A podcast for people who love knitting, Dorset Buttons, creativity & Scotland, especially the Highlands & Islands.

Welcome to the 8th episode of my podcast – Festivals & Felts

I’m back after a bit of a break after losing my voice & being poorly.  Thank you for all your good wishes.

And thank you for listening again or welcome if you are a first time listener.

The Weather 

The weather has been making the headlines both home & away these past couple of months and the aftermath of the Hurricanes that have swept the Caribbean and Southern Eastern States of America act as a reminder to us how devastating and destructive the weather can be.

I touch on the UK headlines . . . again.  Give us the facts, not sensationalist or disingenuous headlines about the weather!

September & October have delivered a lot of rain to our corner of Skye although we’ve still had some great autumnal colours, the odd bright day & some beautiful evening skies.

I’m now looking to buy an anemometer so I can learn a bit more about the weather in our area.

Making

No WIP update this month!

My Starting Point Shawl by JoJi using Eden Cottage Yarns Milburn 4ply is near completion & I’ve enjoyed picking it up at the end of each day.

I started the Bousta Beanie and found some Jamieson & Smith Supreme Jumper  Weight in my stash to knit it with.  I’ve just got the crown left to do.

I bought a kit this month, the fubc shawl kit by knitwear & fashion designer Susan Crawford.  I talk about the background to this having followed Susan’s story after receiving the news in the summer of 2016 that she had stage 3 breast cancer.  The kit contains 2 skeins of Lonk wool from sheep near Susan’s farm.  One skein is natural the other hand dyed & I cannot wait for this to arrive.

I took a trip to the Oslo Strikkefestival.  A chance to catch up with friends after vending at 3 shows in 5 weeks!  I chat about knit night and seeing the film Yarn.

Knit night in the public library – an incredible space for a community event.

I made some purchases that seemed to resemble the colours around Oslo.

The Folk Museum where the workshops & marketplace were held is a fascinating historic venue housing many textiles with an outdoor museum showcasing the history of Norwegian houses.

Dorset Buttons

I’ve been a vendor at three wool festivals since last episode & chat about each of them.

I start with Perth Festival of Yarn which had approximately 70 vendors with a large number of small independent Scottish businesses.  Thanks to John Glen of the Beardychiel podcast and part of the festival support team a gin reference turned up unexpectedly!!!

Eva organised a podcaster’s goody bag & my contained the following:

Next up was Yarndale in Yorkshire.  The Saturday was manic and so many of you stopped by to see me – thank you!  There was a great atmosphere in the auction mart and as well as nearly 200 vendors there were lots of displays which Yarndale is famous for.

My own purchases included a pattern & book by Sarah Alderson of Alder Sign Designs.

A project bag from Woolly Originals & I had to have a Yarndale Sheep Tote bag!

Lastly the Loch Ness Knit Fest in Inverness where I shared a stand with Sarah Berry of North Child.

I ran 2 workshops and these were some of the amazing Dorset Buttons made.

Photo reproduced by kind permission of Mona Eklund (c) 2017


I got to see the sample hats from the Elemental collection by Woolly Wormhead which I’d purchased when it was released – now to start knitting one of these beauties!  I also fell in love with Christel Seyfarth’s work & added her book FanoStrik – Beyond The Horizon to my collection. I also bought Kells pattern from Lucy Hague & Lithuanian Linen from Midwinter Yarns.

You will find me next at Dornie Christmas Craft Fair on 17 & 18 November.

Local Lowdown

Here I talk about a place of pilgrimage for knitters & wool lovers on Skye that has reached the end of an era – Shilasdair.

Across The Bridge

For this episode I headed up to Torridon on the mainland to visit Sheila Bates of Florrie Felts.  Sheila is a textile artist and felt maker who produces a selection of items from fleece which include scarfs, cafeteria cosies & painted pictures.  Listen in to find out more about the Florries!

Torridon Exhibition piece – Felt picture painting entitled “First Snows on Beinn Alligin.”  Photo reproduced by kind permission of Sheila Bates. 

Sheila’s stand at a recent event.  Photo reproduced by kind permission of Sheila Bates. 

Sheila’s Bramble Gin in the making!

You can find Sheila at:

You can find out more about Sheila & Florrie Felts via her website www.florriefelts.co.uk or on Facebook @florriefelts

Music – the music is One Frog For a Prince, by Ron Patton & licensed from Melody Loops.

Bye for now.

TJ Signature

 

 

 

 

Facebook:   @TJFrogSkye

Instagram:   TJFrogSkye

Twitter:    TJFrogMakes

Ravelry:  LittleFrog

 

 

6 Responses

  1. So glad to have you back!!!

    I’m wondering if you have a Ravelry group for your podcast?

    1. Thank you! At the moment I haven’t got a Ravelry group. I may well in the future & will announce it on the podcast.

  2. I’m just catching up with your podcasts, it seems that I’m always either listening to people I know ( Yasmin, Sally from earlier episodes ) or about places we have travelled to to like the folk museum in Oslo. Thanks for bringing a little bit of Skye into our house to keep us going until we are back for a brief visit in May. As

    1. Thank you! Lovely to hear the podcast is keeping you going & reminding you of people & places until you return. I had my first spinning lesson this week with Sally! Maybe see you in May.

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