Still unpacking…

I’ve been back a few days, and I’m still making sense of the wonderful experiences I’ve had over the last few weeks. How does one “unpack” the rich treasures that such a trip brings: the lovely new friends, the wonderful experiences, the breathtaking sights, the decadent accommodations, the complete freedom and delight of being fully engaged in a wooly world…? Never mind sorting out the laundry, the photos, the yarn! It’s a bit of a shock to the system coming back to work obligations, house-cleaning and heart-breaking headlines. I’m taking things slow…

This weekend I plan on:
 - sorting out some of my photos to show you glimpses of Shetland and Iceland
- soaking up as much time as possible with my dearly-missed husband and friends
- wrapping myself up in my brand new Icelandic-yarn shawl (it’s surprisingly cold here!)
- going to the farmer’s market, and eating as many veggies as I can stuff into my face (the price of produce in Iceland was MIND-BLOWINGlY expensive!!!)
- Look through my cookbooks for a nice tea cake recipe

What about you? What are you up to this weekend?

Madder Anthology 1 samples

I'm sure many of you have seen Carrie Bostick Hoge's gorgeous new collection, Anthology 1 (slideshow of the collection is here). To say that I love everything about this would be an understatement. The patterns, the styling, the photography, the colour palette, it's all perfect. I knit 2 samples for Carrie:


The Sibella cardigan

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

The Beatrice cardigan

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

Both have that exquisite marriage of simplicity and femininity that Carrie is famous for. Of course I want to knit them again for me.

Perhaps when I get back from my trip. Only 1 more sleep before I leave. Eeeep!

My church

Sunday morning has always been a favourite time of mine to take a walk in the forest. To me, it's the perfect place to centre myself and connect. Sadly, I haven't been able to get out much so far this summer. Several weeks ago, I slipped and fell down our stairs and partially tore a ligament in my knee (goodbye fall marathon). Lots and lots of physio ensued. It was really tough being "good" and staying off the biking, running and hiking trails. I finally got the ok from my physiotherapist the other day to test my knee out on a modest (but oh so pretty) hiking trail. I was very relieved to find out that I should be perfectly fine to wander around the beautiful Shetland and Iceland landscape. Phew!

It's as if the forest knew I had been longing to see her. She put on quite a show for me.

This underpass always makes me think of the Hobbit.

Everything smelled so fresh and green.

Looks like this White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) had a lucky escape





Unfortunately this little guy did not.

Look at those incredible digging hands! I think this is Parascalops breweri, the Hairy-tailed mole. I wonder what happened to it? I could not see any obvious signs of injury.

Some sort of Fleabane.





Hello Daddy Longlegs.

I was so excited to see this White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) that I didn't think to switch the camera to auto-zoom. This was the best pic in the bunch.

Maidenhair fern, Andiantum pedatum, one of my favourite woodland plants




Rubus odoratus, Purple-flowered raspberry.




 Anemone virginiana, Thimbleweed.





??? (note to self: buy a mushroom identification guide!)

What's this odd creature? I think it's the rare Coco knittyii.

That was SO refreshing!

Ok now, back to my to-do list.

Beautiful Bairn

Here's one of the epic samples I was telling you about. Several months ago I knit Bairn, a yummy blanket design by the brilliant Julie Hoover.

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed

Mmmm.... cables in charcoal grey.... you can imagine I was all over that!

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed

I love the rich red version too.

The blanket was part of an absolutely charming kids collection by Brooklyn Tweed. Oh these people know how to do it right. And speaking of charming, did you see the sweet "behind the scenes" video they made of the photo shoot?





Highlight for me was seeing Jared having a dance-off with the cutest little boy.

Bressay in progress

With only 18 days left before I leave for my Shetland trip, it's going to be a race for the finish on my Bressay dress. I've been extremely busy with EPIC samples (which I can't wait to show you) but now, it's all about trying to get my dress done so I can match this lovely lady (you must check out her FO blog post, the pictures are just magical!)

If I run out of time, this might end up being a tunic rather than a dress... We'll just have to wait and see. This weekend is all about miles of stockinette and Wimbledon nail-biting (sad about Genie, but go Fed!!!!)

What are you up to this weekend?

Halligarth, a sample for Wool People 7

Whoa, two blog posts in a week — careful not to fall off your chair!

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

This beautiful thing is Halligarth, a shawl pattern designed by Gudrun Johnston for the latest Wool People collection, from Brooklyn Tweed. I knit the smaller beige sample.

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

It's one of those lace projects that look impressive and difficult but is in fact easy and fun to knit. I definitely have plans to make one for myself. I think it would be heavenly in pale grey. Other things I'd like to knit from the collection: everything! Ok, if I had to choose a few, I'd go with Ivar, Merle, and Natsumi, in the exact same colours featured in the photos. I tell you, they know what they're doing, these wool people!

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

On a side note, I've seen a lot of positive talk about the use of a gorgeous silver-haired model in this collection. I too am a fan, and dream of a day that this is no longer an extraordinary event but the norm in the media (and hoping too that we'll see a better representation of different body shapes, cultures, abilities, gender expressions etc...)

Now wouldn't that be lovely?

Swatching for Shetland

Happy Easter everyone! The weather here is absolutely beautiful. I think we're going to go for walk in the woods this afternoon, and perhaps go to see The Grand Budapest Hotel later.

In the meantime, I'm playing with my new wooden toy, getting some lovely Loft ready for my Bressay Dress. Several of us lucky Shetland trip goers have planned to knit the dress for the tour (see Lori's beautiful version here). I'm sure it will make for some funny group photos!

I've organized a little Bressay KAL if anyone's interested in joining (you don't need to be an "ltp" (lucky trip person) to join.

I hope the Easter bunny brings you lots of lovely treats!