A taster

Foula from Eshaness

I've been trying to do a blog post since the end of July. And now it's mid-September. And actually I'm very tired just now so this isn't even a proper post, but I'm working on the assumption that if I write a short post tonight I'm more likely to write a longer one tomorrow. Well, it's worth a try.

The picture above is from our trip back to Shetland in July. There's at least a full-sized post to be had from that, plus about a gazillion photos, so the picture is a deal I make with myself to write more another day. Anyway, the picture is of Foula, off the west coast of Shetland, and is taken from Eshaness which is on the north-west coast of Shetland. It was a beautiful day that day, all sun and sparkle, and I love that this photo is all shades of blue, yet it looks warm.

heather

And from the same day, heather and grass and blue sky as we climbed a steep hill that I climbed a lot as a kid.

It's not really very high, but it was the highest hill in our immediate area and has wonderful views (well, I think so anyway):

colour

Some flowers I saw today when I went for a quick walk after a slightly tedious trip to the retail park - ridiculous to sublime in one fell swoop!

the colo(u)r purple

Quite by accident, I seem to be into purple knitting at the moment - it is one of favourite colours but not one I knit with very often. Hmm. Don't know why.  So, squishy bed socks (pattern is Elgin, yarn is Drops Nepal, toes are warm) it is. These are my first go at toe-up socks and now that the toe is done they're knitting up quickly, but jings, crivvens and help ma boab, how anyone can say that toe-up socks are 'easier' (because there's no grafting) I have no idea - provisional cast-ons are a monumental pain in the bum! Still, I don't need to think about that until I get to Sock 2.

I'm really looking forward to wearing these socks.  As long as I have warm feet I'm pretty much happy, and every time I look at this sock I'm smiling in anticipation.

I wasn't going to mention the Cabled Thing again because I've done nothing but catalogue my mistakes with it, but I like the picture below so much I'll just mention that even when sewn up and finished, it turned out that there was a problem. Somewhere along the way I'd dropped a stitch - don't know how, I had the right number of stitches.  Hence the crochet hook holding the stitch in place.

I just love the colours in that picture though - the deep blackberry purpliness of the knitting and the coppery orange of the crochet hook. I took the photo yesterday afternoon and although the knitting was on the window sill there was barely enough natural light to get a picture without flash. The camera has overcompensated slightly for the low light, but I like what it's done for the colour, and actually this is the closest that any of my photos have got to the richness and darkness of the wool. I can imagine you can see my problem now!