Adventures in Scotland, the wool and whiskey tour continued

The Artist's Cottage B and B in Farr was charming!  Designed by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1901, the house was built in the early 1990s from the original drawings that featured only the outside.  It seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but is located close to Inverness.  We enjoyed a delicious supper at the Snow Goose.  

Bathroom window

Bedroom window

There were some sheep in the field behind the house.  

Also near Inverness is the Tomatin Distillery.  Their clever ads show the Softer Side of the Highlands.   The Heilan' Coo is pretty darned cute.

Whiskey barrel furniture.  

Inside one of the antique vats.  I like the design of the drain holes.

One of the stills.

Tomatin has an in-house cooper.

Whiskey aging gracefully.

The day got even better as we made our way to Skye.  Sheep were everywhere and the weather was just gorgeous, although windy!  The Talisker Distillery was the first stop.  I enjoyed the smoky flavor of Talisker Storm.  

I'd contacted Roger of Skye Weaver prior to our trip and was very excited when we arrived.  He was so gracious to show us around and I even got to try out the pedal-powered loom.

The wool fabric covers the weaver's handle bar.  

This fabric is for scarves.

The warping mill was a re-purposed tractor rake, reclaimed wood, bicycle gears, other bits and pieces including a dishwasher hinge.

Roger showed us the creel that holds up to 112 cones of yarn.

Inspiration for projects can come from anywhere and this photo was the inspiration for the scarf I purchased.

The scarf is wonderfully soft and warm.  I ended up wearing it for the rest of the trip.

As we were leaving, I spotted some henty leggits (or henty lags) and Jim had to stop the car so I could gather them.

Knit knit knit

The seemingly endless squares are getting finished.  I am over halfway there!  The colors are just beautiful together.

 

The other project is the fingering weight cardigan, Greta.  Just about an inch and a half left until I can join for the yoke.  This is my third sweater in lightweight yarn.  Being a solid color  it seems to take forever, but I see light at the end of the tunnel.  It will be a classic cardigan and the Rowan Finest yarn is just beautiful.



The third project is Endgame by Michelle Hunter, the Knit Purl Hunter, and is a KAL.  I especially like that the pattern called for HiKoo Kenzie, one of my favorite yarns.  I chose one of the new colors, Saddleback.  It is a pinkish tan with yellow flecks.   Clue 1 is finished and clue 2 will be released on Thursday.

Winter is here

Winter is beginning to settle in even though it arrived a little earlier than expected.  We have a blanket of snow on the ground and the temperatures are well below normal.  It surprises me that normal is in the 40s.  I agree that snow can be a pain to drive in, although my car has all wheel drive, which has proven to be a big help. The slop brought in from outside makes the foyer difficult to clean (I brought in the large "slop rug" from the garage.)  Snow boots are lined up and ready to pull on and the baskets of hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves are in a convenient spot in the foyer.  I look at this time of the year as sweater weather.  It is comforting to bundle up in beautiful sweaters, and wooly accessories.

Just in time for the first snow Jim's new bicycle.  He was very proud of the tracks he left in the snow.

Projects on the needles are the continuing Kaffe Fassett KAL squares, Custom Fit Acorn Trail, Top-Down Trapeze Pullover, two shop samples, and a pair of men's felted mittens, a commission from Jim's work colleague.  Yesterday I picked up some cotton yarn to make some small projects for children's gifts.  Needless to say the needles are clicking away.    Tomorrow the Gansey Headband class will wrap up.  On the loom (now named Jemima) is a scarf.  Warped with leftover Malabrigo Finito from the Snow Ghost hat and Berroco yarn from a hat, Fane, I am weaving with a lovely slate blue/gray sock weight yarn I received from Margie.  When I take a break from knitting I can get a few inches done on the scarf.

On the needles--Gansey Legwarmers

Knitting commission--felted mittens

In the Pink

I am using some fingering weight yarns to create a scarf.

The ongoing Kaffe Fassett KAL squares.

Yes, life is good!

Leather closure from JUL designs.

Resin shawl pin from JUL designs.  It looks good with most of my scarves.

An ongoing project is to clean out the old stuff and organize.  Goodwill is reaping the benefits, as is Half Price Books.  As I look around my office/workroom it appears chaotic, but is in fact organized.  It is time to do some paper shredding!

While surfing on Ravelry an ad popped up from JUL designs.  As always, I am on the lookout for unusual and wonderful notions.  I was drawn to the closures made of leather, so I purchased one to see if I would like it.  Yes, I liked it!  There are various styles of closures and even leather buttons with the same metal studs that can be removed for washing.  Also featured on the site were shawl pins in wood and some in resin (there are resin buttons, too).  On the website click on Attach for the closures--buckles, conventional buttons, pedestal buttons, sew-on closures, and screw-on closures.

Spin a little knit a lot

My hands have been busy working on class and shop samples and on some wheel and spindle spinning.  I was on the last section of Wavelength when I noticed some funky looking stitches, which prompted me to frog and then re-knit...and frog and then re-knit...I am now back to the correct number of stitches in the sections (naturally the extra stitches occurred in just a couple of sections).  Taking a break for a bit to regroup and do some other work.

On the needles:  Wavelength, P Chullo, Beaded Beret, Kaffe Fassett KAL bolster, and Greta for the shop.  Tangled, Pigment, Goblin Hat #2, and Puffin Mantle for personal projects. I must not forget the Icelandic cardigan that needs to have the front bands and collar re-worked.  It would be nice to wear it this winter.

On the wheel/s and spindle/s:  Louie and I are spinning up some lovely white cormo/navy blue silk noil blend called Dark Side of the Moon from Hidden Valley Farm in Wisconsin.

Cormo and silk noils

The single is thin and plied together it looks like a DK weight

The new siding on the house is coming along nicely.  Yesterday Tom came by to paint portions of the the soffit and fascia from the garage side of the house.  The Cameo looks nice and clean for the trim and the Montana Suede matches the existing brick.  Now I have to decide what new color to paint the front door when all the work is finished.

WIP Wednesday...The knitting demons have left the house and I am yet again on the last section of Wavelength.  Good grief!  It is a great project to knit, but I finally put small markers at the decreases and large markers at the increases so I can feel where I am in the knitting.  I do not always look down at my knitting--especially garter stitching.

The projects from Blue Sky came yesterday and when I finish the scarf I can start on the small projects for BS.  It is a good opportunity to try out their new yarn before the release.

Birthday

I celebrated a big birthday recently.  It felt good to celebrate, too--I made it!  Jim and I celebrated with a nice supper and then birthday cake.  On Sunday Ben and Jim had an open house for me.  It was so nice to visit with friends and neighbors--and another delicious birthday cake!  I got a Fitbit from Ben and a 15-inch Cricket Loom with a stand from Jim.  I did a small weaving and will warp the loom today.  Photos to come...

Cricket Loom--just going on another path down the rabbit hole.

Jim had me wear the baseball shirt Ben and I had made for him in April.  The decorations were inside and outside the house. 

It also feels good to finish class samples.  The first is a child sized double knit ear flap hat in Pure Wool Worsted by Rowan and Liberty Wool by Cascade.  The pattern is sized for newborn to adult XL, and proceeds from the pattern go to charity.  The P Chullo hat is a free pattern with alphabet charts for the body and ear flaps.  One can fit a message into the 168-stitches around the body of the hat.  The original pattern calls for ten colors, and I am working the sample in five colors.  I made it through the first row of my message--fingers crossed that I stay on track!  Above the message there is a chart for a gryphon and a fox and the crown has waves and a snake, which I will change to a sheep.

One hat.

Another hat--two in one!

The FO (finished object) for the week is L'Enveloppe by Sally Melville.  I am teaching a class, which started out as a one to one and grew to include two other instructors and another student.  It is a project that is not difficult to knit, quick to knit, and looks wonderful on every body type.  Deciphering the pattern can be a challenge.  I made some notes on my Ravelry project page and Sally has a thread for L'Enveloppe help on her Ravelry group page.  We all agree that there will be more L'Enveloppes in our wardrobe!  The weather has turned cool and this will be a good week to  wear it.

Noro Yutzen yarn was the perfect choice.

A shape folded in half, one short seam is sewed on the long side to make a sleeve.

On the other side of the sleeve, stitches are picked up and then the side is knit with short rows.

Another fun project is Wavelength, a scarf that reminds me of giant rickrack.  I am working this in Anzula Dreamy, 75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Silk--a dreamy yarn!  The colors are brown (Sexy) and yellow-green (Temperance).  

Start with one chevron and then keep adding one chevron to each end.  The contrast
colors show off the texture nicely.

24

Ben turned 24 years old yesterday.  I remember the day well, although from about 11:30 pm (German time) the memories are a bit fuzzy.  I am so proud of the man he has become.  I took a cake to his office and then we went to Mort's for lunch.  It was nice to spend time with him ON his birthday.  When he was in college this time period was for finals, so he spent his birthdays in the library studying.  It was good to see him and talk over a nice lunch.

Ben loved my little green chair.  Such a dear little fellow that has grown into a wonderful man.

I was finishing Pigment last night and ran out of the main color!  Arrrgh!  That is frustrating.  The scarf looks great.  I will get another skein, as I am not going to frog the project and re-knit it.  Today before class I want to have the small sample of double-knitting and the illusion circle finished.  Ambitious, but doable! Sample knitting is a constant to prepare for upcoming classes.  My personal projects are waiting...and waiting...

Pigment, color, easy stitching, a bit of shape--what's not to love?

Spaghetti

I finished the Spaghetti Scrap Scarf over the weekend.  It was a fun project with a little challenge to finish.  I tried a few ways of  connecting the I-cords in spots, but settled on the simple route--to secure the cords with felt rectangles and finish off the ends with felt.  I had visions of contrasting color thread, but when I opened the sewing machine and saw the black thread, it was a better choice.  I like the way this came out and want to do another one.  Each one of the cords is approximately 50-inches long.  I used worsted weight yarns and cast on six stitches for each cord.  The cords are not bad to deal with.  I thought they would be more like octopus arms and going all over the place, but the little scarf looks quite nice.  The next one will have longer cords.

Working three cords at once--I have plenty of double-point needles!

My first idea...

The second idea...

The final result

Surprisingly the octopus arms stay put!

I see variations on a theme in the future.