It has been a while since I did a proper update! We had my brother in law staying for weeks and I had a lot of ‘out of the house’ things planned for myself during his visit, including a yoga retreat that I went on, more on that at the end.
Acquisitions/Collection Curation
When we were in Ireland, last month, I found one shop selling a yarn made from Irish sheep! You’d think this would have been an easy task, but nope!
The yarn was from Eriu and I purchased it in Bantry, west Cork. It is their Elements Luxury DK (50% Bluefaced Leicester and 50% Romney). It is a gorgeous colour, not coming quite true on my photo.
Knitting
I have finished my Alpaca Shawl using Rowan Alpaca Classic. It is a tiny bit scratchy surprisingly. It isn’t blocked yet as I didn’t have room whilst BIL was here. It certainly needs blocking as it is pretty curled!
I have also finished another Emotional Support Chicken, this one is #5. The colours are a bit bonkers but hey ho! The teal is some Shetland fibre I dyed and spun, the pinks were wool fleece dyed by my friend Norah that I spun. The wattle and comb have some sparkle and bamboo so stand out well. The yellow beak is baby camel and silk.
I haven’t used up all the pinks and green yet so there may be another bonkers one. Then I will do some in some more realistic colours.
Painting
When I was on the yoga retreat I had a play with my watercolour paints. They aren’t finished yet. I forgot that watercolours need to dry between layers; not sure watercolour painting is staying in my future.
Spinning
There’s been quite a bit of spinning because I am trying to use up lots of fibre in my stash to use in more Emotional Support Chickens for the nursing home. A lot of these colours were also dyed by my friend Norah and then spun by me. The breeds are unknown and rustic feel, but should withstand lots of cuddles.
I also spun lots of the shades of brown merino that I have (central skein), this should make a nice chicken or two.
Other News
As mentioned, I went on a 4 day yoga retreat. It was held at Loch Rannoch Hotel and was a wonderful few days away. There were only 5 of us on the course, plus the instructor and her husband (who led the Tai Chi taster). We had a mix of relaxing, stretching sessions and then more serious hot yoga sessions. I went for walks, did some watercolour paintings, drove out to Loch Rannoch station, which is in the middle of nowhere but has a tea shop.
I also had a back and neck massage in their spa. I didn’t use their pool or gym, they even have a climbing wall and tons of equipment you can hire. Here’s the view from my bedroom window of the Schiehallion Mountain.
I have also seen lots of films at the cinema, read and listened to lots of books, been to see a comedian live and Six (the musical). I have been pretty busy! Busy hiding some may say! 😉
I skipped attending the Guild last weekend, as I had the house to myself and wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet whilst my husband and BIL were away for a couple of nights. He has now headed back to Australia and I finally have my bedroom back and room in my craftroom to weave again.
Oh and we are now dog sitting my bosses’ dog again for just over a week which is great, except within 30 mins of having her she jumped in the tidal river at low tide and got very muddy to her belly!
This was a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group has just finished its 16th year, my 9th year participating. If you would like to find more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, as you’d be very welcome to join us.
Oh the retreat looks and sounds magnificent – I’m glad you gad z great time. A nice period of calm when you are so busy!
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I love all the things! The more bonkers the chicken, the better (in my opinion). The colors of the yarn you spun are so beautiful-perfect for the season.
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As I get down to smaller balls of the left overs I feel the most bonkers chicken will soon be knitted 😆
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Your brown handspun will indeed be perfect for a chicken. Actually it’s so pretty seems a shame not to use for a hat or mittens. But the chicken will be loved as well. That blue does look beautiful. How nice to have your BIL visit but it does sound like it was along visit. I’m actually thankful that my girls will only be here for a few days next week. Course it helps that I just saw my daughter a month ago, will see her again next month, and again just after Christmas. Can’t imagine having family living so far away. My brother only sees his daughter twice a year since she lives in Austria. Fortunately she is a teacher so it’s a long visit in the summer. What a wonderful retreat. I know Tai Chi is supposed to be really good for you due to the slow steady movement.
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I haven’t seen my sister since my nephew’s 21s last October and no plans to see her next. She is a flight away and we are so different we don’t have much to talk about. My niece is having a party for her 21st but seems she doesn’t want oldies there lol
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I really like the crazy colored Chicken. The colors made me smile! Your retreat sounds so relaxing. The view from your room was magnificent. Enjoy dog sitting. She sounds like she might be a bit spirited.
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The Irish yarn looks very nice, so cool you got to go to Ireland! Nice alpaca shawl, I wonder if it is a bit scratchy becaues it was spun to tight or might have some spinning oil on it from the mill?
Some people like bright colors, I’m sure the emotional support chicken will be loved by someone at the Senior Citizen Center. 🙂 I do think the brown yarn will look like warm comfort to someone too :).
That retreat sounds like it was so much fun! Our library has a free class of Tai Chi once a week, thinking about it, I just hate exercising in front of other, I’m pretty clusmy :P.
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It is now dry and there’s no scratchy feel at all. So I think you were right. I recommend Tai Chi, it is very calming and I think you’d be fine doing it.
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So many lovely things to share! I love Six the Musical and I’m sad that I missed its pro film in the theater.
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I wasn’t aware there was a filming of it. We saw it live. Here filmed performances are mostly of either the National Theatre productions filmed in London or some ballets. I saw the version of Vanya that Andrew Scott did where he played all the characters as a recording in the cinema. I shall keep an eye out for the filmed version of Six.
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I saw it live, too, when it was in my local tour package. The pro-shot film included the entire original cast (unlike Hadestown which required some recasting) and was filmed at the Vaudville Theatre in London.
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Your alpaca shawl looks like a lovely big smile! And I’m a big fan of the bonkers chicken 😁
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