For Those in Peril On the Sea - A Hymn to The Fisherman's Mission.

Local Salmon with locally sourced wild mushrooms.

Where it all happens.

Langoustine, one of the area's best catches.

It was the Lochinver RNLI Fun Day on Saturday but we were late arriving and most of the fun had already been packed up.  I managed to buy a book and to dodge the wet stuff  dripping from folks who were raising money by having soggy sponges thrown at them. Dangerous stuff water,  as the people of this area know all too well.  For many years there was a Fishermans' Mission supporting the town and that building has now been transformed into a community venture with a bunkhouse and the most wonderful cafe.  I'll be coming back very soon and next time I'm having chips!

Heading North.

Borage and a bee.

Graduates.

Redcurrants and their insect tormentors.

Euphorbia - grows everywhere but I love it.

Inkle Braid.

Its been a hurly burly sort of a summer with trips away and family visiting. We were in Glasgow only a week ago  when my eldest Step Daughter graduated from Strathclyde University. ( First Class Honours, thank you for asking. ) and now we're heading off again to the North West Highlands to cat/hen/ guinea pig and assorted wee furry thing sit for a friend. I can't wait to spend time in one of the most beautiful places in the world but the responsibility is making me a little nervous, especially the cat/hen/small furry animal combination.  In my experience that spells doom for the smaller of the animals. Hopefully Clare's cats are less bloodthirsty than Magnus.

The garden has been cruelly neglected over the summer and has repaid our neglect with beauty and productivity. The redcurrants and raspberries have been stuffed into containers and frozen, waiting for a rainy jam making day.  Even the weeds look gorgeous and are keeping the local bees happy.

I'll be taking a selection of knitting and sewing away with me but decided to leave my new hobby at home. I've been learning to weave on an Inkle Loom. Although it looks fiddly it is a gentle introduction to weaving and I'm finding it a soothing occupation.  The braids themselves are beautiful, trouble is I can't honestly think of many things I can do with them. Suggestions gratefully received. The site I've linked to here suggests making Belly Dancing belts. Maybe that's a hobby too far?

Sweden is wonderful.

After my big screen knitting escapades it was time for a holiday. Our hospitable friends Lena, Malin and Findus live in Stockholm and we didn't need much persuasion to come over for a visit.  With a little serendipity on our side we managed to spend time in the city and also to take it easy in a cottage in the country.
We fell in love with Stockholm's cafes and cardamom buns and ate tremendous amounts of cheese. I have developed a new found love of the crispbread and saw some being made at the brilliant outdoor museum and zoo at Skansen. Even getting to the museum is an adventure, taking a ferry ride from the centre of Stockholm.

Then it was off to the cottage by the lake. Many Swedes have holiday homes in the country and it is easy to work out why. Every day we made our dinner, packed it up in wicker baskets and walked down to the lakeside to eat in the evening sun.  Swinging in the hammocks, knitting and reading with nothing more strenuous than a game of darts to round off the day.  A lovely pace to live by.

Let me show you what I mean......

Stockholm

Tasty beakfast at Lena's

Waterside coffee drinkers in Stockholm

Lakeside

Flatbread heaven

My mosquito bitten pins by the lake.

Rainy day Irony.

Photo - Ian Dodds.

photo - Ian Dodds.

One big ironies about blog writing is that when nothing is happening the blogger has tons of spare time to write about it. On the other hand, should life suddenly fill up with new and wonderful experiences, there isn't a minute to spare in order to record the events. In my case, there is the added complication that when I do something really interesting  I need a lie down for about a week afterwards. Life has slackened off a bit now and I have a conveniently rain filled day for remembering and writing.


It seems like months since I was eating pizza with Evie in a Boston Bowling Alley - and that's because it was, months and months. In the meantime I have been learning how to Inkle Weave, speaking dreadful Swedish and overcoming my fear of being in front of the camera. Lets start with the camera.  I hate being filmed.  In home movies I am usually the back you see leaving the room.  I'm awkward, self conscious and I sound wierd.  All of which should make me a poor choice for appearing on screen.   However, a film maker called Matt Hulse needed a knitter to create a couple of jumpers for his film about a deaf Scottish cyclist and his trip to the Arctic Circle. What started out as a contribution to the props developed into knitting action shots and finished with me standing on the Cairnbulg shore casting off one of the jumpers while it was being worn by actor Samuel Dore

The film is shot on location in a tiny fishing village on the North East Coast of Scotland.  The budget is tiny ( all donations gratefully received ) which meant that the crew was small and select  including the director's mum who was Director of Catering. Lots of room for collaboration and a refreshing lack of ego. There can't be many film shoots where the action culminates in a Coffee Morning in the village hall, complete with period costume and a school flute band. Or where one of the collaborators brings along a home made tricycle just in case it comes in handy  - and it does. So many people helped along the way,  you can find out more at the Dummy Jim website,  a thing of beauty all by itself.


Next time - Sweden, rye bread and some Inkle Weaving. Roll on the next rainy day.

photo - Archie Ramsay.

Photo - Ailsa Macwhinnie

A short lesson in how to follow your bliss.

This is the last of my catch ups from the USA which is just as well. Exciting things are happening at home too and I'll need to blog about them very soon. In the meantime, let me take you to Starcroft Fiber in Maine.







Jani and her daughter Leah are two of the most effervescent fibre enthusiasts I've ever met, with just my kind of business ethics -  simplify, stay small and enjoy what you do.  The fleeces that they use for spinning, dyeing and felting come from sheep who live all year round on Nash Island, off the coast of Maine. The resulting yarns are beautiful, I was lucky enough to be given some, dyed a soft smoky grey.  Handspinners can also buy the fleeces for spinning at home.

  

  

I visited with my trusty companions, Mary Jane and Ellen and we were shown round the mill, with its wonderful wool washing system, the felt making machine and all the equipment needed for creating yarns. Although the fleece is processed by machine Jani checks the yarns by hand to make sure they feel right, just like a handspinner would. What impressed me most was how happy Jani and Leah were with their work. The business is just big enough to be challenging and fulfilling all at the same time.  A truly inspirational workplace, next time I want to come back for the shearing!

Why one of these photos is a bit blurry.

Knit a fish for the fish exchange.



Show fish to cat.




Lose all control of fish.

Return to house and nurse scars.





 

where was I?

Oh yes,  peering into a classroom at WEBS watching as Mary Jane explained something tricky to her students. Later that weekend we hopped into the car,  bought some snickerdoodle flavoured coffee at the gas station and headed for the hills. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Never buy a coffee named after any foodstuff other than coffee.  The hills, on the other hand, did not disappoint. 

We were en route to Ellen's,  Ellen lives in New Hampshire with her family in a house stuffed with all the beautiful things she finds in thrift shops.  Everyone in that household makes stuff - music, cookies, knitting patterns, semi-conductors, snow machines.  We had a blast and made plans to meet in Maine later on.
 
                            



Mary Jane and I set off to Maine in the midst of a snow warning. I didn't take the warning too seriously until I woke up the next morning to find many inches of snow outside my window. Beautiful crisp new spring snow. A perfect reason to spend our days knitting by the woodstove. And that's just what we did.  I  have some lovely pictures of MJ but most of them show her knitting top secret patterns for  important magazines. Instead, here is proof of the usefulness of knitted items. Perfect for snowbound log collecting.

     

It wasn't all snow and yarn,  I also met some of the nicest people in Maine.  And dogs, and ducks. There was so much to see and do and eat and photograph that I think I'll just have to come back again. Still more tales to tell of this journey.  Next time I'll tell you all about following your bliss at Starcroft Yarns.....