Sometimes you just have to go for it.............

- and suffer the consequences later! I wrote about this on  my Knitten blog the other day, the beautiful Shetland wool kits from the Shetland Heritage Shop http://mrsl-knitten.blogspot.co.uk/ The kit arrived this afternoon - speedy delivery -  was only sent off from Shetland yesterday,  yet managed to arrive in perfect condition just before 2pm this afternoon. Can't beat that at all. This is it: Inside the box: Nice clear pattern, with good large graphs for the Fair Isle itself: The colours of the wool are exceptional and very beautiful - madder, indigo. auld gold and fluggy white - who could resist knitting anything at all with a wool that goes by the name of fluggy white? So for your money you get a beautifully presented kit comprising of this very special wool, a set of top quality needles, instructions and pattern and a very pretty calico bag to keep your project in. Not only are you buying a knitting kit though;  you are buying a little piece of  history encapsulating a huge amount of knowledge and skill gleaned from over many years, helping to keep a vitally important Scottish craft alive,  and supporting a rural business in these hard times.  All for £30.95 including the PandP. When you factor it all in, I personally think that's a real bargain. However, temptation is strong, and I am well known for my woolly weaknesses in the traditional Scottish knitting department. The other three kits in the series should be arriving at the beginning of next week. I hope I can do them justice.

Pear harvest

Not been a good year for fruit.................   just saying! This is it lol

Livestock update

Thought it about time, so took the camera up with me this morning; everyone fit and well, thriving, sitting about enoying the sunshine and laily snapping at any passing insects! Goats are doing well, gave them a big pile of artichoke stems to munch their way through   Muscovies snoozing in the late sunshine       Ducks various; the little white one asleep is Jesus (named before I got him) - he's still doing well at 15 years old and has survived both a fox and a badger attack, bless him :)     The other ducks seemed to be a bit camera shy lol   My Lemon Brahma, Liz Lovick - a gentle soul     My Silver Laced Wyandotte, Elizabeth Zimmerman, feisty and noisy lol   Finally, some of the wee Scots Dumpies; as far as I can tell, I've been extremely fortunate in that I am left with 4 hens and one cock bird - looking at is tail and the fact that he is the only one crowing. They're in a separate house and run for a short time, then will be let out into the main run with the rest of the hens. My cockerel needs a name, so will need to get that sorted out soon :) The Shetland ducklings will go up to the sae and secure greenhouse tomorrow morning, after a bath this afternoon and a thorough dry out for them - ore room, change of scene and they'll be able to splash around in there. They're quite grown up now, feathered up well and very striking looking in dinner jacket black and white outfits. No idea of sexes yet with them, time will tell. Pics to follow next time :) So, livestock sumary: 2 goats, hive of bees, 2 Muscovy ducks and 1 muscovy drake, 3 Runner drakes and two Runner ducks, one Call drake, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 1 Lemon Brahma, 2 Silver Dorkings, 1 elderly Maran, 1 feisty wee black and copper coloured hen, 1 Cotswold Cream Legbar, 5 Scots Dumpies and 4 Shetland ducks. Must be room for a couple of wee sheep and pigs, surely? ;) lol

Hopping

Finally got around to separating hops from vines this afternoon; they'd been in for a while,so have dried out nicely and are ready for storage. These are in a fine mesh nylon straining bag - the top will be knotted and the bag hung in the cool store room. I'm just about to order some malt extract, so brewing will commence when I return from my holidays. Looking forward to a good supply of winter beer for the long evenings :)