I treated myself....then we treated ourselves

Hi

Some of you may know that I spin mainly on a Kromski Sonata that I bought maybe 8 years ago as a portable wheel. I also had a Kromski Symphony which I never really go on with and that was passed on to my spin buddy . An Ashford scholar arrived and was passed on to a new spinner but for a while I've found the Sonata too heavy and bulky to take out and about. I used to put it on a small trolley but since having to use a walking stick, this is no longer viable.

So, I started looking for another wheel, hopefully smaller, compact with a view to taking it on holidays etc in the future and I found a Louet Victoria for sale on the Internet. A bit of research told me that this may be the perfect wheel. I had seen several in action earlier in the year and everyone seemed happy with them. So we went out, about a month ago to look at it and buy it.

I had been  looking for one with this bag and happy to pay full price if necessary as several that I had seen advertised had a suitcase type bag which I really wasn't interested in.

Out of the bag it looks like this, very compact and opens out simply by pulling out the knob near the base. You can see the flyer has its own little home.

and next to her big sister you can see the difference in size

Picking up the wheel turned out to be very expensive as we called in at the Lincoln Motorhome show on the way.....cut a long story short, the wheel has a new home :-)

Time to start travelling again !!!

unexpected visitor

Hi

I wasn't expecting to post this early today and this isn't what I had in mind but I've been off work with a heavy cold which has given me time to watch the birds around the feeders. On Thursday this little chap turned up.

He was having a good root around until the dogs next door started barking, he stopped still, didn't curl up but just didn't move till they stopped to I went and had a closer look ( through the long lens)

I assume he/she is looking for somewhere to hibernate and he/she is definitely smaller and lighter in colour than the other one that we occasionally spot wandering round.

A bit more Orkney

Hi,

Maybe that should be some photos of Orkney as the last post ended with a photo of the ferry!

As I mentioned, we tried to avoid revisiting places that we had already seen which made the weeks stay into an enjoyable challenge.

This is just a random mix of interesting places.

Hatston pier has been built since our last visit and we wandered down to see the size of the cruise ships. They are massive!! We had heard about the ships coming in on a programme shown just before our visit. You can see it here on You-Tube

Rendell Dove coot, amazing to see the birds fly out of the top of this dove coot. unfortunately the occupants of the car in front of us disturbed them before I could reach for my camera.

The Brough of Birsay, the causeway to the island was under water as we turned up so we decided to take a walk down to the fisherman's hut instead.

Stunning views out to sea, this is somewhere that we will return to in the future simply to sit and stare at the sea rolling in.

 The view from a window at Barony Mills, a restored mill next to a rather dilapidated one still at the same part of the island as the previous photos.

 We had a really interesting tour and bought some oatmeal with a view to trying to make oatcakes at some point... I've just noticed the rainbow on the water wheel photo below!

I will post a little more of Orkney in a few days time x

knitting update

 I'm looking back at the blog and I've not mentioned my knitting since August so this is a quick round up of completed projects since then.

Hebridean and possibly Portland

Jacob

Hebridean and unknown mystery white fleece

Ooops this is the back of the band as you can see where the row changes

Black cheviot and Texel

 Ryeland and Texel

Texel and black Cheviot

 Ryeland and white Shetland

Hebridean and Norfolk Horn

a couple of the ear warmers were knitted on the way up to Orkney and from Orkney to Skye. I now use Ravelry to keep notes of the fleece used as soon as I start a project otherwise I would be totally lost!

memories of Orkney

HI, In September we headed back north of the border to Orkney where we had booked a self catering apartment for a week. We had a couple of overnight stops, one at the Falls of Drochart Inn which we reached via visiting the Kelpies....

and then this installation by Rob Mulholland

 

We reached the falls of Dochart late afternoon and went for a short walk to the nearby charity shop that had once been a mill and still had a working water wheel.

 

The second night we stopped off at Keiss with a view of the castles.

next morning saw us set off for John O'Groats and on to Gills bay to catch the ferry.

This was our third visit to Orkney so we have seen most of the popular attractions, many of them twice. This time the plan was to see what we had missed and things a title more off the beaten track although there are not many roads anyway. Some of the islands are joined up by a causeway but it still feels small and quiet compared with our usual destination of Skye.

More to come later, I also have gossip about knitting, fleece, a new toy and a new form of transport to tell you about over the next few posts.

musings...

When I first started blogging ,it was to give me a reason to keep sewing, share our motorcycle travels and generally diary what I was up to.

Fast forward 10 years and its 4 years since I've been on a bike due to health issues, our travels have been limited, I don't sew very often and use spinning as a form of Zen.

But, now most family issued have sadly been resolved, we are intending to start to travel again although not by bike. Hopefully attend a few festivals and maybe the odd bike event.

We are both still working full time but that may change as we start to declutter the house and reuse/repurpose our belongings. I have a longing to be .... minimalist  isn't the word, never will be for a spinner but you probably get what I mean.

So, this will become the blog of a 50 something and her wanderings through life with her hubby and spinning wheel in tow.

Are you still here for the journey?

I have a few catch up posts to write as we did escape north of the border again recently :-)

speak soon x