We have had a great holiday, despite a couple of lows. One low (or several) was low pressure, bringing a few days of rain but that was OK. The other was son & heir having a) a bout of tonsillitis & b) an emerging & very painful wisdom tooth! Its along time since teething had an impact on our holidays! 
However he is recovered & managed to get some excellent windsurfing & surfing in, especially in the sunnier & windy first week.
The cottage in week one was OK. It had an excellent location near the windsurfing base & west coast & had all the right equipment but cottage two 'Stevie's Bothy' was superb!
Gorgeous inside and out & right on the beach edge near to the south east tip of the island. 
We were joined by my sister & her DH for the middle 8 days of the holiday & despite their excellent company, plus that of S&H & my DH I managed some quality knitting & reading time!Somewhere in Ravelry I found the question 'Where will you read the new Harry Potter book?' -answer is here....... or at least some of it, whilst finishing the yarn over cable socks & waiting for the two Kayaker's to arrive after a paddle up the east coast of Tiree from Crossapol Bay to Scaranish. I knitted the socks a bit long for some reason but they are OK when worn.
The 'Yorkshire' Market Bag provided easy driving in the dusk/dark knitting & a bit of ferry boat time
(We had to be on the dock at Oban for 6.15 am!). We actually arrived in the middle of the night & drove down to the Kerrara ferry & grabbed a couple of quiet hours sleep there. DH really enjoyed the empty roads & the drive across from Stirling! The Market Bag is nearly finished. I did start on the handles last night but I think I am going to frog back to the main bag after a look at some finished French Market Bags on Ravelry. Some re-positioning of the handles might be a good adjustment to make. The Brigantia yarn is a warm treat to knit with & I am a) looking forward to and b) a bit nervous of the felting bit! The advice from my LYS is 'go gently' so I guess that means start with a 30 degree quick/ mini wash programme & see what happens? The prairie lace shawl from 'Folk Shawls' was my cottage knit & is also nearly finished. It grew fairly quickly & is soft & toasty warm. If we had been camping & would have finished it! The gale force 6 north west wind kept temperatures down for the first 10 days although there was plenty of sunshine. 
The 1st August was the start of the 'Sockdown' in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. Chosen project for August was for me to be a lace sock. Again nearly finished (Half a sock to go!)..... The yarn has knitted up really well & the colours are great. A long post if you are still with me! I will update as I finish the WIP! A large pile of ironing awaits!
The 1st August was the start of the 'Sockdown' in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. Chosen project for August was for me to be a lace sock. Again nearly finished (Half a sock to go!)..... The yarn has knitted up really well & the colours are great. A long post if you are still with me! I will update as I finish the WIP! A large pile of ironing awaits!
6 comments:
Mrs. J - isn't it great to see someone else knit the same project. I really like my Prairie Shawl, and it would have been perfect in the windy weather. I have knit the Wool Peddler's Shawl from the same book in a beautiful red Berroco Ultra Alpaca - nice and toasty.
Thanks for the beautiful photos of your part of the world. I could easily curl up in the cottage with my knitting and my MP3 player. I 'read' most all my books now while knitting!
After seeing your sock, I must cast on for a pair. I have not knit socks in many a month!
Hope you visit again soon, and I now intend to visit your blog again and read the earlier posts!
Yes, the return-home ironing is always the worst bit, isn't it? I pray for a good long romantic movie on TV at the right time of day or night(when I have an hour or two to spare) so that at least SOME of the ironing can get done.
Thank you so much for the trip to Tiree. It is too long since I've been to the Hebrides. Gimme the weblink for that cottage NOW!
http://www.tireecottage.co.uk/Stevies%20cottage.htm is the web link for the cottage. The other location is great too!
I have been so looking fwd to seeing your photos of your hols and you have not let me down ; superb shots :)and the cottage looks lovely. We are in between two minds as to go there ,Ireland or Pembroke for our September break !!
You have certainly been busy on the knitting front as well , all lovely .
Hope son & heir is now fully recovered
Thank you for your vacation shots! I am enjoying the windy cool sunshine vicariously. I'd definitely be wearing more clothes than you up there, but right about now, with temperatures hitting 39 or 40 C. every day, I'd really enjoy it. The knitting is beautiful, too, of course!
What beautiful photos! Makes me want to go to Scotland all over again, havent been there since I broke up with a scottish boyfriend , oh about 9 years ago now, and Oban was one of my favourite parts.
I knit the market bag a couple of years ago, and if you are not familiar with felting the yarn you are using, I would advise knitting a swatch and test felting it first to see how much it needs to felt?
Oh, and you have your comments set that non-bloggers can't comment- just in case you didnt realise!
Post a Comment