Tuesday, May 06, 2025
Yarn bombing zine
Friday, May 02, 2025
My first zine!
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Fake plants up for grabs!
I'm walking in my 20th Light the Night walk to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and I have a special fundraiser this year! I have made a bunch of fake plants and put them in real pots, some of which are handmade by a friend, Laurie. Those who make a gift of $50 or more will get to pick one! First come, first served.
Here are the plants:
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Plant A (store-bought pot), Plant B (handmade pot) |
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Plant C (handmade pot), |
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Plant E (handmade pot), |
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Plant G (handmade pot), |
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I'll remove them as people pick them, and I'm still making more. Thank you for your support to a cause that means a lot to me.
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Ireland/Scotland, Day 11: Edinburgh
For our last day, we had a hefty breakfast at the hotel, then walked around the old town yet again. On the way to other things, we stumbled upon Victoria Street, allegedly JK Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter...
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Victoria Street |
Then we visited Greyfriar's Kirkyard, a really cool old cemetery.
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Greyfriar's Kirkyard |
I thought it was fun to just walk around in, but the book said that some of the names also inspired characters or families in Harry Potter.
We were quickly running out of room in our suitcases, so I dropped off a book I'd finished on the trip at a Little Free Library, then we headed in the National Museum of Scotland. The artifacts told us a lot about how the Scottish clans and tribes lived for centuries, but the history went up right to the present, which was neat. The museum itself is organized in a kind of bonkers fashion, so prepare to get lost.
Next up, the big kahuna: Edinburgh Castle!
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Edinburgh Castle |
Word to the wise, book your trip online early. If you get a QR code ticket in your inbox, just go right to the people checking tickets in the line, don't stop at the booth. The machines don't work and we ended up frustrating ourselves.
The castle tour was really cool, especially the views, crown jewels, and the many layers of castle battlements. So much history happened in the walls. I didn't realize how much was recent, too - like a lot of Edinburgh, parts date to the 1800s but look much older.
After the castle, we went across the river for a beer at the Guilford Arms, a fun little bar where we grabbed some local beers. It was recommended by the book, and the decor gave plenty to look at.We had been recommended to Dishoom, a tasty chain of Indian restaurants with a location in Edinburgh. We got a smattering of dishes and were extremely happy with our picks.
I think dinner was at something like 3:15 p.m., so we realized we had some time to kill before going back to the hotel to chill. We walked Prince's Park and then stopped in the National Gallery. There, Dave found yet another surprise Vermeer on the trip (I don't think he had seen this one, though) and I saw the iconic stag painting in situ:
The National Gallery was really impressive; we tried to focus on the Scottish paintings, and I'm sure we didn't see most of the museum in the time that we had.The gift shop was super neat, with yet more textiles that made me drool. The whole trip was full of such things, which is helping give me inspiration for some projects at home. Right now I have a lot of yarn and have cast on some sweater projects that aren't inspiring me, so it was nice to be somewhere with a vibrant textile culture to get some inspiration.
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Scarves at the National Gallery gift shop |
And that's that - our Scottish trip came to a close! We loved both Scotland and Ireland and would definitely go back; next time we'd spend more time on Islay and in Glasgow, and I'd love to see Balmoral and all the wild beauty up there. Of course, we made a list of movies set in Scotland, most of which are in the Highlands, so we have that to look forward to.
No more trips scheduled for the rest of the year right now, but we're thinking of going somewhere relaxing and warm in February. This was kind of a "go, go, go" trip, I'd like to just relax somewhere, maybe at a resort with one good excursion per day.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Ireland/Scotland, Day 10: Edinburgh
For our first full day in Edinburgh, we focused on some of the big-ticket tourist items from the guidebook, including St. Giles Cathedral...
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St. Giles Cathedral |
And Glastone's Land, which is an old home / business building that has been preserved as a way to show how people lived in the 1500s to the 1800s. I was glad we started with this, as it showed a lot of general Edinburgh history.
We needed to get some Swatch watches repaired, so Dave and I visited the Swatch store, where we not only got those watches fixed, but Dave got a beautiful new Swatch. The Edinburgh Swatch was cute, but not cute enough for me to spring for it.
We enjoyed lunch at Whiski Rooms, which had a nice fish and chips, and more whiskies for Dave to sample.
After lunch, we went down to Dovecot Studios, a weaving and fiber arts cooperative (the rainbow spiral above right is from a stairwell).
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Dovecot Studios |
The main exhibition room had beautiful textiles on view, plus you got to look down at weavers making beautiful things.
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A textile at Dovecot Studios |
Their gift shop is super cute, too, even if you don't want to look at the exhibitions.
Then we walked over to Parliament, where we took a tour, and we were not able to take a tour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse because there was a royal visit or something (I guess that happens when you're in the UK!). So we hiked up the trail to Arthur's Seat. Although we didn't go all the way up to the crazy high part, the part we did complete was fun and we had very nice views of the city.
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Hiking up to Arthur's Seat |
As we were descending from Arthur's Seat, chilly air and mist blew in, obscuring everything. Glad we got our photos when it was sunny and clear!
We stopped for a few beer samples at Holyrood 9A, which had a nice selection from all over Scotland.
On our way back to the hotel to change before dinner, a shop caught my eye: Scottish Textiles Showcase. I was going to buy a beautiful woven zip bag and some yarn, and then saw the most beautiful coat in the whole world, Harris Tweed and A-line. It was expensive and I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it in the bag, but I couldn't not buy it. And luckily I had bought a lot of goodwill with Dave with all the scotch.
We had dinner at Wedgewood the Restaurant, which has a tasting menu, but we weren't feeling up to it after really going to town on breakfast and lunch. One of our waitresses was American and we asked her a lot of questions about how to emigrate...you know, for a friend...
Friday, May 17, 2024
Ireland/Scotland, Day 9: Edinburgh
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Ireland/Scotland, Day 8: Isle of Skye
On Skye, we stayed at the Homeleigh B&B; it was very comfortable, affordable, and had an absolutely delightful breakfast. Skye is definitely bigger than I thought, though, and it was pretty far away from a lot of the stuff we wanted to do. Oh well!
We did take a nice walk in the morning and met yet more sheep...
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Skye sheep |
First stop (after breakfast and the sheep) was a whisky tour and tasting for Dave at Torabhaig ("Tor-Veg") Distillery, one of the newer distilleries in Scotland. It was a small shop, and he was happy he did a tour here rather than one of the bigger shops. We learned about Scotch making and also the Viking-related history of the area.
Next up was Shilasdair yarn shop, a few minutes north of Portree. These completely gorgeous yarns are all of Scottish origin and from natural dyes. The photo doesn't do it justice, but you can see how they match each other with the natural colorways.
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Natural dyed yarn at Shilasdair Shop |
Next we hiked the Old Man of Storr, a trail that goes right up a mountain to some cool rock formations at the top. As usual, Dave was there for the view, but I was there for the little things along the way.
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Violets |
The views were nice though.
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Old Man of Storr, Skye |
The "old man" is at left, and you can see the scale by Dave standing to the right. He's tiny!
Before dinner (another reservation! word to the wise!), we zipped over to Talisker Distillery, which was Dave's second favorite whisky on the trip. It's not a brand I've seen a lot, but Dave knew it.
Then back to Portree for dinner at Scorrybreac, a restaurant probably too nice for the way we were looking and smelling after our hike, but oh well. It was tasty and I recommend it.
Allegedly there is a hike to a seal island not far from the ferry pier, which was near the B&B, but we couldn't find it. Instead, we walked up the pier, where we found these fun signs. Might be something to put on the wall.
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Sign on Skye pier |