frayed at the edge

A grand day out

First, of course, I have to start by revealing the Christmas cake, after it was unwrapped!

mmmm - rich and delicious!!  Several times between now and Christmas, I will drizzle brandy over it, so it will be even more moist.  In the past there have small disputes over the icing of our Christmas cakes, as I don't like marzipan, but this problem has been resolved - no marzipan under the icing, and marzipan fruits on the top for Malcolm!!

While we are on the subject of cakes ..... of course there was cake yesterday at patch'n'chat - in fact there were two -

 

a border tart

 

iced ginger bread

Yes, I had a piece of each!!  We could have eaten them in style, as the table in the shop has been laid to show off Christmas place mats

If you would like to make these mats, do check out Borderland Fabrics' website, to get in touch with the shop to buy the fabrics.

 

Now on to today - we set off this morning for the village of St Abbs over on the east coast.  It was a beautiful morning and we had a lovley run over.  We were heading to another event organised by local wool shop Woolfish - a cornucopia of all things woolly.  Malcolm came in to have a cup of coffee, but then he left me to immerse myself in all the wonderful woolly goodies.  (he went for a walk along the clifftop - taking lots of photos for me, which you can see tomorrow in Shadow Shot Sunday!!)  I haven't yet taken photos of the things I bought, but of course I did take photos of some of the stalls.  First is the exceedingly colourful stall of my lovely friend Lindsay 

Every time I see Lindsay she has made all sorts of different, interesting things, and they are always beautifully presented.

The next lot of loveliness was on the stall of Janis Embleton - all sorts of super handwoven delights

And then I succumbed to the most beautiful hank of pure silk lace weight yarn from fyberspates - I will have to knit something very special with it

Unfortunately the llamas and alpacas weren't there today - I know I showed you photos of them when we were there in the spring, but you can never have too many photos of such lovely animals!!  
  

 

 

The nice things that people say .....

...... can really make your day!  First it was Sarah on Thursday - when I said that I couldn't believe that Stuart is 31 next month, she said I must have been very young when I had him!  Then on Friday at chat'n'patch, Anne said that I had made her ears sore, I had talked so much.  Why did that make me happy?  Because finally the latest medication is helping with my sore face, and it no longer hurts to talk!!

I was also happy when the post arrived this morning - first there was this invitation to Lindsay's Woolgathering on Sunday

 

Lindsay makes wonderful envelopes from magazine pages - an excellent idea for recycling!

 

Isn't this a wonderful fabric picture!  It is actually part of a booklet that was sent to Malcolm, trying to persuade him to buy a new Golf Plus!! .....

 

..... the booklet is stitched together - I think they are targetting women to buy the new Golf (I should add here that it's my car, in case you think Malcolm drives a girly car!!)

We went into Hawick this morning for some shopping and of course went for a cuppa

 

It's a quirky cafe tucked up a side street in Hawick - but worth the effort to find, especially if you like second-hand books!

That was all a lot more pleasant than it had been first thing this morning when I went out for my walk

 

The photo looks out of focus - but it was just very wet, with a lot of low cloud over the hills.  However my feet were warm and dry, as I had on my trusty walking shoes and a pair of my handknitted socks

 

although as it was so miserable, perhaps I should have had my 'Happy' socks on!!

 

Why 'Happy' socks - simply because that is what the bamboo yarn is called (although I have been less than happy about the way the socks have washed - my wool ones wash much better!)

So now that the new medication is helping, I am just about back to my normal happy self (although when I said to Malcom I was back to normal, he groaned and said 'oh no'!!!!)

 

Running very fast .......

....... just to stand still!!  The last few days have been very busy, and I still have photos from Friday and  Saturday that I want to show you, as well as all the wonderful stuff from yesterday's Woolgathering.  So, let's get started!!

 

The table mats and runner which I was sewing in Friday

The brown areas are chenille = the texture is lovely

This is the swallow tail shawl, soaking in tepid water, with 'Ecover Delicate', for about twenty minutes.  I then rinsed it thoroughly and squeezed out the excess water (NEVER wring your knitting!)

 

I rolled the shawl in a towel, to soak up as much water as possible (I left it rolled up while I had lunch!)

 

Ready to block the shawl - a clean sheet, my new blocking wires, pins and tape measure 

 

It took a little while to carefully thread the wires through the top edge and then through the points of the swallowtails - but then it was so easy to stretch the shawl out to the correct size and shape and push pins into the carpet to hold the wires in place. (if you have never blocked a shawl like this - it is a long job if you are pinning each point and trying to get them even!)

 

lovely even points!

 

I knitted the shawl to wear with my good winter coat (which I've had since 1996) - I think it looks fabulous!

 

Many thanks to Helen for the beautiful yarn (it's alpaca, silk and cashmere) - and the shawl only took 32 grams - so I could do another two!! 

 

So yesterday, it was off down to Chesters for another Woolgathering, organised as ever by Lindsay. who was experimenting with some needle felting (do you remember Lindsay's lovely holiday cottage?  She still has some vacancies, so if you want to come and see the glorious Borders, do check out her blog)

  

Fiona was doing some more work on her amazing felted ram

 

Janet was spinning using her wonderful new spinning wheel

 

Lizzi was busy with her needlepoint

 

Tricia is getting to the end of her latest knitting project

 

Lorraine was working on her sampler quilt - it is entirely handstitched!  (and she has another one the same well on the way to completion!!)  (LtoR Tricia, Lorraine and Janet)

 

What was I doing?  Well after a bit of needle felting, I was working on my knitting that I can't tell you about, but Janet took this photo of me eating cake!!

 

Some of those there yesterday said I showed too many cakes on the blog - girls, girls, there is no such thing as too many cakes!!  So you know that I am going to finish with cake related photos!!  I got up at 5am to bake these scones - they looked so good I thought they deserved Granny's traycloth and pretty china for afternoon tea

 

Would you like a closer look - oh yum yum

 

Oh dear, I've just told you a great big fib - of course I didn't bake the scones - I bought them this morning in Morrisons! Complete with raspberry jam and fresh cream!)

That was a bit of a marathon post, but now I've caught up with all the things I wanted to share with you - I hope you have enjoyed it!

 

Home from home

Yesterday, after we had lunch at the Woolgathering, Lindsay asked if we would like to walk across the road and see round her holiday cottage.  The words were hardly out of her mouth, when we were lined up at the door ready to go.  You can find out more about the cottage here and  here , but (with Lindsay's permission) I took photos of Hugh's artwork (all available to buy!!) and some of Lindsay's decorative touches

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all so taken with the cottage, we wanted to move in!!  I know I'm biased because I live here, but there is so much to see and do in the Borders, and of course the scenery is stunning.

 

This afternoon I went for my second session of acupuncture - I was so relaxed that I fell asleep!  (I woke myself up when I started to snore - very embarassing).

Crossing Borders

The other day, I was given some of these directories .....

Rather than try to describe what Crossing Borders is all about, I thought it would be easier to let you read the introduction ......

 

The directory contains page after page of wonderful talented people (I've even created a new category to file this post in!) - but of course I'm going to highlight our friends Lindsay (on the left of the page)

 

and her equally talented husband Hugh (on the right)

 

As I inserted the last photo, it occured to me that I should have taken a photo of the painting of Hugh's that I bought for Malcolm - a wonderful, atmospheric Northumberland landscape!  Remember,they also have an excellent holiday cottage that you could come and stay in, full of their work.

If you would like a copy of the directory, then please leave a comment requesting one, and I'll post one to you (overseas as well) - it will be first come first served.

 

And now ....... the first thing in the great giveaway for my 100th post .....

 

...... a super Spanish knitting magazine.  Remember, to be in with a chance of winning the giveaway, simply leave a comment over the next few days.

I probably won't do a post tomorrow, as I'm going on a day out with the Rural, so I'll entertain you with the highlights of that on Sunday.  Have a lovely weekend, love, Anne