More Scenery

The colours and light quality have been absolutley stunning up here the last few days so I've been snapping away.......these are edited and obviously I'm still fiddling with the colours but it does still represent some of the textures and contrasts that can be seen. A view on the drive into town (which takes about 45 mins )

Thought it was time to include a shot of a sheep however this one ain't a Shetlander, it's a scandinavian breed that produces a bigger lamb apparently....anyway these are the ones that reside around my dad's cottage....I'll get some locals before too long!

Looking at the hoose from behind.......and.......

......ta da.....I finished my Fair Isle project! Here they are being 'dressed' on some hand boards that my dad happened to have lying around.....some modeled photos soon..and perhaps a pattern!

Great Day for Knitting

Back up North now and have been watching some dramatic seas mostly from indoors whilst knitting and drinking cups of tea......lovely!

Here's one with sound effects:

Edinburgh and Ysolda!

Just had a great few days in Edinburgh soaking up the Georgian architecture of the New Town and roaming the old cobblestone streets of the Old Town and generally being quite a tourist!

Along the way I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely knitwear designer......

who supplied me with a cup of tea and a scrumptious mini apple pie whilst we chatted about Edinburgh (we both went to the same school although about 12 years apart) and knitting of course! She graciously shared some of her latest projects with me and has some fantastic designs coming your way soon!

They Have Trees On The Mainland!

We're having a lovely time catching up with friends and family on the mainland (despite some stinking colds and coughs).......most of these pictures are from Perth-Shire....another spot in which we lived at one time!

Off To The Mainland

We're taking the boat to the mainland tonight for a 10 day whistle-stop tour to visit friends and family during the school holidays so I'm leaving you with a few more recent shots!

Yesterday was a day of sunshine interspersed with downpours and the odd rainbow!

Mucking around with self-portrairts for my 365 thingy on flickr (haven't been too consistent with a photo a day I have to say)!

I'm not much of a boat person so I have been watching the forecast and hoping for relatively calm seas.......at least for the 12 hours that I'll be sailing! Outlook is good and thankfully our boat is a bit bigger and comfier than the fishing vessel pictured here!

Old mill buildings nearby.

Oh yeah.. the Fair Isle knitting is coming along but there are rather a few steps backwards before I go forwards again!

Random Photography

Today was about walking, soup making, older brothers and wood gathering.....

"Lots of Lovely Practice"

It's just "Lots of lovely practice"....that's what some Shetland ladies at my mum's care home have been telling me as I bemoan how slow going my progress is with the fair-isle! So I'm going to adopt that attitude too and be more patient! I am actually pretty happy with my results so far but there has been a lot of ripping back!

It's a lot harder than I realized to get the sequence of colours right with fair-isle. The effects of pairing different colours makes a huge difference and I can't quite tell until I actually start knitting.....hence all the ripping back. As you can see I've gone for very Shetland colours....moss, peat, moorland, bracken.....haven't decided if these will be fingerless mitts or full mittens....will determine that at knitting class tonight!

I was even given a wee spinning lesson from one of the day visitors whilst spending time with my mum yesterday (for those who don't know my mum has alzheimer's and is now in full-time care in a fantastic home nearby). I didn't get much further than getting the rhythm of the wheel down.......it's hard! However I plan on taking my knitting next time as there are a number of experts there who will help with all my lovely practice I'm sure! Early morning sun before taking the kids to school.....won't see this much longer as we'll be getting up in the dark before too long!

The cat likes to sit on my Dad's desk and survey the weather, check on the rabbits, generally see if the conditions are right for going outside!

View from dad's desk! Took this the other day after a snow shower.

Working on a new hat design.....need to keep my ears warm up here!

Peerie Post

That's "Little" Post to you. I'm pretty sure this local word will be in my vocabulary after 3 months in Shetland. All the ladies at my Fair-isle knitting class last night were using it constantly along with lots of other Shetland dialect that I had to re-tune my ears to in order to understand the conversation!

Despite feeling a little overwhelmed as I watched folks strap on their knitting belts and proceed to cast on in a way I've never seen before I did manage to accomplish a peerie amount of colour work! I also tried knitting with 3 dpn's (two to hold sts and the 3rd as the working needle). This seemed to be common place with the other knitters.....have any of you done it this way before?

I also attempted holding both colours in my right-hand....not very successfully...will need to practice that one! Despite being pretty slow I was pretty happy with my tension.

Now I need to decide what I want my fair-isle project to be and gather my supplies for next week.....I'll also take along my belt and finally get some experience using it.....I'm sure to be a true Shetland knitter by the end of the 10 weeks!

Oh....and the teacher taught my older brother and sister knitting 30 years ago in the wee school here in Sandness. All these years later my two kids are also getting knitting lessons in the very same room as their aunt and uncle!

As promised more scenery from my various windswept walks!

The seals in the bay by my parents house are very friendly and curious....they all came to watch me as I sat on the beach!

Oh yes I need to amend something from my last post...Twites are not swallow-like......apprently I mis-heard my dad......sparrow-like is what he said.....doesn't quite fit with the Swallow Tail Shawl after all....oh well I never was very good with remembering bird names!

Not such a peerie post after all!