Monthly Archives: September 2013

Glencoe

Long weekend for Glasgow schools this week, so I had Friday and today off. D managed to get time off too so we went up north for a bit of fresh air and exercise!

On Saturday we went up Buachaille Etive Beag. It’s one of my absolute favourite hills. Amazing views and a beautiful airy ridge for really not much effort at all. And the weather was gorgeous, maybe a tiny bit hazy but a perfect temperature. Great walking weather! Here’s some pics:

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We stayed in a “microlodge” at the Blackwater Hostel in Kinlochleven. They’re a bit like a cross between a shed and a barrel, but with two beds, a telly, kettle, microwave etc. All you really need and very reasonably priced.

Next day we climbed the “three Sgurrs” at Ballachulish. The weather this time was immaculate. I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a hill in better conditions. From the top we could see all the way out to Jura, to Skye, we could see munros in Torridon, and beautiful views of hills nearby. Wonderful views to the Mamores, we’re planning on doing the ring of Steall in the October holidays now.

An auspicious start to the day with a field jam-packed with sheep:

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A scramble up the spur to the first top, Sgurr Bhan:

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Then round a breathtaking ridge to the first munro top, Sgurr Dhearg:

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Here’s the panorama from the top, absolutely unbelievable! (You can click it for a better view.)

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Down to the low point, then a bit of a scramble up to the final top:

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What a walk! Feeling pretty sore today!

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St Andrews Visit

We went back to stay with my parents in St Andrews this weekend. It’s my birthday on Tuesday so we had a family weekend at home to celebrate. Checked out the new wool shop in St Andrews (I forget the name but it’s on Bell St if anyone’s visiting and wants to seek it out). They had a lovely selection of undyed alpaca and handknitted scarves. Really cute soft toy alpacas too, would make a lovely present for a knitter’s kid! Bit on the pricey side, but it is St Andrews so I’m sure they can find plenty of people who can afford it. And I think the rates there are horrific so fair play to them…

Didn’t spend long in town,  but I’ve got lots of lovely pictures of windswept beaches for you! On Saturday we walked along the West Sands in St A’s. The tide was right in, and it was overcast but the sea was amazingly calm. There was a huge flock of sanderlings flying in unison which was very pretty. Here’s a couple of pics anyway….

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Sunday was much sunnier, and we headed out to Tentsmuir forest for a walk. It’s a pine forest just north of St Andrews by a huge beach. You see lots of seals there in Summer, but at the start of Autumn, it’s just amazing for finding mushrooms!

Here’s a small sample of the mushroom pics!

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Here’s a nice foresty pic:

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And some of the beach:

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Knitting-wise, things have been a bit up and down! I knitted up as much shawl as possible with my gradient yarn from the last post, but there just wasn’t enough for an anywhere near decent shawl. Back to the drawing board and I think I’ll knit up a hat with it instead. Got an interesting idea for a twisted rib hat that I think will look nice with the colour change…. More on that hopefully next week!

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Filed under Knitting, Nature, Scotland, Uncategorized

Islay Hat

Added a new free hat pattern to my Littletheorem site today. Islay Hat is a simple, unisex hat available in two sizes. The stitch pattern is Twisted Moss Stitch, it’s become a firm favourite with me!

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The pattern’s available for free on my Littletheorem website and you can download it from Ravelry too.

I know I said last week that I was planning on making a hat from my handspun gradient yarn:

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But I think it’s going to become a shawl. Here’s the (very limited!) progress so far. You can see bits of pinky red just turning up at the edge:

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Couldn’t get a better shot of the whole thing, knitting it up on old needles and they’re very twisty!

A wee treat turned up for me in the post this week too. It’s my first year as a fully qualified teacher so I’ve had a pretty big payrise. When my first month’s pay turned up, I of course had to look into purchasing a sweater quantity of cashmere. I found a website selling the only uk grown cashmere, from a gorgeous farm in Devon. And the cashmere is amazing!! Really soft and smooshy with a beautiful halo. It’s going to be a bottom-up, raglan sweater in double moss stitch if all goes to plan.

Here’s a pic of the yarn

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And a close-up of the swatch:

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Mmmmm, fuzzy…..

 

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Filed under Hat, Knitting, Knitting Patterns, Spinning, Teaching

Spinning Gradient Batts

Last week a carded a pretty gradient batt:

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And this week I’ve been spinning it up. I spun it all into laceweight singles (somewhere between 2 and 3 ply weight), then navajo plied it to make about a dk weight yarn.

Here’s a pic of the singles:

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And the plied yarn:

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Really pleased with how it turned out! I’ve got about 180m of it, think I’m going to make a cabled hat. Was planning on making a lacy hat, but I’ve got a bit too much yarn for that if I want to show off all the colours in the gradient…

Two FO’s this week too:

A hat for my aunt in twisted moss stitch. The yarn is Shilasdair luxury dk. It’s dyed with woad and it’s dyed a blue line on the index finger of my right hand where the yarn runs over it. Going to write up the pattern and stick it up on Littletheorem hopefully sometime this week.

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Also finished off a little external hard drive cover for Dunc. This is leftover Rowan Felted Tweed from knitting my brother a sweater for his 30th. It’s pretty cute I think!

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Filed under Batts, Carding, Cute, Knitting, Spinning