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A podcast for people who love knitting, Dorset Buttons, creativity & Scotland, especially the Highlands & Islands.
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Welcome to the 32nd episode of my podcast – Changing Plans
Thank you for listening again or welcome if you are a first time listener.
I’m back after a longer than planned break. Sorry to those of you who have been waiting for this episode. I love doing the podcast although it takes quite a lot of energy so it tends to be the thing that falls off the list when my energy levels are low.
I do wonder how you are all keeping as we learn to adjust to different routines with restrictions on us changing from week to week, month to month. Drop me a line I’d love to hear from you and what you’ve been up to.
The Weather
Autumn has brought the wind and rain, sent the midges packing and killed off the bracken!
This time of year is one of my favourites with the lower sun and the colours and light especially at sunrise and sunset.
Making
My Raymure top still needs some sewing up – I’d rather be knitting!
My Tif Neilan Wanderlight Tee is finished and I’ve worn it a lot and am about to knit another one this time with positive ease. This is a pattern I can highly recommend. It is well written with some lovely herringbone and slip stitch pattern and as it’s in Double Knit yarn it knits up very quickly.
My Tripartite by Stephen West is not doing so well and has been totally frogged. I need to start again on a bigger needle.
Have you done the Stephen West Mystery Shawl Knit Along this Autumn – the Slipstravaganza? It’s a stunning shawl, I’m just not great at following knit along deadlines and a change of colour means I’m still only on clue 1 while so many people have finished.
Other previously mentioned projects still collect dust as the business has kept me busy of late.
Dorset Buttons
There is a lot happening here at the moment, too much to mention in one episode so I have focused on 3 events which are currently running which feature TJFrog products!
Firstly though I would like to thank all of you who supported me at virtual Glasgow School of Yarn whether you liked, commented or purchased. The engagement was phenomenal. Originally set up to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Yarn Cake, Antje, the owner, set up this virtual weekend show with lots of social media interaction which was really well received.
This year our local craft group 3 day Christmas craft fair is now a 2 week exhibition style fair at Plockton Village Hall and this change of plan is turning out to be very successful. Following all Highland Covid restrictions there are just 2 of us working each day and it has been very well received. Plockton is always a well supported craft fair and it’s encouraging to see how everyone is adapting to this new way of working.
I chat about iKnit7 Holiday Extravaganza event which began on 9 November and runs until 15 November. You can find out more details about iKnit7 on their website.
iKnit7 is a collective of 7 bricks and mortar yarn shop owners who came together early in the pandemic to support one another and this is now their second online week long event and this time my Dorset Buttons feature! They can be seen at Tribe Yarns in Richmond, London which is owned by Milli who a wonderful creative with immense style and I love looking at all her latest knits on her Instagram feed.
I tell you about my brief visit to Tribe Yarns back in February this year. It’s a go to yarn destination which is worth adding to your list of places to visit one day when the world allows again.
The Tribe yarns spiral staircase and its warning!
The final event currently running is the Online International Fibre Festival set up and run by Anne Frost of the podcast I Thought I Knew How who is also the interviewee on this episode. This also started on 9 November and runs until 16 November.
The format follows a daily routine with a different country highlighted each day. Anne starts the day with a video introducing the country, highlighting vendors of the region and some of their key products and guides you to some videos to watch about the region or which the vendors have produced and then to some entertainment in the evening which might be a piece of music. There are also suggestions of classes to take on Craftsy. If you’re looking for something to keep you company while you craft there’s some great stuff to be found on the website to watch.
Sunday 16 November sees the focus on the Hebrides and of course that’s when TJFrog appears!
If you are reading this or listening to this episode after these events have finished do still check out their websites as I’m sure there will be more events to come. In fact on the OIFF website it says the next one will be in May 2021 and then it will be a yearly spring event.
Local Lowdown
I chat about a new to us experience that has arisen out of changing plans because of the pandemic – a drive in cinema!
Do drop me a line if you’ve been to one – I’d love to hear your experience of it.
Reschuled after the 80mph+ gusts on the original date, we had a clear evening and ate burger and chips as the sun set before the start of the film. It’s heartening to see places coming up with alternative ideas when the parameters in which they can operate keep shifting and for us it was important to support a local business during these times.
Across The Bridge
As I mentioned earlier the interview is with Anne Frost from the audio podcast I Thought I Knew How and this time it was Anne who ventured Across The Bridge to see me here on Skye.
This was recorded back in October and I’d like to apologise to Anne for not getting this out sooner.
We hear all about the plans Anne was forced to change when the world closed down with the pandemic. On the plus side it meant Anne got to visit us and we sat outside following all Covid regulations – you even get to hear our new neighbours in the background – the cows and the Skye wind!
I asked Anne about the name of her podcast and she gives us a very personal insight into what was behind it.
We learn about the background behind Anne setting up the Online International Fibre Festival
We chat about Anne’s trip to Shetland and some of the interviews she was able to conduct while she was there. These are a series of videos a “Conversation with” Ella Gordon, Chris Dyer, Terri Laura, Jeanette Budge and Barbara Gray which you can find on the Jamieson and Smith You Tube channel.
I forgot to talk to Anne about her involvement with MRI Maakers an appeal which Anne has been very active in promoting. You can find out more about this appeal and the patterns which have raised so much money towards it on her podcast at Episode 15 interview with Harriet Middleton
And yes my video for the OIFF did get the go ahead!!! I will be hiding under the duvet when it goes out!
That’s it for this episode. It will be interesting to see how changing plans continue to occur in our lives and which ones will carve out a new way of doing things in the future.
I’m not yet committing to when the next episode will be released. I need to reflect on what I can manage and get a new routine.
Thank you for joining me again.
Til next time . . .
Music – the music is:
One Frog For a Prince, by Ron Patton & licensed from Melody Loops.
Bye for now.
Wow ! So much news and positivity here.
Really inspiring to hear of all these online events.
Feel like I am in the slow lane…
Lovely to know you are doing so well with your business Tanja
Thank you Sheila, it’s been a very intense time albeit lovely to be part of these online events. I’m sure you are not in the slow lane as much as you think. I look forward to when the day comes when we get to meet again!
I stumbled upon this from a link in the OIIF website – really interesting to listen to you interviewing Ann.
I’ll have to go back and listen to the rest of your podcasts.
I’m in Somerset in the UK and have done a few Dorset buttons myself – I actually taught a class at our textile group’s exhibition last year (after I’d taught on in the group a couple of years ago).
Anne thank you so much for your lovely comment and for finding me via OIFF. It was lovely to have the opportunity to interview Anne. I hope you enjoy listening to the other podcast episodes. Great to hear you make and teach Dorset Buttons too. I think once you learn they are quite addictive!