“The Isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs…”

If you like traveling and are looking for an interesting place to see this is a post for you.

Visiting the Isle of Skye last August was one of the most memorable experiences in my life.

It is in Scottish Highlands, up North, and if you like sun and high temperatures this is not a place for you. Even in August it was relatively cold for our bodies spoiled by Floridian weather. Yet, cold wasn’t a serious problem – I had my knits with me and finally (FINALLY) could wear them. It was also extremely windy and raining most of the time (bring everything waterproof that you own). We spent more than a week there and had only 2 sunny days.

And the roads… Oh, the island roads… For our American souls this was a real torture. Two way roads on Skye look like tiny one way lanes in the US. Driving there requires some special skills, first of which is patience. They have “passing places” where you stop your car and patiently wait for the upcoming cars to pass before going forward. And you know what? Lots of people came there in RVs. Imagine driving on these roads in an RV! I can’t!

Anyway, those are the problems you are going to encounter if one day you travel there (which you definitely should do). Nevertheless, tourists keep coming to the Isle of Skye in droves (or herds, since there are so many sheep there that “herd” looks like the best word to describe the tourist phenomenon). It is pretty hard to book a lodging there in summer time, even though B&Bs, hostels, hotels, camping and RV spaces, and all sorts of other housing accommodations are abundant.  Plan ahead.

Why this place is so popular?

It is a small island with population less than 10 thousand people, mostly rural, with glens and mountains, ocean, lochs, rivers, mountain streams, and waterfalls. The air there is so pure you want to drink it. Every time I was outside, I tried to breathe as much as possible of it in my lungs. If I could, I’d stored it away to uncork later, and breathe it again. The experience was truly unique – like getting washed up from inside. By the way, the water, regular top water there is also pure beyond believe and tastes delicious.

I think there are more sheep on the island than populations (tourists included).

Sheep are everywhere, even on the roads (yes, you’ve got to let them pass as well).

I’ve been a big fan of the movie Shaun the Sheep, yet I used to think it is just a clever animation. On Skye I discovered that it is actually a documentary. The house where we were staying was in a middle of sheep grassland. Blackfaced and blacklegged sheep were peeping in our windows every morning, looking curious and a bit scornful at the same time. After all it was their land. We were only visiting.

Once we were lucky to see how a farmer trained his sheep to get into a barn. An extremely smart and agile sheep dog was helping him. Baffled, we were glued to the windows. It was a lesson in mastery, artistry, and patience. Every participant knew what and why they were doing and it was just a delight to watch. I must admit that the “sheep ballet” captivated me probably more than anything else on the island.

Where are sheep, there must be yarn. Right? Especially since you can just pick up wool as you go on a road.

We visited TheSky Museum of the Island Life and saw a Weaver’s cottage with many wool working instruments, a loom, spinning wheels, handspun wool, dye-pots, and old dye-making recipes.

Yet, surprisingly enough, it took us a while to find a knitting shop on the island. The first one, that promised hand dyed wool, coffee and cakes, was mostly coffee and cakes. It was a small private house with one room downstairs transformed into a sort of café cum weaver’s studio. There were some cones of handspun yarn in bright and beautiful colors without any information on them about the yarn’s length, type, or price. And as soon as I entered the room, all people who were sitting there eating cakes and drinking coffee started looking at me. I felt being on display together with the yarn (my husband and daughter wisely decided to stay at the entrance). The whole experience was rather weird and not pleasant. So we promptly left.

Next day driving on a road we noticed a sign Island on theEdge, Designer knitwear and Skye yarns. My husband turned the car without even my telling him anything. It was a teeny-tiny shack surrounded by black sheep.

The entrance to the store.

There is a black sheep near a rock. It was a dark and windy morning.

This little coo is made from the black sheep wool.

Most sheep on the Island are white but, as I was told by one of the women in the shack, the original Skye sheep were black. And their yarn is from these original black sheep. I had to have it. Especially since it was handspun right there by the woman who sold it to me (I was too shy to ask her name which I deeply regret). Yes, I broke my promise to use only the yarn from my stash this year. My daughter picked the color. It is going to be a present for her.

Also, among other wonderful things in this shop, there was a magnificent handknit man’s gansey. I’ve never been a big fan of ganseys. To my eye they look practical but not particularly remarkable. Not this one! It was knit from fingering weight handspun wool in dark chocolaty hue and had a subtle and interesting pattern all over the garment (not only on the top part). The salesperson told me that it was made on 5 dpn, not on circular needles, in the round, and seamless.  Unfortunately, you have to believe my words because I wasn’t allowed to take its picture as well as a picture of a handmade fairisle hat (costing 95 pounds!). Copyright protection in action!

Anyway, now I really want… need to make a similar gansey and replicate that hat. It was adorable (not to mention 95 pounds)!

Next day we found another knitting shop on the Island. Again, by pure chance, just saw a sign while driving to a totally different destination. Again, it was a tiny place/shack next to a private house.

I bought there this beautiful yarn bowl. It is light, smooth, has little holes for yarn, and is made with a lot of love.

Yet, the most impression (and the biggest damage to our wallet) was made by the last knitting shop that I visited – The HandspinnerHaving Fun. This one was huge comparing to the previous shops, and the selection of yarn, needles, and everything else that a knitter might need, was colossal. I literally lost my breath when stepped inside. This was a place where I would love to die one day. And yes, I bought two big bags of yarn there and I don’t think anyone can blame me. It was inevitable. Places like that one should be marked on maps as “yarntraps” or “knitterstraps”.

Mushroom hunting was another big and unforgettable experience from our stay on Skye.

With so much rain and air temperature far from tropical mushrooms grow like… well, like mushrooms in patches of the island covered with trees, especially rowan trees.

One time, while driving on a tiny road, we found 10 or even more boletes without even getting out of the car. Mushrooms were so big that we could easily spot them just by looking through the car windows.

Our first serious “mushroom hunting” experience happened unexpectedly when we were visiting the historic Dunvegan castle.

The castle is Bronte sisters’ wet dream – old, dark, gothic and romantic in a melodramatic sort of way. It is surrounded by an immense garden which, as we soon discovered, was full of mushrooms. Since we came unequipped for mushroom picking, at first my husband was putting mushrooms into his pockets. Yet, after a while he had to retrieve grocery bags from our car that we filled in no time. All the while, I felt really awkward because no one else around was interested in mushrooms and it looked somehow inappropriate to pick mushrooms on someone else’s property. So, while my daughter and my husband got carried away full of excitement and enthusiasm, I followed them pretending to be an innocent bystander.

We used to go mushroom hunting rather often when we lived in Russia, but in all my life I never had as many mushrooms for one meal as I had on Skye.

Because after our first foray, we discovered even more mushrooms growing around another castle, or rather ruins of a castle – Armadale.

Note to myself – where is a castle, there must be mushrooms!

Another unexpected discovery made on Skye was the gigantic amount of people running from civilization. The island was supposed to be a rather isolated place beneficial for solitude and meditation, yet, there were herds of people running around in cars and on foot, climbing every mounting, walking every path, parking in every parking spot (and where there was NO PARKING sign), sleeping in tents, cars, RVs everywhere we went. Once, while visiting the famous fairy glen with otherworldly beautiful fairy pools I had to put my headphones on to isolate myself from crowd’s noises, because the traffic along the waterfalls was exceptionally heavy. If you are thinking about visiting the island one day and want to avoid big crowds of people, I found a special website just for you. I wish I saw it before our trip.

All in all, our trip to Skye this year was an immense success. The island is so beautiful that I was constantly taking pictures of everything around.

That is why this post has so many photographs. I took them with my phone (I refuse to carry a camera when I travel) and I left them almost unedited and without any filters or other fancy adornments.

These pictures are mostly for my friends who haven’t had an opportunity to see the island yet, but would like to know more details about it.

As to my knitting, of course I was knitting on the island. Even before we left for Europe, I finished two hats from my never ending stash of Rowan fine tweed. I tried to photograph them in action there but hats and knits were not a priority on Skye so I didn’t try too hard. Here are some of the pics. My daughter and I are the models.

According to my plans (ha-ha, remember those?), in August I was supposed to work on my third big project for the #summerofbasics. I wanted to use as much of my ColourMart Fine Geelong yarn as possible (I already used it for 2 projects but still had quite a lot) and I thought that I found the right pattern for it. Wrong! The yarn didn’t want to become that pattern. Actually, the yarn turned out to be rather tricky and didn’t want to become any pattern. 

A couple of days before our departure I started making Tensile by Emily Greene from it because I got exactly the same gauge as needed for the pattern (rare occurrence for me) and I dutifully plugged away at it while in Scotland. Then, one bright and sunny day, after having bought a new yarn bowl, I decided to photograph my progress (and the yarn bowl).

My pictures showed clearly what I knew all along – the beautiful lace pattern was indiscernible in this yarn, it was useless to work so hard on something that won’t be even visible.

Finally, a day before we left the island, I saw these patterns published by Quince and Co and couldn’t resist anymore. My Tensile was unraveled because it had to become Slouchy.

However, this is a totally different story, that I’ll tell you next time. This post is dedicated to the magical and mystical Isle of Sky.

Talk soon,

Anna

Japanese short rows

There are many ways of knitting short rows and for the most part of my life I used a wrap and turn method. The tricky part of this method is avoiding a hole at the turning point. Then I discovered Japanese short rows. They became my favorite because not only there is no hole at the turning point, but they leave no betraying marks on fabric and are almost invisible. Well, at least enough to satisfy me.

Here is what you need to knit Japanese short rows.

Yarn, needles, and removable/detachable stitch markers. If you don’t have removable ones, you can use safety pins in any size.

1. Work the number of stitches required by the pattern.

2. Turn the work.

3. Place a removable marker or a pin on the yarn as close to the turning point as possible.

4. Work the required number of stitches in the opposite direction.

5. Turn the work.

6. Place a removable marker or a pin on the yarn as close to the turning point as possible.

When all the short rows are finished and it is time to knit on all stitches:

7. In a knit row – as soon as you get to the stitch with a marker, knit the stitch, pull the marker so you make a loop out of the yarn.

8. Slip the loop on the left needle. Remove the marker.

9. Knit together the first stitch on the left needle and the loop that you picked up using the marker.

10. In a purl row – as soon as you get to the stitch with a marker, purl the stitch, pull the marker so you make a loop out of the yarn.

11. Slip the loop on the left needle. Remove the marker.

12. Purl together the first stitch on the left needle and the loop that you picked up through their back loops.

Sometimes, to avoid any tell-tale signs of short rows, in a purl row I twist the loop first and only then purl them together through the back loops.

I hope it helps! Please, let me know, if you have any questions.

Summer knits

My first summer project was inspired by a picture from Pinterest. I was working on a big round yoke cardigan (later gifted to a friend) and couldn’t help but notice that its construction was truly close to the one on the photo.

Usually it is rather hard to explain why you are attracted to some things because among many reasons one of the most decisive and least tangible is the context in which you first come across them. In this particular case I believe it was a combination of color work and round yoke construction. I love black-gray-white combination in fairisle motifs and knitting round yokes (from top or bottom) turned out to be exciting in many ways (at least for me, as you can see from my last projects). Anyway, I couldn’t stop getting back to this jacket trying to find a better photo with more details. Soon it was pretty clear what I wanted to make next.

I don’t design my clothes often. Normally, I take a design that I like and either just follow directions or modify them in order to get a better fit. This time I had only a picture, so I decided to be cautious and use some old recycled yarn. If my end result wasn’t successful, at least I wouldn’t have used anything expensive. And if it was, I could make the same project again later from a better yarn.

Even though it required a total concentration and lots of math, or maybe because of it, I absolutely loved working on my Miroslava Duma’s cardigan “knock-off” which is why it was finished in no time. All the details are on my Ravelry page. I don’t remember the size of needles – I think it was 3.5 mm (US 4) and 4.00 mm (US 6). I used Norah Gaughan’s old pattern from Vogue Knitting 1999 as a starting point for the cardigan’s construction and some color work motifs from Pinterest and another Norah’s old pattern.

My variation of this cardigan turned out almost the way I wanted it. Next time I plan to make its body even roomier but otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing. The most difficult part was the choice of the color work motif for the bottom of the cardigan. There are so many possibilities in books, magazines, and online, that I could easily get stuck on this particular step forever, making swatch after swatch and agonizing about my decision. It’s a well-known fact that too many choices are bad for our brain, they make it freeze and as a result we leave dazzled and confused without making any choice at all. That is why I narrowed my choices from the get-go: I was looking for a traditional Scandinavian pattern but without flowers or snowflakes, geometrical, with only three colors in the palette (at first I tried to broaden my color scheme and introduce some other yarns but later decided against it), and not too wide.

I gave myself a couple of days just to swatch and look at as many magazines and books as possible. Yet, when I finally decided on a pattern and started working, somehow my judgment changed and I modified it the way I thought worked better for the whole garment. Does it happen to you? It happens to me quite often. On a photo or even in a swatch yarn and colors look differently from when you start working on the whole project. Plus it is easier to visualize the finished garment and how it would fit (or not).

Fortunately, in this particular case the changes were minimal and I happily finished the whole thing quickly. I made sleeves flat, as usual, because I don’t like sleeves knit in the round (and they are much faster to make this way).

My main regret is the yarn. It is extremely soft and fuzzy, and will pill in no time. Like really pill, the way only an extremely soft yarn does. So this jacket is bound to have a short life. No worries, I’ll make another one later from a good yarn.

Next I finished Splashy, the yoked sweater I wrote about in my previous post.

My older daughter asked me for a pair of new socks to replace the old one and the socks had to be made before our trip to Scotland in August. As I’ve already explained, I hate making socks. My major problem with them is there are two socks and they have to be identical. Yet, when I finish the first one, I usually discover how it could have been made better, but the second one must be done without any changes. This is really annoying and frustrating for my inner perfectionist. However, as I learned, perfectionism is a disease and needs to be squashed in the bud. If I try to knit a perfect garment, I’ll never finish it. Imperfections are an integral attribute of knitting, of any handmade. Because we humans are not machines, we are bound to make mistakes and live with them.

I used the same pattern by Veronik Avery as a couple of years ago since my daughter liked a lot the previous iteration of the Lacy Cable socks but this time I made them with Colormart cashmere scraps in bright blue. It is a very summery color and hopefully will remind her of vacations in Florida.

Somehow everything is better by the ocean, even sock knitting. As soon as I finished this pair, my hands were itching to start another one. After all, I’ve got two daughters… But I’ve already made other plans (see here).

Socks done, I started working on another gift – a cardigan for a 10 year old girl with Rowan Fine Tweed in the colorway Monsal Dale (also very bright, reminds me of the ocean) with motifs in Bell Busk. I picked a Martin Storey’s pattern from Rowan magazine 61 – Periwinkle Family.

This cardigan is short and has three quarter sleeves since it is supposed to be worn in summer. Yet, I was knitting a winter cardigan, so I made it longer with long sleeves and slightly modified fairisle pattern. Plus I changed the sleeve cap completely. 

Look at the picture of this cardigan (it is right on the magazine cover). I didn’t like how the sleeve cap puckers and made it fit into the armhole better (well, at least I prefer how it looks now).

The cardigan was almost finished before our leaving Florida, yet, it didn’t happen. Some things came up plus I didn’t like the neckband the way it is described in the pattern (and I made it following pattern directions) but there was no time to unravel it and make it again. So the unfinished cardigan was left in Florida waiting for my return in October.

According to my plan, my next project was again a round yoke. This cardigan from an old French magazine had been in my plans for ages. 

I naively believed that the remnants of Rowan Fine Tweed were the right choice for this project. Yet, as Robert Burns wisely told us, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

When I started swatching the results look unattractive to say the least and the yarn colors, tweedy and uneven as they are, didn’t mix well. Funny, how sometimes the balls look really good together but when you start knitting with them they just don’t work.

I made several attempts to conquer the yarn in two days that we had before leaving for Canada. Still not sure about my final pattern, I just put all the balls of Rowan fine tweed in a back pack and took them with me on the two week trip. It was the only yarn that I had with me and I must confess that it was a deliberate decision.

Sometimes, when a yarn doesn’t want to cooperate, I just abandon it and start working with different yarns and projects. This time I really wanted to get rid of as much of this yarn as possible and having no other choice made me finally pick a pattern and knit something from most of it. It wasn’t an easy decision.

It had to be a cardigan because of these buttons. I thought they would go really well with the yarn and was looking forward to finally use them.

I decided to follow the pattern and make it from the bottom. This way the area around shoulders won’t be too big because I could incorporate raglan decreases and get a better fit. The yoke fairisle motifs, being a little old fashioned and well recognizable, looked well knitted in my yarns, but the bottom part didn’t. At some point I totally abandoned the idea of regular fairisle stripes all over the body and thought that one large stripe at the bottom and on sleeves would be more than enough. However, none of the patterns that I tried would work with the yoke motifs.

I kept telling myself that I could always change the yoke when I got there and recalculate all the numbers for another fairisle pattern but deep down I knew that it wouldn’t be possible. You see, I had precious little time to knit in Canada with all the moving and theater going. I wasted a week already on a cardigan that most likely would never be finished and worn. At some point I just decided to bite the bullet and unravel the whole thing to start something totally different.

Now, I feel that I need to explain why I wasn’t happy with my swatches. I don’t know much about color theories and I certainly never had a class or even read a book about it. Yet, colors are an essential part of my life. I react to them on a physiological level, cannot do anything about it. It is an instinct (a color instinct), an inner ability I was born with that I learned to trust. So I cannot talk myself into liking a color combination or a color because of some very sound and logical reasons. If something doesn’t work for me, it just doesn’t, and I cannot make it work.

Again I found the pattern for this color work online. I don’t know its origin, and didn’t look for it because… I don’t think that anyone would ever make it. I for sure wouldn’t if I were you! It is what is called in the ads “Do not attempt at home”. The pattern is not particularly complicated (only 8 rows, easy to remember) but dull, repetitive, with a lot of color changes. It requires your total attention, no TV or talking. Surprisingly enough, what helped my work was the book I was listening to at the time. It was Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman and it was irritatingly bad (stay away from it, it is really awful!). Why didn’t I abandon it? Because it was for a book club and, after a while, I really wanted to finish it to be able to write an honest review and tear it to pieces (well, figuratively). Between the book and the color work pattern, the pattern looked much more attractive.

The progress was painstakingly slow. Nevertheless, I loved how this yarn looked in this pattern. It felt like a good match, so it didn’t matter that I had to endure the monotony and the boredom of making it for the end result’s sake.

And I did it! Look at the finished cardigan. I used the same basic recipe as for my Asbury, but made it shorter and without pockets. I am especially proud that the stripes on the sleeves match with the stripes on the body.

That wasn’t easy, and this is why I had to make sleeves a bit longer than needed. But I decided that sometimes long sleeves can be useful, plus I am not sure who will eventually wear it, so the new owner probably won’t have any problem with the sleeves at all.

So much for all my careful planning!

The socks were made, but the small cardigan wasn’t, and my yoked fairisle jacket became a totally different garment. What is next in my plans? Most likely something simple without colors, that can be done while watching TV or talking, even though I am not much of a talker. And yet, I managed to write this long post – so proud of myselfJ