or so I'm shelling out now each month on rent, tax and utilities.

It's going to be hard though. I will have to put a LOT of my things in storage, and go from a three-bedroomed semi-detached house to one 11 foot square room. Gulp. How long do you think it will be before I get cabin fever? I am determined to make room for the stash, a goodly selection of books, the computer, Caroline the spinning wheel and my rigid heddle loom though. Even if it means throwing out half my clothes :-)

The privacy and peace is going to be a factor as well. Here it is tranquil, the only regular noise (apart from next-door's grandson when he's visiting, who sounds like he is wearing size 10 army boots most of the time) is the sheep baa-ing, the buzzards mewing, an occasional hoot from a coal train and a very distant sound of the A78. Occasionally you can hear the hum of the power station, or the faint sound of their tannoy. At the parents', although it is much better than it was, there are other houses each side, and a main trunk road right in front. The TV is always on, and my parents are both retired so are usually at home. Aargh. There are no snowy mountains to gaze upon, or a beach to stroll on either. Sigh.

It would play hell with my sex life, except I don't have one any more. Le sigh.

There are upsides. I won't need the potassium iodate tablets Ayrshire and Arran NHS dropped round a few days ago (for use in the event of a release of radioactive iodine from the station grin) I won't have to cook unless I want to, I imagine, and there are shops and a pub and civilisation within walking distance. I have good friends down there too, and of course the family, even though I might curse them sometimes :-)

So that's where I am at the moment. I'm still crossing my fingers that a job comes up before all this becomes a fait accompli, but it's not looking too promising. Well, hope springs eternal, right? :-) I would love to get back on the railway if I can. Yes, sad I know. I like trains. No I'm not a trainspotter. I just like the whole thing with trains and stations and all the possibilities they offer. Also I like big, mechanical, noisy smelly things. I should have been a mechanic :-) I enjoyed working on site, although I never went on track. (I don't have the tickets for it.) Shame, cause I'd find it really interesting trackside I'm sure, if a little nerve-wracking - 125mph train right past your earhole :-) Okay, there were times when it sucked, but find me a job that doesn't suck sometimes!

Anyway. I have been knitting:



The Serina shawl from Yarn Forward magazine, done in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4-ply in "Little Foxes" colourway. I'm actually up to the knitted-on edging now, which is of course taking a frigging eternity to finish.

I did some spinning:



This was some left-over-from-plying singles, mixed up with odds and ends in my fibre box. Mainly merino, some Jacob, silk, BFL, Shetland and synthetics. About 200 yards of something approximating a 5-ply / sportweight. Ish. Maybe a DK. I've not tested the WPI yet, it varies a bit through the skein. Which is a good thing. I like my handspun to LOOK like handspun, you know?

Next up I want to work up some Scottish Tweed Chunky into a top-down sweater, maybe a cardigan. I also want to do another shawly-scarfy thing, maybe Ysolda's Scroll Lace, maybe I will design something. Don't know yet. I want something that isn't a standard triangle, more of a stretched-out one, so that it will wrap round my neck better and not have loads of fabric all dangling about. Suggestions gratefully received :-) Also I got "Socks from the Toe Up" by WendyKnits and now want to knit about a zillion pairs of socks.

I wove a poncho-thing! Using stuff from my Berber Jacket, and a pattern out of "Intertwined" by Lexi Boeger, I wove a longish piece of fabric, cut it in half (aargh that was stressful) added a bit of commercial fabric and poof! A poncho-thing. It's not quite finished yet though. It needs something, I just don't know what. Yet.



That's it in progress. Crazy warp. Good fun.

That's me for now. I need to go wash dishes and clean the bath - the landlord wants to bring someone round this afternoon who might move in after I've gone :-( Apparently I don't need to clean or tidy or anything, but I don't want to appear a total sloven :-)

~*~

First FO of 2010!

The Ripenings Shrug. I just need to find a suitable shawl pin.

***

This is the current view outside my house:



That is a sheet of ice behind my car :-(

So I've been playing in the stash to take my mind off it:



~*~

Walk in the Woods

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

From "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" - Robert Frost

Arran

Mainly in pictures today.

On Friday, I went to Ardrossan (thanks Ange for the lift!) and got on this:



MV Caledonian Isles, to go here:



(I really must practice holding the camera level, dammit. My excuse is that it was rather breezy)

And this is (some of) what I saw:














In Other News

October 10th - Ayrshire Craft Fair at Troon. I'll be there, thanks to Ange's very kind invitation to share her stand for the day. I am looking forward to it immensely, but blogging may be a little sparse whilst I frantically craft a few pieces for your delectation (and hopefully purchase) :-D

~*~

Random on a Saturday

Thank God and all his angels, it's the weekend again. Hoo-bloody-ray. The last couple of weeks have sucked most mightily in some ways, which I'm not going to discuss in detail but involve the Man In My Life and also work being very weird. Meh.

So, when all seemed rather grey and miserable, and things were all getting a bit much to be honest - you know, when you're staring out the windows looking for a car that never comes and missing your Mum and wondering what the hell is HAPPENING with your LIFE, DAMMIT, Mother Earth decides to take pity on you and send you a wee reminder that whilst all may be going to shit, there is still good stuff. You just got to look for it.



Sometimes Mother Earth is not so subtle :-) This is her basically going postal on my lousy ass and informing me to cheer the hell up and get over myself (and maybe a few other things too.) She's been sending me awesomely cute baby birds too. Awwwwww.

It's actually not been a bad week in some ways. My landlord dropped me round a bookcase (finally) which is already full and I need more...Yes, my name is Helen and I have a book acquisition problem. Bite me. At least I don't waste my money on drink and high living and unsuitable men. Well, not much anyway. Also my neighbour, along with Colin the handyman, kindly strimmed all the side path and the wild bit of my lawn with a big petrol strimmer so I'm not looking for David Bellamy in the back garden any more.
I had to move my car for them while they did the front (so they didn't ping up a stone and chip it - very thoughtful I thought) On getting out of the car, Colin's adorable big daft collie (which had been rounding up the car while I moved it) immediately bounced on me, knocked me back into the car, pinned me against the wing, vigorously humped my leg and slobbered all over me. It's good to know I'm still desirable, even if it is by another species. It's been a long time since any species thought me worthy of pinning up against something and humping. *sigh*

So amidst being ravished by collies and having rainbows thrown at me, I completed my first spin-to-knit project. Ta-daaaaaaah:



Cosmicpluto's "Simple but Effective Shawl" worked in various bits of my own spindle-spun and some leftover Shunklies handspun. I just unpinned it this morning and need to trim the ends and it's all done. Waaaarm and snuggly.

I've picked up the green ripple afghan again in a drive to get at least something out of Project Spectrum. I want to do Girasole, by brooklytweed, for Yellow / East, so I need to pull my finger out! I also still want to work a green vest. I think PS is going to last a long time for me :-) Lucky it's not a race.

I finally managed to go for a walk with the camera. I hate this camera with a passion (Fuji S5700) it's TERRIBLE in low light but outdoors it does a pretty good job. I still want a DSLR but it will have to wait until I've seen off the electricity bill of doom that I received. Ouch. I'm not sure how the hell I afforded the winter, what with the coal I had to buy as well. I shall have to knit more sweaters and some nice warm socks I think. Anyway, my walk. Here's a few snaps of Scotland when it's not raining:



The lane that leads up to my house, planted with beeches.



Some elderly tree-graffiti



The original gatepost to the farm, at the end of the old access road, which was destroyed by British Steel in the 70's. They were going to build a huge rolling mill right the way across the peninsula. Fortunately it never happened, but a lot of the earthworks were completed before the project got pulled, hence the road being wiped out. I didn't even know this existed before now. I've only lived here for a year...Need to get out a bit more methinks!

~*~

bullet points

Brief Update as things are busy busy Chez Moi.

Friend visiting for a week from Sunday…here are my current preoccupations:

· Much cleaning is ensuing…place was getting a little Withnail-ish for my liking
· I am concerned about the lack of heating upstairs
· terrible rattling noises are coming from the dormer in the bedroom which she will be sleeping, mainly because of the howling maelstrom outside
· the window in there is still letting the rain in (thankyou my efficient landlords)
· I need to scrub the bath, even though it will still look like a hippo has been wallowing in it because the enamel’s worn away, at least I know it is clean even if it doesn’t look it

At least I thought to get some curtains for the window in her temporary bedroom, which cost me £3 (love you charity shop!) and have been washed today, so just ironing and hanging them to do tomorrow, all being well. I’ve mopped the floors, hoovered half the house (other half tomorrow) and shaken out all of the rugs:



Dad’s sweater is coming on, albeit a little slowly, but there is only so much grey stocking stitch a girl can stand in one session.



I felt the need for a little pizzazz in my life, a little less “working to a pattern” and fretting about gauge, so:



I’ve gone a bit freeform. It’s scarily addictive. This will hopefully be a hanging to go over the fire in the lounge, I’ve decided much as I love the picture of Inverie Bay, it doesn’t work where it is currently. As soon as I work out where its new spot is, I’ll shift it.

Other stuff:

· Sewing machine died, in the middle of making a case for my DPNs. Not amused, but I finished the case by hand, and sent the machine off for a wee holiday to Ayr with a nice man called Sandy. He told me the foot pedal was full of spiders. How embarrassing. :-)
· I’ve begun stocking up on quilting kit (see above for minor hiccup in timing.) Because what I need in my life is another fibre hobby, naturally. Ahem.

· I haz a sofa! Well, sort of. I picked up a sofa and two armchairs last week in the village saleroom. I must admit, it is as ugly as sin. However that’s what throws were invented for, it is comfy and I am not short of a crocheted blankie or two to throw over it. How much? £40. For the lot. I also snaffled two bedside cupboards FINALLY, another £40 then a tenner for delivery. £90 total – yay me. Credit crunch? Moi? Only thing is, because the sales and deliveries and that are all run by the Initiative volunteers, they’ve not been able to deliver it yet. Fingers crossed it arrives tomorrow…

· My train packed up yesterday on the way home from work. Arrived at Saltcoats, after coming past some fairly dramatic waves, the sort that make me want to make a hearty donation to the RNLI and thank my lucky stars I’m not a fisherman. We pulled in at the station, usual OP, then *click* out went the lights. Eventually they were restored, and we proceeded on our way. A sheepish announcement came over the Tannoy from the guard – “We would like to apologise for the delay. This was caused by a wave breaking over the train and cutting off the power.”

So…let me get this straight. This is First ScotRail we’re talking about, and this line is one of many that runs close to the sea up here. You’d think they would have come across this problem and sorted it by now, surely... So anyway, my train had a fit of the vapours because it got wet. That is kinda funny J but it does make me hope a nice tasty job comes up closer to home soon, because if the train is going to die each time the sea looks at it sideways, it could be a very long winter of commuting ahead…

· Speaking of the “W” word (work, that is, you with the dirty mind at the back, stop it) they’ve announced redundancies. Oh great. The guy who sits almost opposite me is one of them. He doesn’t seem to be too worried, but even so. Gulp. I hope its not catching. I have visions of having to return to Staffordshire and live in Mum and Dad’s shed, condemned to endless evenings watching EastEnders. Either that or packing the yarn and moving to some semi-derelict black house on a wee island somewhere where I can survive on a barter economy and maybe growing vegetables, with the wind howling and me huddled round a peat fire at night-times to stave off hypothermia.

· My hair has gone insane. I think it’s the weather.

· It is raining. Again. I know this is Western Scotland and it rains a lot, but really? It’s a miracle the whole western half of the country hasn’t rotted away or dissolved. However, on the positive side, I think I am becoming more accustomed to it. I am growing webs between my toes and my gills are coming on a treat.

· I have burned my way through almost half a ton of solid fuel and almost quarter of a ton of coal in an alarmingly short space of time. I need to devote some time to timber-hunting on the estate (I can help myself to any fallen wood) and I also need to knit faster so I have more woolly jumpers and hats.

· I think I have tennis elbow from shovelling coal (coalman’s elbow?)

Enough already…time for more freeforming before bed. Night all.

~*~

Musings and an FO

Sonnet! Finished!





Can I just say that I'm not quite that dumpy in real life, nor am I quite so blotchy. Blame my camera, it doesn't like low light levels. Not so impressed with the new camera actually, it's a Fuji S5700, which in daylight is great, not so great with artificial or low light. The flash isn't bad though. It's ok. It might be me, I've not twiddled all its knobs (snerk) yet. I'm about due a session of knob-twiddling I reckon.

Anyway, Sonnet! To be honest, it's not quite finished. It's currently blocking, then I need to sew the buttons on and resew the shoulder seams. Crocheting the shoulders was Not A Good Idea, it makes me look like a rugby player. Other than that, it's good. Cute pattern.

Speaking of buttons. Working from home today, I realised I had miscalculated somewhat on the supplies front, and had run out of bread and the milk situation wasn't looking too clever either. So a quick run out to the village was in order, and it meant I could try to get buttons for Sonnet as well.

Let me tell you about the village. It really is a gem in a lot of ways. Its suffered the ravages over the years, with lack of employment as has much of North Ayrshire, but its bouncing back really well. It is now the Craft Town of Scotland, and amazingly is mercifully free of tartan tat. The main Gallery is notable for showing more challenging and varied craftwork than you might expect, and although I have one or two minor issues with the project, which I won't bore you with as they're purely personal, in all I think it's a really good idea. So what else is there? Well, I had a quick wander today as I had to go to opposite ends of the high street for my shopping, so I thought I'd do my tourist guide bit.

We have three mini-supermarkets! Three! Spar, Keystone and the Co-Op. In fact, there's another one too. Make it four. There's a proper bank branch (RBS, natch) a library (quite good, and open late some nights), chemist, doctor's, vets, two hairdressers, a grocer / florist, a haberdashery, a bakery, butchers, an electrical shop, a craft / card shop, a deli, a charity shop and second-hand bookshop and a pub. I'm sure I've missed some as well. The local Community Initiative have a gallery-shop as well as the main gallery, and they use the former church (the Barony) as a second-hand furniture saleroom on Saturdays with the profits going back into the Initiative. There's also a basketmaker and a textile artist on the high street. I'm thinking tomorrow to see if I can do my shopping, which I would normally do at the supermarket 7 miles away, entirely in the village. It seems rather rude not to make use of all these great facilities on the doorstep.

All this meant that going no further than the local village, I came back with buttons, two pints of milk, yarn, some tempera paint and a loaf. In how many places the size of West Kilbride could you have a shopping trip like that? I love it here :-)

~*~

I am Woman...Hear Me Roar

Or whimper, as the case may be. Quick catch-up, as I have been remiss with the blogging. Training course - complete, good, hard work, waiting to see how much has been retained. Good dinners. Marginally more clear on what I'm actually going to be doing for a living :-) and the training course only covers the techie part, which is not my first responsibility, the rest I have to figure out as I go. Won't be the first time.

Coming back was interesting to say the least. Virgin Trains from Euston to Glasgow Central at an unholy hour of the morning (06.44, ffs) No WiFi!!! WTF??? Anyway. Uneventful. Knitted quite a lot. Passed Lichfield, felt sad and wanted to get off. (Train didn't stop - probably a good thing, but in hindsight, shame it didn't) Went through Stafford without stopping, wanted to get off to see old workmates and my Mum and Dad. Nearly got off at Crewe, but thought, no, get home, car's stuck on railway car park all on its own, house could have blown away, best get back. Got to Preston.

You know how some days you're the windscreen, and other days you are the bug? This day, I was the bug. Crew changed, and we're still standing at the platform. Tannoy announcement - Flooding at Carnforth. Ah. Problem. Eventually, they terminated the train (sounds painful) and we were summarily turfed off. I went for a fag to consider my strategy, and got rained on. Heavily. Eventually, buses were announced. I damply pondered this. Trains were standing at every platform, confused passengers roamed aimlessly, some sat on suitcases, many glued to phones and cups of waiting room coffee. Bus was going to Lancaster. I considered some more. No trains going North, trains terminating at Lancaster...= bedlam there too. So, I did what any sensible girl does in this situation. I damply phoned my Dad. "Daaaaaaaad, what am I going to dooooooo?" He immediately suggested something that I had already thought about - jump a service back to Crewe, get picked up by him and write the day off as a loss re: travelling, spend the night there (Mum's cooking - excellent) and try again on the Friday. Excellent plan. Enquiries about services to Crewe met with blank expressions from the staff (admittedly, they were having a bad day) and eventually I found one myself. Back we went, I duly hauled my ass across Crewe station and was scooped up by Dad outside. To discover his car was terminally sick and we barely made it back to Stoke. *sigh* Car was dropped in at the garage to the inestimably marvelous Tony, and I settled down for an afternoon of Olympics, watching Dad fall asleep on the sofa, eating biscuits and having a very welcome visitor, if only briefly. Following morning, car fixed by Tony (fuel filter, very easy but seemed terminal at the time) I was ferried up to Crewe by Dad, who was treated to a huge cup of tea and a very large raspberry muffin for his trouble, he indulged in a bit of trainspotting and eventually I hopped onto the Glasgow train. Apart from sharing a carriage with a loudly exuberant African extended family, who had brought enough food, drink and luggage with them for a small army (including a suitcase full of mugs, jars of coffee and a very large Thermos)and who kept sitting on me (I nearly stabbed one with my needles when she sat on me again for the nth time, but they were my KnitPicks and they're expensive)I finally pulled into Glasgow ten minutes early, and very nearly kissed the platform in joy. A short wait, onto the local service, back to my station, car collected intact and started no problem (I love Japanese cars) and the house hadn't fallen down. In fact, it had improved. Not only have they tarmac-ed the road up to the house, the landlord had fixed my wonky laminate and re-set the front step which was wobbling alarmingly.

On the doormat, and delivered by the neighbours were some treats - my NCIS DVD's (Seasons 1 & 3), printer cartridges and my Tesco Clubcard points vouchers. So, I decided to go shopping. I bought some new work clothes (all my old trousers are too big, to the point of only being held up by my hips) and I also bought this:



so I can have this:



Porridge with blueberries, pumpkin seeds, sultanas, cinnamon, ginger and maple syrup. Lovely. I also treated myself to this:



I then realised that the lawn had grown to the point where I was expecting to find David Attenborough out there with a film crew, and there was no way my poor little mower was going to manage without some heavy-duty help. Its mainly the edges, suffice to say that there are Issues with my lawn. So, this morning, at 9.30 (on a Sunday, please note) I trooped up to B&Q and bought:



Yes, its a strimmer. Its only a little girly electric one - I was very tempted to get the big manly petrol one, but it would be a bit overkill, the lawn's bad, but not THAT bad, and it was taller than me. I probably wouldn't be able to start it anyway. So I spent a happy hour or so zapping about the very wet lawn edges. I discovered that strimming is Hard Work, makes your arms all achy, and you get grass in places you would not believe. I also realised that what my lawn really needs is digging up and starting again (Not going to happen) but it looks marginally better when you cut the edges and strim off the three foot high bits. If it will stay dry for a couple of days I may even manage to mow it. I felt quite smug at being the proud owner of a strimmer - "Look! I Am Woman Who Know How To Use Power Tools. Respect Me." However, I've decided that strimming is definitely a job for the boys. Too much like hard work and you get grass in your hair and green fingernails. I'll stick to knitting. Speaking of which - we have hats!





For the Mission to Seafarers.

~*~

Still catching up...and the benefits of living next door to the gentry :-)

Well, that was a successful evening. The landlord, one of the family from the estate, is sorting me out some furniture! Brilliant. I was invited up to the castle, to poke around one of the cottages there that has just become vacant, and to have a root in the garage to see if there was anything I'd find useful. So, hopefully a rather nice oak table, some very chunky chests of drawers and another table (to use as a work table - quilting anyone?) should be coming my way, and hopefully chairs to go with the table and maybe even some wardrobes and a sofa too. Lovely. They have more stuff stashed away than DFS, let me tell ya. I'll have to leave it behind if I move out, but I did politely suggest that if I took a real fondness for something, a cheque could be forthcoming, which was greeted very positively, so we'll see. Anyway, furniture. Civilisation at last.

Work is good, although I've not really a lot to do just now. The boss has arranged training in London for next week (honestly, I only just got up here, and now I've got to go back down again) so I think I'll get the train. I don't much care for flying, seems like an awful lot of mess-arsing and waiting about especially with the security nonsense, and you can't knit on the flight because, obviously, knitting needles or crochet hooks are Weapons Of Mass Destruction, so train it is. Takes 5 hours, but by the time I've sat at Glasgow airport for a couple of hours, got on the plane, got down to Heathrow, found my bag (which, give current indications, is likely to be on its way to Karachi) got out of Heathrow (a marathon in itself) and got to where I need to be, I'll be totally fit for nothing and I'd be already in London on the train. :-) So I think I'll go down on the weekend and get a night's kip before the training. Works for me - and I can work on my Sonnet cardi-vest thing en route. Might even have it done for the IKL show in September, if the stars align correctly. If I'm really lucky the train will have Wi-Fi as well.

Just one snag. I just remembered my suitcase is in Staffordshire. Bugger. Have to have a think about that. A quick shopping trip may be in order :-)

I realised I never showed y'all decent pictures of the new stash I got from Skye. These were from Shilasdair, on Waternish and The Handspinner Having Fun in Broadford. So, without further ado:

Shilasdair naturally dyed cashmere / angora / wool:



And handspun, hand dyed cashmere. This stuff I swear is spun from clouds. It is gorgeous. Get some. Seriously.



How about handspun, hand dyed mulberry silk? Or handspun Wensleydale, still in the grease and pretty much straight off the sheep's back?







I also picked up some Rowan Scottish Tweed, because I love it, its green and its tweed (and we all know how much I'm loving the tweed) - and this was the first time I'd seen this colour in a DK weight. I know someone who will heartily disapprove mind, solely because of the colour (yes, you. I know you'd prefer maroon, but they didn't have any, OK? And I like green. So there.)



And this is a lovely soft lambswool / angora in a subtly variegated red. The shades in the skeins are a bit "off" - one is noticeably darker than the others so I'll have to have a think about how to get round that. I cannot be bothered with alternating the skeins!!!



One last thing. If you're thinking of a trip to Skye, Shilasdair is totally worth the trek. You'll think you're going to fall off the end of the peninsula, but believe me, it's there and you won't get your feet wet. Well, not quite. This is why you have to go: