Berries

The blueberries season have started here in Scotland. It is going to be short (no more than a month, unfortunately) so we have to make the most of it!
Everyday, we stuff ourselves with berries, plain or with some cream, yum ;0).

As you know, I love making jam, so I couldn't resist...I made blueberry jam last week, and today, I made blueberry and raspberry jam (50/50, with a hint of vanilla extract).

Jam on its own is a bit boring, so I also made some bread (with oat)...

On the knitting front, I finished a baby blanket yesterday evening:

It is knitted in one piece, border included, so no sewing!

stripes and sheep

I didn't post anything for a wee while. Well, I haven't been on holidays, just very busy with various things that are not worth mentioning here!
I had time to do some knitting though. I finally finished the sheep yoke cardigan (I had to wait to get 4mm dpn) and knitted a stripy jumper with the red and orange left over yarn from the flower dress.


I am currently knitting another chair cover and something else I can't speak about here......

Finish line

Done already! I've crossed the finish line on Sunday at 11pm, UK time!
I should have register several projects! it was fun. I don't think I would have done it so quickly if it hadn't been for the Ravelympics!
I am not the only one who crossed the finish line, Louise did it as well, a day before me! and Diane is not far from it!

The pattern:
using 6mm needles, cast on 237 stitches.
K3,K1, YO, K3, S1, K2tog, PSSO, k3, YO, repeat from 17 time, K4.
Knit 1 row.
Repeat these 2 rows until you have approximately 50 repeats of the pattern.

Using a steam iron, press lightly and gently stretch the shawl so that it becomes wider and leave flat to dry.

The true colors are more like on this picture:

What did I earn? Well, a great cast on party at home, a nice shawl, new friends on Ravelry, and this medal from the head of the International Ravelympic Committee, Adonis Dionysius Bobicus Maximus:



Now, I've completed my ravelympic project but I still have several other knitting projects that need completed and a lot more queuing....

Twist Fiber Craft

This morning Louise, Andrea, Kirsty and me went to Newburgh for our monthly knitting group at Twist Fiber Craft. The layout in the shop have changed and they now have fabric!

The weather is pretty miserable at the moment here: rain, fog and 11˚C.... Well, a perfect knitting weather after all....
I confess, we had to boost ourselves to sustain our knitting cadence: tea, coffee, chocolate biscuits, sweeties and onion and sour cream Pringles....only allowed substances though!

Ravelympic updates: My shawl is now going fine. Slowly though, as I have 237 stitches! I'll post a picture latter.

Ravelympics opening ceremony

At last! We've been waiting for that day for so long!
Today was the first Ravelympics and we were all ready. We were having a wee party at home to watch the Olympic game opening ceremony and start our ravelympic projects. Even Andrea, who thought she would not make it, was lucky enough to be here for 1pm!
To keep us going (although, for knitting, we just need nice yarn and needles), we had violet kir royal (champagne with violet sirop from Toulouse) and loads of things to nibble. Louise made fabulous bread and scones.
This is the team: Diane, Louise and Andrea. (we had a thought for Jane, who is part of our team, scots can do it too!, and was competing at the same time as well, in Australia)

the equipment:

On the starting blocks, waiting for the countdown...

Work in progress:
Louise's scones...yummmmmm....

After a few hours.. (Louise in grey, Diane in blue and Andrea in green). Also, I must mention that Andrea is competing in the WIP wrestling category, that's why her project is so advance.

At the end of the ceremony, once the flame had been light up:

This is my project, unfortunately, I will have to frog it. I realized that I should do a few more repeat of the pattern, otherwise the shawl would be too small (120cm wide is a bit short to wrap yourself in).
Now we have to complete our projects by 24th August!
There are more pictures on Diane's blog and soon on Louise's!

Lace and chair cover

This weekend I finished my first chair cover! I could have bought new kitchen chairs but, I don't like waste and the only thing that is wrong with them are the covers. I made it with the left over from Stephane's jacket: New Lanark Donegal Silk Tweed DK. It is a bit itchy so I can't really use it for baby things or scarves. It is washable though, so perfect for the cover!

Before:
After!I remove the plastic and left the foam so the cover doesn't move.
So, I have to knit a second one....
This is not a very exciting project so it might take a little time...

Last week I also finished my voyager lace stole:
I knitted it with Rowan 4-ply. I love that yarn. Hopefully, I am going to Twist Fiber Craft on Saturday, and I hope they still will have some in the bargain basket...

Tonight, our friends from Melun (near Paris) are coming for a few days. They will have to leave before Friday lunchtime because, from 1pm, the Ravelympics are starting and we are having a casting on party at home! I am getting really impatient!
I've also been invited to join the Scottish swap group on Ravelry, so I will do my first swap next month. The theme is celtic warmers. I have to wait to know my swap partner so I can adapt to her/his taste.
Today, I also bought my plane ticket to go to "le salon Marie Claire Idees" in Paris in November, with Diane and Andrea!!!!

Pittenweem

Yesterday, it was the opening of Pittenweem art festival. There are more than 100 artists exhibiting their works. Most of them are local artists. We spent a couple of hours wandering in the streets, houses and garages of this beautiful coastal village. We've seen loads of amazing pieces of art and talk to a few artists (one of them even laugh when we told him we were living in Dundee....). In the evening there were a Ceilidh, a torchlight procession and fireworks. We didn't stay, we were quite tired having done quite a lot all day: we stopped by St Andrews Farmers market in the morning then we had an early lunch on the beach in Elie, followed by a 9 holes (Stephane only, I gave up golfing a few years ago).Weather wise, we were lucky! it was very thundery in the afternoon but we only had a few drops.

Pittenweem's harbor:

The isle of May:

Paintings by Margaret Smyth:

Ceramic by Susan McGill:

Painting by Reinhard Behrens:

Sculptures by Adrienne McStay:

Painting by George Finley:

The end of the day was very sunny and warm enough to eat a chocolate ice cream from the Cocoa Tree shop... YUMMMMM!!!!