Float'n'purl

No Time for Words

Just more pictures of our holiday on Skye.........

Cute but look at the size of those horns!

DH actually walking (doesn't happen much)Trumpan on Waternish

DH looking like he's on holiday (beach on North Uist)

Me with my legs as white as the sand!

Another beautiful beach on Harris

The happy couple!

Back

I've been back over a week from my holiday already but no time to blog so here's a wee photo to keep your interest until I get the chance for a proper update...... no I didn't go to the Bahamas, this was taken on a day trip to the Isles of North Uist and Harris. This particular view is on Harris - the sea was really that colour!

(Almost) Gone Fishing

Weaving loom packed :: knitting packed :: midge spray packed (worried I don't have enough) :: sun cream packed (ever the optimist!) :: what more do you need for a holdiay in Scotland? Hopefully that's it........................see you in a week or so.

Happiness is........

new CD :: new book :: yarn on sale! (see links and info here)

Blue Skye(s)

Yipee - we've just booked a cottage for a week on Skye from 2nd June. It was reduced as a last minute deal and I can't wait. There's not one bath but two - heaven! We've been to Skye before for our Honeymoon in 2001 for three days.........and it rained, heavily, for three days so I still don't know what it looks like. Hopefully we'll have blue skies this time!

Has anyone any tips on yarn places to explore when we're there? I've found this? I also saw an article in Simply Knitting or Knitting magazine about a farm with spinning and hand dyed objects but I didn't buy the mag at the time. Has anyone seen this and have any details?

1:05:23

One hour five minutes and twenty three seconds - that's how long it took my friend Lynne and I to complete the Glasgow Women's 10K last weekend. It was my third 10K but first time doing the Glasgow race and I was especially pleased with my time as I'd had an upset stomach all week so couldn't train plus I was at my sister's 40th birthday party the night before which went on to the wee hours of Sunday morning! Lynne (fellow knitter and the great friend who knitted me my pink shawl) and I talked about knitting along the whole route. Without that distraction I would certainly have struggled but there's no way I could have knitted like that woman who did the London marathon recently.

It was lovely to see family and friends again and the hightlight of the party had to be the stretch limo my BIL hired to ferry all 12 females at the party around Paisley for an hour signing Karaoke! Classy! It was my first limo trip and a good laugh!

I also really enjoyed having four days off as we made it a long weekend. It was my first break this year and I hadn't realised how tired I've been of late (plus it gave my shoulder a rest).

Knitting wise I've been taking it easy by working slowly on a cardi for DH's friend who's wife is due at the end of July. I'm using left over Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in apple I used to make a hoodie last year. Its so soft and yummy :) I'm using a pattern from her "Special Knits" book which is nice and simple. In fact this will be my first ever cardi!

I've also started to warp up my knitters loom with yarn that's been in my stash even before I started knitting again! I bought handspun 2ply yarn while on holiday on Islay from a lady who keeps rare bread sheep but unfortunately I don't know which breed the fibres are from. The yarn is too rough to knit anything to wear with and I'm a bit worried that it may be a bit "hairy" (that's a technical term I'm sure) to weave with but I'll give it a go anyway. I've got about 400g so I'm hoping to make two long scarfs the full width of the loom which I may sew together to make a big wrap but maybe that's being a bit over ambitious at this stage..............lets wait and see.

Comment Deleted

For the first time in two years I've decided to delete a comment.

You know who you are and its just suffice to say that my blog is not for you to vent your anger at a third party then to be so pathetic as to have to do it anonymously! If you've got something to say don't be a coward and put you name to it.

Enough said........normal service will resume shortly!

Uninspired

I've not been in the mood to post recently because of my RSI in my shoulder which is really playing up. After a full weekend of crafting last week it really hurt. Add to that my daily grind on the computer and I'm seriously worried that the aching won't go away and I'll have to cut down on knitting/ crochet/ spinning (haven't done any since January!).

I spend £37.00 per month on a Remedial Massage to try to help and it does but my therapist thinks its getting worse and said I should swap knitting for cross stitch! No offence to anyone who likes to cross stitch but it just doesn't float my boat.............what to do? I've tried specific exercises but I'm useless at doing them every day so I've signed up for a yoga class as my therapist said I was much better when I did a yoga class. Here's hoping things can get better.

In the meantime I'm totally uninspired :( Hopefully I'll get my Mojo back before Woolfest!

No time to blog but......

I've no time to blog but I had to put up these pictures before the weekend. Thanks to the very talented Lynne I now have a beautiful wrap in Rowan Scottish Tweed (DK in Lavender). How do I know this.....well I gave Lynne the yarn for her birthday. See, if you give a fellow knitter yarn as a present you never know you might just get it back knitted up into something beautiful.

Sorry I don't know the pattern but I do know that it will keep my shoulders warm in the chilly summer evenings!

Also a FO - herdwick crochet bag from a kit bought at  in Penrith (no website).

Right I'm off to pack my swimming costume for a FREE Spa day tomorrow.......more on this later.

Bye Bye Baby.......

Today was a sad day as we said "goodbye" to my beloved narrow boat "Sissy Jupe". We decided to sell her about a year or so ago to help fund a new project (build a house in Scotland) but today the reality hit home.

We've owned her for ten years and she was our pride and joy. I bought her initially to live on while in London not long after I'd met DH. I'd been renting a boat for six months and had fallen in love with the way of life (then fell in love with DH who I met on the canal!) so she has many strong memories for the both of us. She's been there, through thick and thin, coming north with us eight years ago. DH in particular has spent countless hours (and we don't even want to think about how much money) resorting her to the beautiful vessel she is today but sadly we had very little time to really enjoy boating on her......life always seemed to get in the way, but the times we did spend away were precious - she was our bolt hole which we'll sadly miss. She was my first real "home" (having only rented before), the first time I could properly unpack after years of trailing my stuff around in boxes, she was our special space in a world of mad consumerism - peaceful and tranquil. 

We'll miss her but our compensation is that we now have some funds to start on our next adventure and her new owners are the most perfect couple we could have imagined for her. I know they'll love her just as much as we did. We've both shed a few tears today but hopefully she'll have some great new adventures of her own - bye, bye baby!

(if you look closely enough at this picture of the happy new owners you can see DH & I holding each other in the background! I know we're pathetic but there you are - I guess we're a bit emotional when it comes to boats...)