Last week Simon turned 50 and his sister gave him flights for the two of us to go and visit her and her husband for a long weekend. We flew up there on Friday and home on Monday. They live on the Moray Firth, near Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands. It's a beautiful area and we had a great time. The weather was warm and sunny a lot of the time, although it doesn't look very sunny in the photos below.
Clockwise from top left: Keith to Dufftown Railway (also called the Whiskey Line as it passes several well known distilleries), Sunset at Findhorn, Spey Bay (where we saw a seal in the distance) and the Caledonian Canal.
I took a sock in progress and my Yarn Therapist shawl to work on. I was knitting on the sock in the car on the way to the airport and decided I didn't like it and ripped it back. I had originally done a lacy rib which was going to be too big and I'm now doing a garter rib instead. I'm a bit further than the photo below. I'm probably at approx the same place I was when I ripped it back.
I did lots of knitting on my Yarn Therapist shawl and I've just started casting off this morning. I can't wait to block it later as the shape is a bit of an experiment. I'd hoped it would have been slightly bigger though.
Before we left for Scotland, I worked hard to finish my Lang poncho (which will probably become part of the Lace Wear Volume One Collection) before we left but I didn't manage it. I only had 24 rows of lace and 8 rows of garter stitch left to do which I did yesterday and the poncho is blocking right now. I'm so excited about how this has turned out and it took me about 10 days (of knitting) to finish it. Pretty good considering I used 200g of 4ply (fngering weight) yarn.
I didn't do any major shopping in Scotland. I didn't even look up yarn shops to visit as the trip was Simon's birthday present and I knew he wanted to spend time with his sister. We live opposite ends of the country so they don't see each other that often.
But I bought too little tins at a market stall in Inverness and two zipped woven pouches by Amy Britton. I got those at the airport and they're beautiful. I'm using the smallest one to keep my on the go phone charger and headphones safe in my bag.
Having finished two projects since I came back, I'm rearing to cast on for something new although I do have some deadlines coming up and yarn for my book arriving soon. I've got an idea for a design which I can't get out of my head so last night I went through my sock yarn (fingering weight) stash and pulled out a few pretty skeins.
Top left is La Bien Aimee and top right is Malabrigo (the two skeins on the sides are the same colourway) but I'm worried the two darker skeins will be too dark and the bottom picture is two skeins of Kettle Yarn Co and the one on the right is Juno Fibre Arts which is currently not trading.
I'm really keen on the La Bien Aimee yarn but I'm thinking the yellow is too bright. I'm wondering about using the green Malabrigo instead. Decisions, decisions!
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