DropOne

Yesterday there was a lovely, drying, wind, so I took the opportunity of dyeing some yarn for a fair at Ledgowan Lodge, Achnasheen next Saturday.  The day dawned beautifully sunny, but by the time I’d hung out all the yarn to dry a mist was creeping in off the sea, making the whole area look quite eerie.

My own favourite out of the latest batch of yarn?  It would have to be “Child’s Play”:

Very bright, and very colourful.

Today was another day of blue skies and fluffy white clouds.  However we were slightly alarmed when one particular cloud hovered over our house for some time:

So if we disappear without explanation for a while, you know why.  Which reminds me of something I came across on the BBC website yesterday.  Easy mistake to make, I guess.

In the tiny village of Lochinver there is a really varied and interesting programme of musical concerts arranged each year at the Lochinver Village Hall.  This year the programme ranges from Voces del Sur to the young and talented Anna Massie, and Shooglenifty, and the year ends off with a concert from Siyaya Arts, a Zimbabwian song and dance troop.   Last night it was the turn of the Tannahill Weavers.

They put on a great concert, and while some of the vocal items weren’t really up my street, the instrumental sets were just fantastic.  You cannot fault their musicality, and their enviable ability to play a variety of instruments, sometimes within one set of tunes.  The piper not only managed to make the bagpipes look small, but in one set he played the traditional bagpipes, small pipes, keyboard, low whistle and the pennywhistle.

One of the key organisers of the annual programme is Alex.  Alex works tirelessly to bring a varied and up to date programme each year, as well as running one of the best bookshops in Scotland - certainly the bookshop with the best location.  So I was thrilled to read this morning in the Assynt News that he has been selected to be Assynt Chieftian 2008.   The Assynt Games take place on the 8th August this year, so if you’re in the area …..

We continue to make progress at settling in.  Stevan worked hard today to make our sleeping area in the house look extremely homely.  He has also set up his workspace, and my workshop has been ordered, although it will be some time before it arrives, so until then yarn production will have to continue in the kitchen.

A couple of new catchphrases can be heard echoing through the halls of Lockhart Towers:

“Have you seen …….?”

and

“do you know where …..?”

to which the response is always short and simple:

“No!”

I guess that eventually everything will be found, or we will come to the conclusion that it went to the Galashiels Tip, but at the moment it is a little on the frustrating side when you want something you know you have but can’t find!

There were a few rather practical issues that needed our attention this week. For a start, the “lawn” required a little loving care!

To give ourselves a bit of breathing space from the unpacking, sorting out, reorganisation, and general chaos, we took ourselves off to the hills for a walk. Peggy and Lexie were so excited to be back in their beloved hills, and they went absolutely wild, just running, and running. We are so fortunate - just 10 minutes from the house we have this:

I have a slightly irrational fear of cows, and so a little too close to the house for my liking we have these furry, cuddly looking creatures:

I’m sure they’re harmless, but those horns are a little terrifying.

In the evening I’ve been doing a bit of spinning. Bordertart kindly gave me some of her dyed blue faced leicester tops, and they’re just spinning up beautifully.

I’ve broken equal sized pieces of top off each colour, spinning it in the same sequence, and hopefully I’ll end up with yarn that will stripe beautifully.

There is knitting being done too, but in Rowan Denim yarn, and it’s not easy to photograph, especially if the light isn’t too good.  On the next sunny day I’ll try and get some photo’s.

Thank you for all your comments and best wishes in the last post!  You’re all very kind.

Yesterday evening things in Gattonside were looking a little sad. Half empty rooms:

But also a pile of things in the centre of the lounge that we pondered over for some time, wondering quite how we were going to fit it all into my little Fiat.

Mungo (the Land Rover) was already full, with two of our old bears (Mr Duck and Carruthers) looking out the back window.

We set off at 6.00am this morning, with our first stop at the wonderful Ballinluig Truck Stop for a bit of breakfast and much needed coffee. Lovely place - they refill your coffee cup at your request and for no extra charge. As usual Lexie and Peggy were absolute angels in Mungo, and Lucia (my Fiat) managed all the way without too many complaints.

So here we are. What the future holds is unknown, and fairly daunting at this stage, but we are looking forward to whatever it may bring us. Last week was tiring, draining and sad on many occasions, especially saying cheerio to friends, but we have a new adventure facing us, and hopefully I’ll be able to share bits of it with you here.

And for those of you who visit my blog hoping to see something …. anything … about knitting, then I’m sorry I’ve been such a poor woolly blogger. I will try harder! My excuse is that the last few weeks have not been exactly normal. I do have a number of projects on the go, but they’ve been very simple, easy ones as that’s all I’ve had the brainpower for recently.