Culross

Today I have been in classes from 9am to 9pm for the fifth day in a row, and my brain is fried. It is too fried to sort out Lauriel which I keep messing up. Too fried to play pool. Definitely too fried to do any of the massive pile of work that is lurking just out of my eyeline. So as that is all no fun at all and I could do with some escape, I'm going to write about another of Scotland's tourist attractions I went to this month; Culross (pronounced coo-ros).

It is a lovely old village that much of has been protected by the National Trust for Scotland - and it is easy to see why, it is too cute. We pottered round the manor house (called the Palace, a little optimistically!) and had a brilliant tour of the village which I learned loads on. And then we had tea and cake, of course.

The manor house - built 1626! - is a fab shade of yellow and contains all kinds of crafty treats (I did take a couple of shots before remembering that NTS properties are ususally no photos allowed, oops!). There is still a little of the original paint on the walls/ceiling in a couple of the rooms, and the paintings are really beautiful. The Culross Needlework Guild has done a ton of work in there, it was absolutely stunning, especially in the Garden Room (that was deffo no photos!).

The whole place grew up on a clever mining scheme that got coal out from under the Forth, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The good stuff they sold and the poorer quality coal was used for turning the salty Firth of Forth waters into salt. It was eventually flooded in a severe storm but at low tide, you can still see the old harbour wall and the borehole (circled in red) they used to send the miners down in (nb. it doesn't have a train service (freight-only line) but I did see buses and the car parking was easy and free).

And I hear it was on Coast a long time ago. Clearly a program of excellent taste, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I heartily recommend it, especially if the hurly-burly of Edinburgh during the festival is finally driving you mad - it is less than an hour away and so relaxing.

Turn and Face the Strain

It would seem I have been dealing with thesis/ presentation/ living arrangement/ money stress by knitting rather a lot. I've made several presents which are not on here because you never know who may find this, but here are the best bits of what I've made for me.

So my favourite projects that I've finished lately are my Gehry hat, made with Sirdar Escape Chunky, bought for me by my lovely former housemate. I adapted the pattern a bit, as I have a small head but like floppy hats, so instead of doing the initial rib in 5.5mm and the rest in 6.5mm, I swapped to 5mm and 7mm. And I think it turned out rather well (though it was mainly the lovely lovely yarn!), and it's really easy, only took me a weekend (when I was also writing that presentation).

I've also done my matching-ish wavy mits - the pattern was also free on Ravelry, and it's called Hands of Blue. I used Sirdar Snuggly DK as I'm having a phase of eczema between my fingers :( It was a bit of a mission but I'm really pleased with the result. I have a great need for such things, as I spend a lot of my days sitting at a computer at work and I find my hands get a little chilly, and at home of an evening I'm usually on the computer of knitting, which have the same problems. I've done a few similar things but these were a challenge for me so I'm a little bit proud of myself.

And now for the one you've all been waiting for....

(Apologies for the desk mess, this was taken very near the end of the Masters...)

I've been having a break from it as I was on a bit of a mission with it, but had another session this week. I need to do the appendages, stuff it and do the base, but I'm getting into all sorts of mess doing the i-cord for the `eye', so I'm hoping for some help soon :S

I'll probably blog about presents soon, there are a spate of birthdays coming up including some of my little cousins so hopefully I can take photos then (I feel a bit weird wearing other people's presents, even if it is just for a photo). And the next project? Glittens! For me - because I'm designing the pattern myself and my friend wants some, I thought it best to have a dry run first. Honest!!