Felting
Well before I start with my weekly update, I have some news! 5 miles from my home is the Victorian spa town of Strathpeffer. In the village square there’s a circular pavillion which was one of the buildings they would sample the spa waters, in Victorian times. Last week it opened as a new venture ‘The Fuzzy Thistle’, selling locally made crafts. (If you follow the link above, you’ll find that web page has a picture of the “Old Sampling Pavillion” at the bottom of the page, not to be confused with the large Spa Pavillion at the top of the page.)
They operate on a sale or return basis, so if they aren’t snapped up then it hasn’t cost me anything. I’ve started off with 6 of my felted scarves and they are hopefully going to sell them to tourists or locals. Today I had an email saying one of my scarves (the bottom right one) has been bought! So that’s exciting.
The town is a couple of miles off the North Coast 500 route, and has a number of large hotels that attract coaches doing Highland tour trips and independent travellers. In the square on Tuesday evenings the local pipe band play during the holiday season and the shop will open during that time as well as the other times during the week. We are starting with the scarves and as I make more things I can drop them in. Two of the scarves I made this week (top left purple and bottom middle yellow & black…that looks green!) I won’t find out until the end of each month whether anything has been sold. They should make good gifts and souvenir ideas, as they won’t take up much room and they may well come in handy even on a summer’s day we can get cold winds.
So this was a productive week, with the yellow and black scarf made on Monday and the purple on Tuesday.
Knitting
On Wednesday I finished Quick Sand and blocked it. It has been drying for days and is still a bit damp, despite me jumping on towels to get moisture out. A separate post will follow with it dry and on, but this is it wet.
As a palette cleanser between big projects I thought I’d make some Smitten Mittens with some of my original homespun yarn and home dyeing practice from last year that has sat in a bag of homespun odds and ends. Here’s 4 of them, should be able to do another 20 before Christmas to hang them as an advent garland…and get my husband to pop chocolates in them lol! I have done a swatch for my next Heidi Kirrmaier pattern, ‘Such a Winter’s Day’ and the maths is making my brain hurt. Based on gauge I should go down a needle size, others who have made it with the same yarn seem to have just knit a size smaller on the larger needles. Anyone know the formula for double checking this would work? The internet just has me baffled.
Now for something totally different! Wood Turning!
On Friday I did a wood turning course that my husband got me for my birthday present. If you haven’t already seen my separate post please go have a look at my masterpiece of a yarn bowl I made. Super pleased with it and want to do it again.
On Thursday it was my 47th birthday and I met a friend for a walk with the dog and lunch at The Bad Girls Bakery. My husband plays football on Thursday evenings and this year Valentine’s Day, our Wedding Anniversary and my birthday have all landed on Thursday! So we went for a meal on Friday evening instead, to the Black Isle Bar which serves organic pizzas and their craft ales. I don’t drink beer but I like their pizzas and there’s an ice cream parlour a few doors down.
HighlandHeffalump 
Happy belated birthday – it sounds as though you had a lovely evening. Congratulations on the scarves, that is very exciting. And quick sand looks fabulous, it will look great on.
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Oh Liz. How exciting to be able to sell your scarves. I am sure they will be snatched up quickly. Those tiny mittens will be perfect for a Christmas garland. Especially if there is a bit of chocolate in them! Quick sand is grand. Hopefully it will dry soon so you can wear it.
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I imagine your scarves will sell quickly! They are perfect for souvenirs and so practical and beautiful. Wood turning? Oh my aren’t you adventurous. I am looking forward to seeing you modeling your new sweater.
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The old pavillion is so cute! Congrats on selling something so soon! Also, I cannot believe you made that beautiful yarn bowl on your first class?!? Everything you do turns out beautiful. Happy Belated birthday too. It sounds like you had a great one! I could for some organic pizza ice cream and a visit to the Bad Girl’s Bakery! LOL!
You sweater turned out so nice. I like the style of it.
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Thanks, I can’t wait to have another go at wood carving.
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I forgot to say in your woodturning blog post – Happy Birthday! Sounds like a lovely day 🙂
Congratulations on the sale! This will be the first of many, I know. You make such beautiful things, you will have great success!
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Happy birthday, Liz! Love all your projects but that bowl is amazing. Very cool about the shop selling your scarves!
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Firstly, belated birthday wishes LIz, sounds like you had a wonderful birthday and what a great present. I’m off shortly to check out the separate post.
Congratulations on being able to sell your makes and how wonderful to have one sold already. Your scarves are beautiful so I’m not surprised one has been snapped up already. What an exciting venture this is!
I hope your Quick Sand dries soon, it’s frustrating when garments take so long, specially when you think they should be quicker because it’s summer.
As for the gauge issue, take your gauge now on the needles you have, so X sts per inch and divide it into the total body sts (after all the increases etc) that there will be for the size below yours and this should tell you what size you will end up with if you work the size smaller.
If your swatch is blocked you won’t have to worry about leaving room for blocking or anything like that and just remember to have your sts per inch rather than over the 4 inches, it’s just less confusing.
The only other thing I’d say on this is, do you like the fabric you have on the gauge swatch you have? if you do then it’s just a matter of working out which size. If you don’t try knitting it on a needles size smaller and see whether you like the finished fabric and then again take the sts per inch on your gauge and divide it into the total body sts again after all the increases etc.
Sorry if that’s a bit of an essay but I hope it’s of some help to you and doesn’t confuse you or hurt the brain more.
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How nice to have such a place so close! Strathpeffer looks like a fun and interesting place to visit often. I hope you have great success selling your unique, beautiful items.
Quick Sand looks terrific. I look forward to seeing pictures of it on! I enjoyed reading your post on your wood turning course and making that beautiful bowl. What a lovely birthday gift. Belated Happy Birthday to you, young friend. ;^)
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