Just One More...

Just one more blogpost about our holiday in Scotland.

Sorry I´ve run out of photos of sheep and cattle so I had to resort to one of myself instead.

This is one of the things that I knit while I was on holiday. A smaller Britta hat that matches the mittens.

This pattern merges the Scottish and the Swedish in a very appropriate manner. The actual pattern would be classed as Swedish, I think. But the colour changes in the yarn have been shamelessly borrowed from fair isle knitting. 

And my hair really does look a lot like that Highland cow I posted a picture of earlier, don´t you agree?

I hope she doesn´t take offence now...

On this particular afternoon that I modelled my new hat, we had just been for a dip in the sea. Yes, it was freezing, but we are Vikings after all. 

There are beautiful coral beaches on Skye.

The temperature in the water was about 16 degrees Celsius.

But we went swimming here:

This is near to where we rented our cottage.

 We would love to go back to the Isle of Skye again. We even contemplated buying some property in the village of Struan, where we stayed.

This place would be perfect – with a roof, floors, some windows, a door, electricity, water...

But even castles need a bit of maintenance work done from time to time.

This is Dunvegan Castle in Dunvegan. Here Clan MacCleod still resides. Some of the Clan Chiefs in the olden days were pretty rough fellows. One was even known as the Wicked One – it is believed that he killed one of his wives. Good thing that there is divorce these days.

The castle grounds were beautiful. Lots of flowers that I haven´t got a clue what they could be called. And there was a waterfall.

The kids, however, were more impressed with the dungeon. You could look down into it. A notice told us that there was an opening in the wall between the dungeon and the castle kitchen – so that cooking smells would drift into the dungeon where the starving prisoner sat chained to the wall. You´d have to be pretty devious to come up with such an idea.

If I had been a cable knit designer I could have found lots of inspiration everywhere. But I think that Alice Starmore has already done that – and much better than I would ever be able to do. 

I think I´d better stick to the Swedish – or at least Scandinavian – tradition. 

Take thumb gussets, for example. I wonder if they were perhaps invented in Norway? Old Swedish mittens that I´ve seen have not had thumb gussets.

My Britta mittens finally got thumbs while I sat there knitting in front of the fire in the evenings.

 Completed at last!

Sometimes  I think it´s a shame that you can´t wear mittens in the summer. This is such a summery design. 

The Britta mittens will really remind me of summer when I get to wear them in a few months time.

They will also help me reminisce about this beautiful holiday, when I couldn´t turn my head without catching a glimpse of a pretty view.

And I´m not even going to mention that disasterous hotel in Glasgow where we stayed the last few nights of our Scottish holiday. We happened to have booked a room with a shared bathroom by mistake. And one morning I discovered that one of the other guests had pooped on the floor – by treading in it. Oops, I guess I just did. 

  
 

 

Comments

[Christina]

Your pictures are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing them. I LOVE the hat and mittens. Beautiful beautiful design and colors!

[Gretchen]

We moved this year, so thanks for the vicarious vacation! The photos are so beautiful, as are the hat and mittens.

[Alice in Richmond]

Very beautiful place! I must go there one day.

Um.... on the floor? Really?

[Karen]

The photos are beautiful. I agree with Christina about the hat and mittens -- the hat is especially wonderful (and looks great on you).

[jackie]

I agree with everyone, you pictures are really beautiful. I hope the wonderful memories will erase the bad hotel experience. Your hat looks fantastic too:-)

[LivM]

Takk for titten på en del utrolig flotte bilder. Men det er nå luene dine jeg beundrer mest. Virkelig flotte!

[Katarina]

Skye! It's so lovely! We were there last summer and it was wonderful. We only stayed three nights in Portree, though. But we did see Dunvegan Castle, we took the bus since none of us has a driver's license. You're photos makes me want to go back there now!

[Asplund]

Vackra vantar, vackra landskap, vackra foton... Jag har beundrat dem flera gånger men av någon anledning inte kommit mig för att kommentera förrän nu. Din blogg är verkligen inspirerande och något att vila ögonen på!