Soed Idee Jubileum week forty

 Back in Nottingham for a while so I'm stitching at Nottingham castle today.

Free Fleece ? Yes please !

 Just before we went away, I returned from the local guild meeting with two bags of fleece. One was the saxon merino already mentioned in a previous post and the other was a Zwartbles fleece fresh from a farm. I'm always happy to take on fleece and I haven't spun Zwartbles yet but one of my favuorite fleeces in a a long time was a zwartble black wensleydale cross which I have just about run out of now. The last of it is currently on the needles.

The day after we got back was warm and sunny so I popped it out of the bag to see exactly what I have.

it is a monster and definitely in need of a good skirting.

Next step was buckets, hot soapy water and a reasonable amount of mess before I could pop it on the line ( a small portion of it)

My 'go to' prep for most fleece that has a staple length greater than three inch is to use my wool combs and this was no exception. Next up was my Ashford e-spinner where I hit my first problem. Over the last couple of months I have used this mainly for plying as I have been travelling with the Argonaut spinner. It took me a while to work out the best thickness to spin this one and in the end I've gone for a DK ish yarn.

Its now ready for a wash, about 50gm sample, not super soft so probably going to be a pair of fingerless mitts just to see how it knits up and washes.

After washing I'm thinking that its maybe a bit softer than I thought and would work as a jumper to wear over a long sleeve t-shirt in winter. To be honest there doesn't seem to be too much prickle for me .

A quick sample has it knitting up nicely and the world of wood carded fibre that
I spun for TDF shows up well against it.

I now have another 100gm processed and ready to spin, I will keep you updated.

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty-nine

 I really struggled to get started on the original design and eventually asked into chose one for me. Apparently this one looks like my bobbin lace

Aviemore and Rosemarkie

We spent 2 nights at Aviemore simply to go on the railway, we have visited Aviemore several times in the past but have never taken a trip on the railway so here we are.

 I managed to get some knitting done during the journey...

After a final picture or two, we went in search of coffee and a charity shop browse

I do feel old when I see signs like this, there must be a couple of generations now who aren't familiar with this method of flushing the toilet.

The next day it was pack the van and travel over to the east coast again to Rosemarkie, home of dolphins although we didn't see any this time. Again this is a place that we have visited and stayed at several times over the years but it never gets old. 

The view from the van, we were parked right at the front of the campsite. As usual I headed down to the community cafe more than once, along with my wheel or knitting.

and also found that the golf club are quite happy for people to work in there if they buy coffee etc so on a bad day that became my refuge for editing photos and writing blogs.

We didn't see any dolphins this time but did visit the latest exhibition at Groam House Museum which is in the village and is a Pictish Museum.

George Bains celtic knotwork display was on display along with some of his earlier works.

 

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty eight

 Still running a little behind but here is week thirty eight, completed in various locations around Scotland and the north west :-)

Stonehaven and Dunnattor Castle

 

This was our second visit to Stonehaven and I'm sure that we will return, I popped into the local knitting social at St James and also said hello to the yarn shop owner where I had spun last year during Worldwide spin in public day.

There's nothing to do with knitting in this museum (Stonehaven) ....

 ...said the volunteer as we walked in and had a brief chat with her. Challenge accepted !! ( a big thank you to the Tolbooth museum for letting me take photos etc)

Evidence 

1, Spinning wheel in the corner, at first I thought that it was a bobbin winder but I'll settle for spinning wheel.

2. Photos of people knitting although it looks more like a sleeve than socks.

 3.  A man wearing a gansey

4  Spindle whorls

                                     

Not bad :-) There were plenty of other items in the museum ranging from a jail cell to everyday objects.

                                                                 Including this sampler

Sunrise at Stonehaven

 Just me, my camera and a mug of coffee walking down the front at Stonehaven at sunrise.

 

 

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty seven

 Slightly behind on the stitching for various reasons, mainly travelling and needing good daylight to stitch by. Week thirty seven is now complete and hopefully I will catch up by the end of this week as we will be staying in one place for several days.

Squires is the name of a motorcycle event that we attended on the west coast of Scotland.

Street art of Perth

 I always look out for artworks around towns and cities, Perth did not disappoint me. As street names are often a clue to a former existence I followed this one down an alleyway.

and I was rewarded with the following...

It was a narrow passage down the side of a carpark (free motorcycle parking complete with anchored rings to lock your bike to ) so I had to take several pictures......

On the side of what I think may be an old cinema I found this along with maybe a dozen prints of sections of his mural.

A trip around to the back of a building revealed these.....

A very different style was seen on the side of this building. We are seeing a trend of painting murals on buildings spreading around the country with our usual haunt of Bridlington currently installing their fourth building mural.

I couldn't miss out these characters on the main shopping street.