Friends in Shetland

During our second week in Shetland we were joined by lots of knitterly friends....I think you'll know who they are!

Knitting belt lesson from Auntie Grace....

Internet Cafe at Dad's house....

New England Knits in Jamieson and Smith's store....

The photoshoot models get in some practice.....

Late evening walks.....

Rock collecting....

Bird watching in Unst....

Choosing colours at Jamieson's.....

Putting knitters to work before the photoshoot.....

Next up the day of the photoshoot!

Shetland Highlights Day One

New cousins to get acquainted with.....

Drams on the patio at 10:00pm......

Conversations with grandpa........

Late night fishing.......

and Mackie's Honeycomb ice cream......
Perfect first day!

Mellow Yellow

It is most definitely crunch time for me with 10 days to go before I leave for Scotland!
Obviously I'm very excited to see family but I also have a LOT of knitting to get done before the photoshoot of my booklet/collection.........so just to show I've actually been knitting here is a sneak peak of one of the shawls that will be in it!

The yarn is Madelinetosh Prairie, 100% superwash merino, laceweight. My hand and eye were instantly drawn to it's mellow mood and luscious texture and it's been a calming and soothing project to work on over these recently hot and sticky days.

Plenty more to come I assure you ...........

The lovely folks at Squam have put together this beautiful journal to inspire, entertain and bring you some of that specialness that is Squam!
For more detailed info go here!

A Tiny Tea Leaves...

...for a not so tiny-just-turned-11-years- today daughter of mine!

I took a brief bit of time out from my own designs to whip this out for Maya....she requested it and chose yarn and buttons herself...fits her perfectly and she loves it...thanks Melissa!

It was another lovely person's birthday yesterday (that would be Ysolda -see the resemblance) and Maya drew the above for her.....had to share!!

Happy Birthday my sweet lovely talented girl...keep doing what you're doing!

TNNA!

Our adventure to TNNA began with trips to several stores to collect the necessary items for Ysolda's booth .....furniture, vintage tea cups, lighting, parasols, rugs and plumbing pipe were just a few of the things on our list!

Seeing as this was all Ysolda's idea (and given the fact that she is not a driver) she was packed in the back of the car with Bob for company!

Sarah (Ysolda's lovely assistant) and I shared the 16 hours of driving and sang along to a lot of Kate Rusby!

Like magic the booth was put together the following day with the helping hands of many other friends....it only took ALL day and a small amount of cursing at IKEA furniture! (or maybe that was just me)!


Above is my corner of the booth and yes that is a design for the new collection at the front! (Proof that work is being done).

Laura Chau of Cosmicplutoknits also brought along some of her samples.

(Stephen West, Casey, Laura Chau, Sarah, Mary Heather Cougar)

(Olga Buraya-Kefelian, Cecily Glowik Macdonald, Melissa LaBarre, Melissa Wehrle)

Lots of folks were very grateful for the couch that Ysolda hired....walking the convention center floor was no easy task! We even served tea and cakes on both weekend days and were mobbed with attendees. I don't have any photos of this part as I was too busy pouring cups of English Breakfast .......

Jess in an Audrey.

Mary Heather in a Kerrera and Snapdragon set.

Sarah in a Tanit's Jacket.

Cirilia and Laura modeling some of Ysolda's latest designs.

Everyone had fun trying on our samples and then getting shots of themselves in the photobooth (that's where the plumbing pipes came in).

Very enjoyable (with a tint of exhausting).....already scheming for next year!

Squam High

I've just returned from teaching at the Squam Art Workshops and it was a totally brilliant experience so I had to share some of the highlights here!
Of course I took very few photos as I was too busy enjoying myself to remember the camera!

SAW is held at the Rockywold Deephaven Camp up in New Hampshire. It's a stunning setting with cabins dotted throughout the woods, many of which have their own little dock. I was in a cabin with Jess and Casey, Jared Flood, Ysolda and her assistant Sarah. In between the teaching and the class taking that was going on we had the chance to hang out, swim, star gaze and of course knit!

I taught two full day classes, one on the Hap shawl and one on my Aestlight shawl. I had great students which made it super enjoyable and I think they all got a lot out of it. (Yeah and I have no photos of this part)!
There were all kinds of classes going on, block printing, sewing, embroidery, book making, spinning...and many more. Next year I plan on attending at least one class in a different medium!

On the final evening there was a marketplace filled with beautiful handmade goodies. Ysolda had a booth to showcase her patterns and I snuck in a few of mine too.

...free cake and beer from the Ravelry team....didn't last long!

Elizabeth (the organizer of this whole shebang) made it a very special experience for everyone attending. She lined up some awesome talent for our evening entertainment; the beautiful singing of Jonatha Brooke, the insanely entertaining, laugh-till-you-cry words of Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee, and the thought provoking stories of Jenlee.

So if you've ever wanted the perfect creative getaway you must check out this incredible event...you won't regret it!
Thank you so much Elizabeth for a rewarding and rejuvenating experience....can't wait for next time!