Shetland Islands Pictures

A church and graveyard.

On the way to Lerwick  by coach

Is this green?

At lunch, a gull taking bread.  He flew onto an abandoned table and snatched an uneaten sandwich.

SheeBeeEverywhere having a lager while her keeper knits.

Lerwick suburbs.

Wool fleeces at Jameson & Smith Wool Brokers.

Oliver giving information at Jameson & Smith.  

Knitters after Jameson & Smith.

Oban, Glencoe, West Highland Lochs and Castles

We took a coach with 16 passengers for a ten hour drive through the western highlands of Scotland.  John McDermott was our guide.  Doesn't he look handsome in his kilt?

John gave us lots of historical information about clan rivalries and slaughters in prior centuries.   He entertained with traditional music while driving when not dispensing jokes and stories. 

We took in Kilchurn Castle, in the historic village of Inveraray.  This is the castle, dating back to the 1600's.

Foxgloves were growing in the wild around the castle.

We gathered wool from the gorse around the castle, compliments of many black faced sheep.

We had fresh, and I mean fresh off the boat fresh, fish and chips in Oban for lunch and walked around this sea side town.  The fish was light and delicious!  We then drove through the western highlands and pictures will be forthcoming of that area.  The heather was blooming early this year, and some pictures of the reddish purple flowers will be included when I get home to download them from the camera.

Oban by the water at low tide:

A day in Glasgow and Paisley, Scotland

This morning started off with a traditional breakfast at our hotel in downtown Glasgow:  bangers, eggs, fresh breads, croissants, butter, marmalade, hot tomatoes and mushrooms, juices, fruits, cheeses and cold salami and very strong coffee. 

After that light little breakfast, we waddled off to our coach to spend a day visiting Sma' Shot Cottages in nearby Paisley.  The cottages were built in the 1700's.  Our guides explained the harsh conditions the weavers who lived in this area (and in the actual homes the 25 in our group were led through).  Docents in this historical site explained the lives of these workers.  Not only did the weavers made the cloth, but they also dyed their yarns from the garden plants grown by their community efforts.  It was usual that the weavers worked 18 hours a day, six days of the week.  They made so little money from their work that they could not afford clothes worthy to be worn at church.

These families often had 12 or more children, and lived in a two room shot gun house with other generational family members.  No electricity, a fire in the major room where they cooked food in their fireplace, ate only inches away from the fire, and also slept here, perhaps ten or twelve in this common room.  No bathrooms, and chamber pots that were emptied outside the front window onto the pedestrian pathway.

A weaver foreman might have a four room cottage for his family.  I doubt these workers had any sort of finery, but these hand made christening gowns were hung on a wall to display christening dresses from that era, but again, were available and used only by the wealthy.

Back to the garden.  This is a picture of foxglove which was used for dyeing.  It is growing in the heirloom garden which was in existence all the way back three centuries ago.

We had a lunch provided by the volunteers and then moved on to the Paisley Museum, opened in 1871.  That museum has about 1,400 paisley shawls in its archives.

See another blog post from Mary at www.ladybugspinning.blogspot.com.  Mary has a lot more pictures and writes well about our shared common experience viewing and learning about the original looms.

Tomorrow is a coach ride through the windswept Scottish highlands. Heather and gorse grown there and perhaps we can get some good pictures of these areas.

This is my first time to use Mobile Blogger, and it seems to be a fairly user friendly app.

Celebrating the 4th of July

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Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
 

Harris Tweed Making a Comeback

Harris Tweed is making a resurgence.

What is Harris Tweed?  Wikipedia says

Harris Tweed is a cloth that has been handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides. 

Harris Tweed is protected by the Harris Tweed Act of Parliament 1993,^[1] which strictly outlines the conditions in which the cloth can genuinely be made. 

Authentic Harris Tweed is issued with the Harris Tweed Orb Mark, the United Kingdom's oldest registered trademark,^[2] after inspection by the Harris Tweed Authority, the industry's governing body.

There is a link to a BBC video that was of great interest to me because 20 fiber enthusiasts (including moi) will be there in just two weeks to visit at least one weaver's shop, that of Donald John Mackay.

Go HERE to see the video (no embedding, with just a short commercial prior to the video). This is a picture of weaver Donald Mackay at work, NOT a live link:

and another picture on the island of Harris, with Mr. Mackay's weaving shed in the background: so picturesque!

Joyce James, the tour guide for our trip to the Scottish Isles, says about this video:

 It was good to see weaver, Donald John Mackay, at his loom in his weaving shed overlooking Luskentyre Beach. We'll be visiting Donald John next month as part of the 2013 Scottish Skeins tour. Travellers from past tours have thoroughly this stop. In fact, it's been difficult to get them to leave his shed and little shop.

Despite tough economic times, the Harris tweed industry is proving as resilient as the cloth which takes its name.

It has been making a big impact in global fashion, and recently took home two prizes from the UK Fashion and Textiles Awards.

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Soysilk Fiber: a Cowl with Drape

When I opened up my package of soysilk yarn, I really did not know the makeup of this fiber.  From reading others' remarks about the cowl that looked good in the pictures on Ravelry, it was necessary to knit up this cowl shell with a yarn that had lots of drape.  Silk and silk blends were mentioned, but the designer of the Cowl Shell (Myrna Batten) used Oasis brand, a 100% soysilk fiber.

South West Trading Company says

SOYSILK® brand fiber is made from the residue of soybeans from tofu manufacturing.  This process is 100-percent natural and free of any petrochemicals, making it an extremely environmentally friendly product.  Soy is a completely renewable resource – coming from the earth and being wholly biodegradable.   As early as the 1940s, textile experts dreamed of a fiber made from soy.  (In fact, Henry Ford had a suit made of soy as an early prototype.)  SOYSILK® brand fiber offers superior moisture absorption and ventilation properties along with beautiful draping, softness and warmth.

It took two weeks to knit this up and I am very pleased with the cowl.  And it is environmentally green as it contains natural anti-bacterial agents which can restrain the growth of certain types of bacteria and is therefore considered a very sanitary fiber.

It has the softness and smoothness of cashmere but isn’t hazardous to the environment. The fiber also has the same moisture absorption as cotton but with better moisture transmission, making it more comfortable and sanitary (from here).

 

 

The soysilk fiber (actually 100% soy) drapes nicely.  Now I'm on to knitting up another one in this variegated color:

 



 

 This is on my Works in Progress for Wednesday.  Go here to see others' projects that Tami hosts!

 

 



Checking In with Finished Objects Friday

Since it is Friday and after 9 AM with nothing to show for the day yet except for having finished off refrigerator left overs for breakfast, I'll post on Finished Objects Friday at Tami's.  (I had the last of a batch of gazpacho and some chicken salad.)  Go on over there to see what others are doing.

This pattern by Tin Can Knits, published by Handmade in the UK, is VIVID, a blanket pattern.

It is written for three weights of yarn.  I used a sport weight and a sock weight yarn and made these as samples.

These samples will be used for coasters during the summer.  When cool weather rolls round again, it might be time to go ahead and knit up 20 squares in various colors and make a blanket from the squares.  It is a fun pattern and a square can be knit in a few hours.

And from the garden, our first bloom from our newly planted Rose of Sharon bush and hollyhocks:

 

 

Happy Friday!

Fires; Trashcan Cooking over wood

Colorado has had terrible fires this week, both near Colorado Springs and closer to our home, about 60 miles away, the Black Forest fire.  Almost 38,000 people in 13,000 homes have been affected by the Black Forest fire, Fox News reported.

The UK Daily Mail showed this picture and also reported that this is the worst fire in the history of Colorado with close to 500 properties already destroyed.  Three houses were miraculously left standing.

Please pray for all affected.

Being careful of fire and using appropriate measures, the husband cooked out down in our lower area and smoked a chicken for our dinner last night.  He smoked it in his home-made trashcan cooker.

 

The bottom of the trash can was placed inside an existing fire pit and the old fire pit  grill and cover were repurposed for cooking over coals.

The chicken was seasoned and smoked 1.5 hours, and was turned every quarter hour.  It turned out to be a masterpiece, even without sauce.  Delicious!

Happy Fathers' Day to all.  Prayers for all affected by the fires in Colorado.

Morning Tea and a Game for Boys

What fun to share time with friends on a beautiful almost-summer morning.  Gal friends gathered in our back yard today for cold drinks and cucumber sandwiches and good conversation.

The little finger bites of vegetables and bread and butter were quite good; the picture above shows it made 24, less one previously consumed for quality assurance purposes.  Here is the recipe used for the cucumber sandwiches:

And I should have made a double batch.  Next time.

One momma brought her boys after swimming class to join us. Are they not just darling?  And smart, to boot!

The boys were offered 10 cents each for every "face" they could find in the garden.  The husband and I made a game of it last night while sitting outside and we found 39 faces in the garden. The boys came up with 40!

 Here are a few of the faces found in the garden:

Thanks, friends, for a fun time!