The present

It was a labour of love.  About 60 hours of work and a few more doing charts from the tiny ones in the book.  I also had to order the wool from the USA because three years ago (I don't know about now) there was no aran weight yarn in a nice golden yellow, it was either neon or pastel.

The starting row, 14 balls of wool and some charts.



If you're consistent when crossing yarns at colour changes you get this sort of ladder effect that untwists when you work back.  Yes, in tunisian crochet every row is actually worked out and back.  196 stitches wide.


Row 1 was completed within a couple of months of starting the afghan.


Row 2 wasn't done until a year later.


Then it languished.  I wasn't very creative two years ago, Preston was taking its toll on me.

Some time late last year it was pointed out that this year would be Dad's 60th birthday.  What a good reason for finishing!

Row 3:


The ends:



Row 4:


Row 5:


Row 6:


All seven rows done!


After weaving in the 200 and something ends I could finally see what I had left.  One tunisian hook and some extra yarn (I had to convert from the originally suggested yarn, so my numbers were a little off)



Next was separating the flags.  A little embroidery later:


Finally I went around the edge twice doing double-crochet stitch.  It was then washed and hung to air in the Tiree breeze.  It's a little over 3 feet wide and approx 5 foot long.  It's also a dense fabric.



Madam doglet was not impressed that I moved her bed to take photos!


Finally, an arty shot of it draped over my rocking chair:


60 hours, about 1.2kg of wool and lots of love.  Oh, and about 8,000 stitches!  Sooooo glad I worked that out after I made it!

That's Dad's present.  It was presented on Saturday and much loved already.  I also darned Dad's gloves that I knit for him about 4 years ago.  Got to love the durability of wool!

TTFN

Busy weekend

That may well class as an understatement.  Considering the weather was murky with roaming showers and outright rain it was a very busy time.

The 10k and the new half-marathon were run/walked.  The island's population increased by about 20% and my parents came to visit.  Oh, and I replaced the element in the fan oven.

I got two early birthday pressies.  One was a new, very snazzy camera and the other was a gorgeous mixed media piece from Blue Beyond.

So, this is the camera that's been taking photos to date.  It's a Kodak Z650 and has done sterling service.  This is now to be Jo's camera.


And this beast is my new camera, a Nikon Coolpix L810.  I'm still working it all out and it does seem to make fuzzy photos at the moment, think I'm not doing something quite right.




This is my new picture, a gorgeous scene of a house on the coast.  The waves and land are pieces of fabric and the sky is painted on.  It took me a looooong time to decide which piece I wanted, so many were gorgeous!



Ah, the oven.  This is inside the back of our oven.  I had to take a photo to make darn certain I put the connectors back on the right prongs.  On Thursday Jo went to cook some hash browns and noticed they weren't cooked after a good 15 minutes in the oven.  A little "if that were broken, this wouldn't work" thinking later and we came to the conclusion it was very likely the element.  After checking the warranty, we discovered it was past that so I took the fan cover off and the back off and did a continuity check on the element.  Broken.  Jo ordered a new element and when that arrived on Saturday I disappeared for an hour to put it in.  Not only does it work, but the oven is quieter.




Saturday evening we went to Ceabhar.  They have these fantastic little lighthouse lamps that I adore and fantastic food too!





There were sheep and lambs next to the restaurant, the lambs entertained us with their antics, including one snacking a cobweb and then pulling funny faces.





Sunday started drizzly and meh (technical term!).  I spent the morning baking and spotted this cheeky calf.  It went from having one leg and its head through the fence to just going through the fence for a good munch in the field.


It also spooked some hares that ran around a bit:



Sunday afternoon we went to Beinn Hough, the shorter of the two beinns.  There's a road up the side, so off we trotted.


Nearly halfway up we could see this cow and calves.  I decided to test the new camera's 26x zoom.


Five calves and a cow!


The views were fantastic, even though it was murky and drizzly.


I like this creative use of zip-ties to repair the fence:











Madam enjoyed the walk, but not so much the standing around taking photos.  Her jumper did keep her warm though.








There's a lot of plant life up on the hill.


Lichens:


Probably (Ramalina siliquosa)


Probably Lecanora atra


A small purple flower in the moss: (butterwort - a carnivorous plant that enjoys eating insects)


More lichen: possible lichina pygmaea


Pansies:


Some fuzzy spiky plant:


(I'm not a botanist, they're plants to me)

So, that was the weekend.  I'm already on 177 photos on the new camera and  the Kodak racked up an impressive 6431 between Jo and myself.

I made felt today, but that's for another post.  The one where I reveal Dad's present and the progress shots!

TTFN

Bits 'n' bobs

It's been glorious so far this week.  Laundry is up to date, doglet is happily cooked and the ferrets have had some good escapades.

Yesterday I had a bit of a finishing day.  Not only did I finish the test knit, I finished my SWRI competition socks.

Blocking on my mats:


This is the shawl blocked, dried and on my rocking chair.  I put beads on the "stems" of the leaves.



My competition socks all washed and drying outside:


Remember I mentioned some strange things I'd found on my last beach trek?  (after a bit of asking around on t'internet and Google, these are sea urchin skeletons - heart urchins)





One of the crofters had moved the feeder for his cattle today, this led to a "calf conga"


These two were very cute indeed.



This one watched us for a good minute before deciding we weren't that interesting.


The electric piano is going strong again; it was Wednesday crafters this afternoon and the owner was most happy to be able to tickle the ole ivories again.  I was going to repair the organ pedal today but I forgot my soldering kit.  Oh well, next time.

My parents are coming up this weekend so I've been finding opening times for places and getting a very kind soul to open one place for an hour.  It's also the weekend of the Tiree 10k and half marathon so there's going to be a little cafe being run by Becky of Chocolates and Charms in An Talla on Saturday.  That's lunch sorted and Mum can get her chocolate shopping done too.

That's about it really.  I'm off to work on a different lace knit or perhaps a sock or even a scarf, decisions!

TTFN