21 Sept
I was up and out of the motorhome early, 6.40am, as the sunrise was even better than yesterday, there was a glorious pink hue. I couldn't miss more photography.
We had even less plans for the day, other than to visit the wonderful village shop in Baltasound. By 10.30 that pink sky had been true to form: 'pink in the morning shepherd's warning'. It got very dull and the wind was getting up. By coffee time we had rain, but went out. We needed to visit Skiboull Stores the wonderful Unst shop in Baltasound. We were glad they were still selling the lovely Porcelain mugs - These have an Unst outline and say Unst Shetland the island above all others . Very clever indeed and a real pick me up on a bad day. Close by is the most northerly Post Office so we had a card to send home to be stamped.
We decided to try the west of the island, so after lunch went to Lund beach - another favourite. By this time it was very windy, but as I was photographing rocks and seaweed the wind did not matter much. By now it was dry but just overcast and due to the earlier rain the images were good.
I was keen to get my 6" square knitted for Mona's charity. I didn't think I would finish it in time if I left it to wool week itself. I had been mulling over ideas for my ideal square. I very much wanted it not to be completely one sided, to have some colour, to be textured and not to curl at the edges as it would make stitching up more challenging.
I had been thinking about this for some time and decided the colour bit could be based on 'crofthooses' and as this would be a wool week venture this would be good. Given my other rules for myself I decided to work mainly in garter stitch with a horizontal 'crofthoose' border somewhere near the middle and a garden stitch edge to this to stop the curl. After some swatching in Shetland jumper weight yarn, I came up with a tension I was happy with, a suitable placement of the 'crofthooses' to fit in whole houses and I was ready to start.
I didn't quite knit it non stop but I did enjoy doing it. I then washed it and blocked it just as I do for all my knitwear so it was a perfect 6" square when finished. This also settled the threads on the back of the houses. I wished I had squeezed in my custom made sample blocking board covered in gingham as it would have made the pinning out easier but there are some things you can't bring with you when you are living in a motorhome for 3 weeks!
Image The 'crofthoose ' square for the Lesotho blanket. ( Not the best photo but you will get the idea!)
Another great day despite the change in the weather.
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