Close up of "Martha" cables.

Rowan Felted Tweed is one of my all time favourite yarns. It is a always a pleasure to knit, great value, because it goes such a long way and is so light and pleasant to wear.

Another item finished.

This is " Martha" from Rowan Studio 2 by Sarah Hatton worked in Felted Tweed.

Latest WIP.....

Christmas socks. This Lorna's Laces "Jeans" sockwool is a pleasure to work.

Noro Silver Thaw cardigan/jacket

This little project is now complete. Sadly, I forgot to photograph it in my rush to depart to Scotland in October..

I am pleased to report that it turned out well and Tracy is delighted with the finished article.

La Mazette lunch.

The sun shone. Course after course appeared. Lots of wine was consumed and a great time was had by all. The longest lunch I have ever been to - 7.5 hours! Is it a record? Probably not in France.

Our first fig.

It was delicious. We only had a few this year as our tree is young; but had an SOS from freinds to pick some of theirs. The fig jam turned out very well and the fif and almond tart went down well at our street 'get together' last weekend.

A cute baby!

Visit to the donkey fair at Pellegrue

During Tracy's visit, the fete at Pellegrue featured a

donkey fair; these two are Pyrenean donkeys.

A quick catch up....

Our first beans

and lots of tomatoes.

Our first grapes!

We have one bunch of red grapes on our new vines. Gill, who delivered them in May, will be impressed. Fighting off the courgettes and tomatoes this week... but what a pleasant occupation. And we have been enjoying a free daily concert by the Gironde Chamber Orchestra who are rehearsing in the village hall behind us every day in the run up to their annual summer concert season.

Close up of stitch detail

Too busy to blog!

I couldn't wait to start the Marion Foale, I had been so keen to do the pattern since it appeared in Woma's Weekly. Gald I bought the correct yarn; it has great texture and stitch definition and a beautiful drape. It is growing quite fast too.

I also learned that there was an article in the July Good Housekeeping on Marion Foale and a 'want it now' search on Ebay produced a copy. A very helpful lady called Rhian in Wales posted it to me and we had some very pleasant exchanges of emails.

Marion Foale yarn arrived

Delivered in less than a week from posting the cheque! Impressive.

More black tank top...

This photo shows the nice fitted shape, but not the colour. Anyway so glad it is finished. Knitting with black is not something I will repeat. Spurred on to finish it as I am waitng for my Marion Foale yarn to knit a pattern that was featured in Woman's Weekly a while back. I have been trying to find a suitable substitute, without success (and the kind folks at the Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns Discussion forum were so helpful on this), but in the end decided to treat myself to the 'proper' yarn, as I hope this will be an heirloom sweater.

The sun has re-appeared today thank goodness; the weather has been pretty grim, although nothing like as bad as the UK.

C'est terminee!

Determination won through and the black silk wool tank top is finished. This photo on the dummy shows the colour well - but not the shape....

Lush lavender and bees

Our lavender has been magnificent -- I have never seen so many bees of all kinds. We are particularly fascinated by the humming bird bees with their large probes; they are all enjoying the nectar. the climbing rose has a second flush of flowers too.

Warm evenings in Gensac...

Smokey's regular evening look out post (he sometimes sleeps on the job!)

Tres jolie!

I have been a bit of of a knitting traitor and the black tank top has been laid aside while I did this quick crochet cardigan in Rowan 4ply from a Sirdar pattern. it was meant to have a crochet flower on - but I have skipped that. Keep things simple! I have a pair of well loved linen trousers in the same shade and I think with a contrasting cami this will look rather good.

Mind you the weather here has been pretty cool, wet and blustery til recently and I have been indoors a lot trying to get the website functioning again.

There is also a plum glut to deal with (not our tree - too young) but at a friend's house. I have made a plum sauce which is great to cook or serve with duck apparently. Next week the Mirabelles will be ready - they will be for bottling I think.

Our veggies are coming on a treat. The Monty Don report this week:

Radishes (3rd lot)
Salad leaves (3rd lot)
First tomato today
Baby cucumbers
Baby melons
Baby aubergine
Chilli ripening
Picked two lots of beans (some French/some young haricots)
Figs formed
One lot of grapes formed.....

My first wool sales came in this week. So pleased! And I got a 'parfait' on Friday from Madame in La Poste for my labelling and packing - a gold star equivalent!

Am I bovvered????????

Why am I not more like Smokey? Master of relaxation.

Getting the business set up has been a trial. Determination has seen us through the notorious French beaurocracy; can anyone tell me why the Chambre de Commerce insisted on a marriage certificate issued in the last 3 months before I can register Alba Yarns? Someone must know. £23 later and a what is to me a useless document, it is done. And C'est la vie Francais. Dinnae let it get yee doon as Oor Willie would say....

The website has also been taxing my grey matter, trying to find what should be an easy way to convert to Euros proved tricky (Isabel where are you?), however cracked it I think and now need to sort out postage. And why did the bank print my maiden name on my business account despite being told not to. Another visit there needed. As a further test of the slumbering grey matter I have listed a few things on Ebay in France. I feel a need to sell some wool........

After......

Despite rain and too much heat it finally got painted!

Before....

The building is finished.....

Black Silk Wool

This is very luxurious to work with, although challenging when hot!

Abris

The 'abris' and proud builder.

Le bouchon!

Le bouchon is a cork or blockage in France, and for one reason and another that is what happened to my good intentions for keeping the blog up to date. I am quite shocked my last post was early May; I have some excuses................

First there was the IT and telephone changover to a new provider. (Always a challenge to one's French!) However between us we cracked that, and also manged to set up new mobile phone accounts too. That was about 4 days work.... and two of them with no phone.

The set up of the office took more than a month, as IKEA took all that time to deliver the desks. All present and correct and looking quite efficient now.

And poor Smokey has had a brush with French vetinary science with a 'peepee problem'. He has been a good patient and is now well through his course of antibiotics - less impressed by the special diet food he must take and 'rien autre!' for 3 months.

Storage for clothes, has also been a challenge and one week was spent buiding and filling a run of wardrobes. They hold a vast amount and have lots of lovely drawers and shelves.

The grand 'abris de jardin' is nearly finished today. We spent the morning seasrching for the right felt, nails and and replacement glass. (We got a great deal on it, but of course it needed dismantling and re-assembling). Once the shed is completed a huge clearout of the garage will take place and wool stocks will reappear.

In the meantime the linen door cutain was completed (useful work during many trips to Bordeaux) and the white Sirdar Just Bamboo top. Very pleased with this and hope to give it an outing this week, as the weather has improved.

Another cabled tank top has been started for Tracy in Rowan Yarns Classic Silk and Wool; trick to work as it is black, which is always difficult, but it is very lovely to work with like knitting with smooth dark chocolate.....

Impressive lorry

This trip was the first outing for this very impressive removal lorry. The men had to park the trailer at the village hall as the complete rig was too big to get into our street.

We will be unpacking boxes for some time!

At last!

After waiting all day yesterday, the White's men arrived at 07.30!

Roses

Our rose bed at the front of the house started flowering the day we arrived and is looking wonderful.

Fabulous climbing rose

This is so pretty - and just covered in flowers.

Tomato plants and bedding

Yesterday I bought lots of lovely bedding - just waiting for pots and baskets to arrive.......

Waiting for wool...

Smokey in his now pretty regular position - sleeping on the terrace. We have waited all day for the removal men and I have been filling in a bit of time with photos as the weather has been quite kind today.

We have arrived en France

Well we’ve all made it to France!

After 711 road miles and the sea journey from Rosyth to Zeebrugge, we arrived pretty late last Wednesday night. The Zeebrugge to Gensac leg is not to be recommended without an overnight stop, but with poor Smokey as a long suffering passenger, we pressed on and pretty much fell into bed.

We have been taking a bit of time to rest up and recover from our travels and Smokey has converted his normal indoor day time rest activity to mostly being outdoors (he does seem to require his own chair though).

We have had our first Scottish visitor Gill pop in already, with delightful gifts including two vines to add to our mini orchard.We have already planted out tomatoes in the garden - what a novelty that will be! In Inverness, there were some years we struggled to get them ripe in a greenhouse.

The garden has been been enjoying the rain over the last two days - although we are a trifle jealous given the UK is basking in a heatwave. C'est la vie!

We have a resident hoopoe in the garden - how exotic. G has been trying to get a pic without success. Will keep trying and post one later.

The linen door curtain for my new office is growing slowly and might be finished by the time the desks are delivered on the 15th May.

Poetry reading

Isabel in full poetic

flow!

Tea Party

Smiles all round at my tea party.

Tea Party at NHS Highland

This has been a week of goodbyes. Although I finished work last week, Isabel had organised the traditional NHS tea party and all I had to do was make a guest appearance. Isabel's baking is the stuff of legends and lots of colleagues popped in for cake and so say au revoir.

These lovely flowers were a nice suprise, they and all the cards are cheering my rather bare lounge.


Isabel had also composed a poem which I will share with you:



For Joyce
April 2007

So Joyce is off to La Belle France;
I can’t believe it’s true.
We’ll make her cake and say ‘bonne chance’
and ‘bon voyage, adieu’.

The raison d’être of our work
remains, as she knows well.
Argyll & Bute drive us berserk
in déjà-vu-like hell.

We’ll miss her nicely timed bon mot,
her elegance and style.
A calm je ne sais quoi will go
(though Gill’s still in denial).

So merci for just being here;
we’ll rendezvous again
when Alba Yarns’ entrepreneur
is basking in her fame.

We won’t forget, when we’re bereft.
My gift - this epitaph:
‘She knitted us a PPF
and then she b*******d off.’


What a star!!!! What a talented lady you are Isabel.

Lamb flock

These cute little lambs all have their designer scarves and are ready to go off to their new owners.

It's public! We're off to La Belle Fance

The long talked about move to France is now happening extremely fast - and there is now a frenzy of clearing out, selling and giving away all sorts of things. As we will be trying to shove two houses in to one, this is quite a challenge.

Closing down the website and the Ebay shop leaves me at a bit of a loss - but I have been cheered by lots of messages of support and good wishes from customers.

Just Bamboo

I tried to resist...but I wanted to try out the Just Bamboo. I never knit in white - but given my now imminent departure for warmer climes -why not! I have to report it is very lovely to work with and results are quick. It may not be finished before we depart on Tuesday, but should not take long.

Linen cotton door curtain

The long awaited linen cotton arrived from Russia last week. It took weeks to arrive and I was getting a bit anxious that it had gone missing. Anyway, it did arrive, it is lovely and I have deserted knitting for crochet for a time. Although it is fine (slightly less than 4 ply I would guess) it is progressing quite quickly. I plan a door curtain for the summer and am just 'winging it' on the design stakes. It may need to have a contast border depending on how far the yarn it goes. I had another delivery of pearl buttons this week and there are some gorgeous one hole buttons that I hope to work in round the edges.

There has been very little time for blogging recently, as there is so much going on - but more of that later.

Happy Easter!

Duck egg Bella finished

Tracy's little waistcoat is finished in time for Easter. The Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton is very soft to work with and has a lovely sheen. I had some Rowan shanked mother of pearl buttons which just finish it off perfectly. We plan to meet up on Tuesday to do a hand over.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day to all!

It is Gary's birthday today, which has been a pretty quiet affair as we have already had our family birthday celebration lunch earlier this week.

We do have a nice bottle of fizz and the special dinner request is steak pie - a bit of a rare treat as we generally try to do healthy round here - but once in a while won't hurt.....

Thes mini daffodils are looking so pretty just now I thought it was worth a pic as we are forecast snow over the next few days and the poor little things may suffer.

Finally, welcome to any new blog readers from the US - I have finally cracked (I think) listing over there, as our UK listings no longer show up.

Tracy Bella

Tracy's latest commission is the Bella waistcoat from the new Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton/Stella book. She decided on the Duck Egg that is worked in - it is very pretty and will be a versatile piece for warmer times. It is coming along quite fast.

Birthday lunch

Tracy is here for a quick visit and we went out for our family birthday lunch today (it's a bit like Christmas all over with Tracy on 8th, me on 13th and Gary on 17th). Our first visit to Rocpool Reserve - I would recommend to all. Far and away the best food, service and surroundings in Inverness and good value too. A great view over the city is a bonus!

I'm on holiday!

Freedom from the day job (never from wool)- until 21st March - using up the rest of my leave due. Had intended doing so much today, but the Tesco run took ages 'cos I met two friends and it was lunchtime by the the time I got back.

Sorting out the new books which I ordered at the NEC has taken ages - but have got them all prepared now for sale. Because I have had some peace and quiet to do a bit of web surfing today I have discovered Crafty Threads 'n Yarns and joined the blogring - how do you folks find any time to do crafts? Do you blog and craft at the same time?

I had a call from the Lana Grossa rep today, who will look in the next time she is in Inverness. Any thoughts on Lana Grossa folks? I like the sock wool but haven't tried anything else.

Springlike in Inverness today

Very little time for blogging this weekend! Friday saw the delivery of the summer stock from Sirdar, which has kept Gary and I busy getting all ready for sale.

The samples and prices are flowing in now following my trip to the Birmingham trade show and I have placed an order with Bergere de France today. I am really impressed with their range and designs. I plan to sell this in a kit format with the pattern, yarn and trimmings - everything you need to complete the garment. Watch out for the dog coats – they are co cute and typically French.

Of too the ‘Stitch ‘n bitch’ tonight at NHS Highland with some summer samples.

It has been a glorious sunny day here today, although pretty windy – a great drying day!

NORO Cuthbert

'Cuthbert' is finished and so are the socks! I have worn the jacket twice this week and have never had so many complements. It is truly lovely - warm and cosy, and you you can dress it up or down. A brilliant easy knit - I'm delighted. Another pair of socks on the way (it is a bit addictive) and a wee surprise for Tracy's birthday (shh...).

Gary's birthday socks

Since Gary spotted this ball of sock wool and asked if I could knit him a pair of socks for his birthday, they have been to Birmingham and back. I had a slight panic when I wondered if there would be enough for the second one, but a top tip from Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark's book 'Knit 2 together' is to weigh your first sock and then the wool left over. Postal scales are useful - and yes, there will be enough!

There are some really different ideas in Tracey's book and I have plans to knit a linen door curtain for the patio doors. They recommend Euroflax linen and apparently they have no UK distributor, so last night I bought 500g of linen cotton on Ebay that is coming from Russia. It is 4ply, I think so I plan to use it double.

I am less keen on the Witches Britches in the book - I guess these are a bit tongue in cheek!

Signs of spring?

It has been a bit of a catch up day for me at Alba Yarns today. although Gary was here yesterday things were quiet, but lots of orders and payments arrived overnight. Maybe folk worked out I was away.

It has been a beautiful sunny day here today, and these little snowdrops were looking at their best.

A grand day out Grommit…..

Up at 4.45 is not much fun, but by 8.50 I was in the queue for registration at he NEC in Birmingham for the Craft, Hobby and Stitch International exhibition (not quite Harrods sale, but close…). My first experience of Eastern Airways direct service from Inverness to Birmingham, which was very slick and efficient.

What can I say about the show? It was immense – I sat and planned where to visit over a coffee, as the yarn stands were well spread out. I think I managed to visit all the yarn stands and quite a few others too. I came away laden with samples of brochures and made lots of new contacts. I will definitely have some new ranges arriving in the next few weeks – watch this space.

Around 17.00 my feet could stand no more and I set off back to the airport (what a great venue the NEC is, all linked by an indoor walkway). A bit of contemplative sock knitting while waiting for the flight home and back in the house by 21.00.

Wensleydale didn’t figure, but still a grand day out…………………..

(Wallace and Grommit fans will understand).

Exhausted…….

Returned last night from a truly exhausting couple of days (from the day job) not Alba Yarns.

Highlights were:

Dreaming of fish and chips all the way from Inverness to Inveraray
Getting fish and chips
A glass or two of wine on Thursday night
Meeting lots of nice folk
Gary visiting M & S and buying a ready dinner for my return
A glass or two of wine on Friday….
The delight of a night in my own bed
Waking up and feeling pretty normal and getting back to the world of wool
New delivery with summer stock – the colours are so lovely

Not so good was:

Poor Derek missing out on fish and chips ‘cos we got the last ones
Getting home at 20.00 on a Friday, truly past it…..
Why do deliveries always happen when no-one is in?

The 'antique' Aero woolwinder.

It has been a quiet, cold and dreich weekend at Alba Yarns woolly HQ, and so progress has been made with my 'Cuthbert' NORO jacket. There is something quite satifying about the winding of hanks of wool and my trusty Aero wool winder (see other pic)has been once again pressed into service.

The other exciting happening for us yarn lovers is that I am heading to Birmingham on 19th January for the big trade fair - Craft Hobby and Stitch. Reports will follow!

Dinner time for alpacas (carrots are go!)

Many thanks to Isabel for the great pics.

Beautiful alpacas

A souvenir from Isabel and Hamish's recent holiday - a visit to the Alpaca farm.

How cute is this alpaca?

Tracy's tank top - a result!

It's finished! This has been a nice quick project and both Tracy and I are very pleased with it. She decided on the pattern from the RYC Baby Alpaca book when she was here at Christmas and chose the olive green Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere as she liked the colour.

I wouldn't mind one the same, but have had a burning desire to knit some NORO and have started the delicious little jacket called Cuthbert in the Jane Ellison book. The Kochoran in shades of pink, grey and red is very lovely. Photos will follow.....

The weather wasn't all bad, we enjoyed a lovely walk in warm sun along the banks of the Dordogne. The 'Verglas frequent' (often black ice) sign was true later in the week.

Isn't the weather funny? We did escape for the later flight with a very hairy transfer at Gatwick thanks to delays at security. I have no concern about the extra security precautions, but BAA must have enough staff to cope. The queues were twice round the check in desks on Thursday night and only two belts operating - two hours to get through. The security staff would not take responsibility, nor the airline and each blamed the other. In the end the Inverness passengers did a charge to the front and ran for all we were worth. With thanks to anyone who let us through........... Not good for the blood pressure. Return to a balmy 7 degrees in Inverness - how strange!

Snow

Having got up at 6.30am for the early flight, we are faced with 4 inches of lying snow. No-one driving anywhere right now, and we decide it is too risky to set off. Hopefully things will clear a bit and we can catch the later flight.

A France!

1. Up at 4.45 is not the best start to the day, especially when it is blowing a gale and only 2 degrees c. Arriving at 17.00 in Bordeaux after the long wait at Gatwick (thank goodness for knitting to fill some time) we arrive to a calm 16 degrees - it is another world. We do a quick shop, get unloaded have a quick and simple dinner and off to bed, pretty exhausted.
   
   Wake up refreshed today and see how things look in the daylight; the garden is pretty tidy and all is quiet and calm here on a Sunday morning. There has been a little rain, but is has now brightened up.
   
   After lunch we do a wee tidy in the garden, cut back the roses and top up the bed with bark. Our pots are looking sad and these are emptied out on the compost heap. Our neighbours say hello and explain there was a really hard frost a month ago - all the laurels were bent over with it. Madame hands over two freshly cooked crepes over the fence - how kind folk are here.

Dreams of summer knitting................

Although we have had sleet showers today here, thoughts of warmer days were heralded by a delivery from Rowan of their summer catalogue and shade cards for new yarns. These look really lovely - the nicest from the Rowan stable in a long time. Lots of lovely new books, including a new one for Summer Tweed - one of my favourites.

By co-incidence Ian from Designer Yarns came tonight with all the new Noro, Debbie Bliss and Louisa Harding summer stock. Lots of lovely new yarns here too and some excellent patterns.

Elton tickets go on sale next week and are £40 each. We won't be around as we are heading off to France for a few days. Maybe if there are some left when we get back??

Sir Elton John to play in Inveness

Wow! Hot news from Tracy in Prestwick that Sir Elton is to play at the the Inverness Caledonian Stadium as part of the Year of Culture on 15th July. Off to investigate the price of tickets....

Hamish's Birthday cardi

Hamish, my friend and colleague, Isabel's little boy. He was 3 on 15th January, and there has been a bit of pressure to get the cardi finished in time. By a stroke of luck H & I have been away in London and the cardi is now wrapped and ready to to hand over on Thursday when Isabel gets back to work.

It has turned out rather well, it is the checkerboard pattern from Debbie Bliss, in green merino aran with lovely Rowan metal buttons. I think it will suit Hamish's colouring and auburn hair really well.

I can now turn attention to the current WIP - a cable tank top for my daughter Tracy - who did a spot of 'commissioning' when she was here at Christmas. The colour will suit her vey well, although I do want to escape green knitting soon!

One of the members of the French theatre group entertaining the large crowd ahead of the aerial display.