If you're not familiar with this sight, it's the castle they used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We watched Monty Python a ton in high school, and a few years ago our families went to Spamalot together, so this was an absolute must. It was a gorgeous day, remember this is Scotland, so apparently this is rare, but it was almost cloudless and beautiful sunshine all this day. We also made a pit stop at Loch Lomond on our way up:
And I think Ben Lomond is way back there. I believe "ben" is hill in Scottish Gaelic. Beautiful day, and the little cafe there, called Zest, not sure if it's a chain, had 4 vegan options for desserts/treats! That's more than I usually get anywhere over here in North America. We took some to go for later and I had an oat latte for "take away", not "to go". :)
Doune Castle was so much fun. We spent a good amount of time there. With your entry fee you get a little audio device and you input a code to listen to some history and bits from either Monty Python, read by Terry Jones, or from Sam Heughan of Outlander fame. I also managed to crack my head on a low doorway because I was listening and not looking where I was going. I'm still a bit bruised, so I did it really well.
The way back home was mostly past the Falkirk Wheel and we were lucky enough to see it go around pretty soon after we got there. Such an amazing feat of engineering!
Another outstanding part was a visit to Dumfries and Paine Free Crafts!!
A very fun shop with many temptations. I picked up 2 Bothy kits, one with a Highland Coo, because of course I needed one of those. I also grabbed a couple Nurge hoops since I hadn't tried those yet. My friend doesn't stitch, but does knit and Sarah has some nice bright yarn collections, so she found some good choices for a couple hats.
Also in Dumfries, a very Scottish sight:
A statue of Robert Burns with a traffic cone, just perfect.
We spent some time in Glasgow as well of course and I hope I can get back again soon. It was an amazing few days.
Stitching wise, none except for my starts earlier in the month. I kind of started a bunch at once and set up the posts so there wasn't a long gap. It was a good idea because it took me a few days to get back into the North American time zone I'm in. I did get some knitting in on the plane and while I was there. Mostly on this Corrugated Baktus shawl:
Corrugated Baktus Shawl by Kathleen Blass
stitched with 3.00mm Chiaogoo needles
with Wonderland yarns Mary Ann colourway The Snark
I took another photo so you can see the texture. It's a simple repeating pattern, so a good one for travel.
I love the colour of this yarn and it's knitting up well. I actually thought when I wound the yarn that I had weighed it properly and made a slipknot at half the weight. However, I got to the slipknot and it didn't look quite right, but I started decreasing and had it almost finished before I realized I'd only used about half the ball. The idea behind this pattern is to use up those one-off skeins that we pick up because they're so beautiful, but then aren't sure what to do with them.
I also worked a little more on the Spine shawl:
Winter's Spine by Lani Stanistreet
knit with Queensland Rainbow Cake cotton yarn
I'm getting close to finishing the next white section, then it will be orange. I don't really like where the colours switch, so I'm keeping the yarn out to cut in the ends later. I know it's not the point of this yarn, but it's a weird switch.
And that's all for now, hope everyone had a good month!
Happy Stitching,
Tiffstitch
