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A podcast for people who love knitting, Dorset Buttons, creativity & Scotland, especially the Highlands & Islands.
Welcome to the 33rd episode of my podcast – Adjusting & Adapting
Hello! I am back! The last episode was in November 2020 and it’s now April 2021, that was a bit of a break.
Thank you for joining me again and welcome if you are a first time listener.
There is so much to catch up on. I will spare you multi-hour episodes as I’m sure they would send you to sleep!
There are some tweaks to the format:
The Weather – this remains the same giving key highlights between episodes as well as the fauna and flora throughout the seasons.
Making – this changes to Creativity to incorporate the thought processes and match one of the features of the podcast.
Dorset Buttons – this becomes Dorset Buttons & wider news from the TJFrog Pad. This just means I can break down different areas from time to time depending on what news I have .
The Skye Focus – this is where the most change occurs. Usually it consists of the Local Lowdown – a snippet of information about Skye followed by an interview; the Skye Showcase or Across the Bridge.
Going forward there will not always be an interview. There are challenges presented through the circumstances we find ourselves in and after much reflection I want to stick to conducting my conversations face to face not through an electronic platform. This has always been a key feature for me and it’s something I love to do. When there is an interivew this section will remain in the same format.
When I don’t have an interivew the Skye Focus will consist of a bigger section about something to do with Skye whether that be around history, people or something happening on Skye.
This episode I talk about 2 chefs and restaurant owners on Skye and signpost you to a podcast they recently featured in.
The Weather
I chat about the winter weather we’ve had from periods of dark, heavy oppressive clouds to rain, snow and sunshine. And I chat about the new spring arrivals in the neighbourhood.
Creativity
I update you on two projects firstly my Raymure top is finished! Those hems are all sewn up.
EDIT: Pattern correction – it is Rayure not Raymure and is by Rebekka Mauser and available on Ravelry.
And secondly the Slipstravaganza is also finished and got blocked in record time! One day after it was off the needles – all thanks to a Zoom knit call. I loved this project as well as the end result which has a permanent place over my office chair.
My next large project on the horizon is the Blue Moon, a wrap designed by Di Gilpin and a knit along in collaboration with Milli at Tribe Yarns. It is all about intarsia and there will be weekly Zoom calls with tips on this technique.
I’ve also started a jumper and a blanket which I’ll talk about another time.
Next episode will also be confession time. The wooden cot is stacked high with neglected projects & I also recently found some long acquired kits which all need some love and attention. I touch on the Chicken Knits cross stitch I’ve started and an ’embroidery on crochet’ workshop I did with Carolyn Bloom.
Art classes during the pandemic have given me immense pleasure for a number of reasons including releasing my inner child, letting go of my perfectionism when creating, stretching myself, exploring my creative ideas, meeting new people and learning new skills and ways to capture moments and observations.
I chat about the 31 days of January, 15 minutes a day sketch challenge to the Create & Chill classes on a Friday night. All of which are run by Salina Jane Gani who is a wonderful teacher and person and I hope very much one day I will be able to attend one of Salina’s classes in person.
I signpost the Highland Threads online exhibition as something worth a visit – a creative collaboration between 14 Highland Museums, with embroidered, sewn and knitted pieces and their stories on display.
Dorset Buttons & wider news from the TJFrog Pad
Dorset Buttons
I chat about Kirsty’s Handmade Christmas TV show when Louise Armitage of Gini’s Dorset Buttons featured and won the makers award.
I make an announcement about the Dorset Button 2022 project run by Anna MacDowall supported by volunteers including myself to celebrate the birth of Dorset Buttons 400 years ago.
I hopefully will be teaching on a couple of tour trips later this year. First is Rowan Tree Travel who regularly visit Skye and second is The Wild at Art Creative Experience in Scotland who for the first time will be running a 9 day textiles retreat here in October.
Shows & Other Events
I am hosting a virtual event on Zoom on Sunday 25 April from 1 – 5pm. Called the Spring Skye Woolly Meander it is a curated show which will feature myself, Kirsty of Shilasdair, Yasmin of Island at the Edge and Sally from On The Croft. The event will consist of pre-recorded videos, photos and a live conversation and Q&A with each of them, a great opportunity to ask questions about life on Skye, their processes and animals. Tickets sales are available via Eventbrite.
Website
Thank you for your patience while this underwent an overhaul these things always take longer than planned.
I talk about the new set up for newsletter, podcast and blog notifications which you can now manage all under one system.
Your support for shopping online is amazing – thank you!
Wool
I signpost you to Louise Scollay’s website Wool Work. Firstly for a comprehensive list Louise has compiled about independent businesses in Scotland where you can source wool and yarns from.
EDIT: To clarify – the list is compiled of Scottish wool which Louise has tried and tested. See comments below.
Secondly Louise recently appeared on the Scotland Outdoors podcast which is a great conversation about wool.
Skye Focus
This episode the focus is on two Skye chef and restaurant owners who were recently interviewed on the Scottish Chefs podcast.
Michael Smith who owns the Loch Bay Restaurant at Stein on the Waternish peninsular and Calum Montgomery who owns Edinbane Lodge at Edinbane.
I tell you about the take away afternoon tea I shared with my friend Elaine at Easter which was a wonderful treat. And I give you a run down of everything we ate – I missed out the carrot cake!
That’s it for my return to podcasting. I hope you enjoy listening in as much as I enjoyed putting this episode together.
Many thanks for joining me
Take care.
Bye for now.
Music:
One Frog For a Prince, by Ron Patton & licensed from Melody Loops.
Oh I can’t wait for a listen! Thanks for mentioning woolwork – I would say that it’s not a comprehensive list, more of a list of Scottish wools I have tried and tested myself. I’m glad it is useful 🙂
Thanks Louise – I hope you enjoy it! Sorry for not clarifying about the nature of your list, I will add a note to the show notes.