Sunday 19th May

Hello friends, I hope you have all had a good week. We have been blessed with some lovely weather here in East Lothian this week and on Tuesday morning hubby, the dog and I headed out for a wee stroll along the shore from Cockenzie to Port Seton. We started in a beautiful public garden where we found this stunning sundial

And this colourful mosaic art

Continuing along the shoreline we came to this beautiful wee beach

Then on to the harbour at Port Seton

Where we stopped for a coffee and to soak up the sunshine.

It was a lovely wee walk and one I am sure we will now do whenever the weather is kind.

FO's

I have two finishes for you this week.

Firstly, I finally finished the cowl for my Aunt.

Again this is the Downtown Chicago pattern I shared last week. Finishing this project means I have now knitted this 9 times. It is such a good pattern for so many different yarns and always gives a beautiful finished object. The only modifications I make are to do 12 rib rows on both sides and I use 3mm needles.

Secondly, I have finished my socks from the sock blank.

I loved knitting these fraternal socks as I just never knew how the blank would knit up. I did treat myself to a biscuit when I finished them. As you can see I have a fair bit of the blank leftover to go into my Happy Scrappy Blankie.

WIP's

I have 2 main wip's this week.

First, is this colourful granny square, which I shared the start of last week.

I did say then that I was going to do two and join them together but during the week I received a call from a receptionist at my Doctor's surgery asking if I could do some lap blankets for a local elderly day care centre. So, plan changed and this will become the first of those lap blankets.

Next, some more socks.

This pair will be for my lovely friend Marillyn who was complaining of very cold tootsies just before the beautiful sunny weather arrived. She chose the colour from the huge bag of yarn which I shared with you last week.

I have also been doing a few rows on my Still Light tunic but have no real progress to show you.

Incomings

The lovely Aoife from the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry sent me this ball of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply to use for toes and cuffs when I start knitting socks for Operation Christmas Stocking 2019, along with the wee mini skein for me. 

Many thanks, Aoife.

Tour of Scottish Burghs

My two finishes this week bring us to two more Angus towns. Brechin and Forfar are both Royal Burghs. 

Off to the Frog Pond

I knitted this pair of socks in 2014 but have rarely worn them as they were just too big. I made the decision after wearing them during the week that I would rather frog them and re-knit the yarn to the right size, so when I finish this post I will be ripping them right out. I love the yarn and I am sure once the fit is right they will be a favourite pair.

In my Ears and On my Screen

This week I am listening to Jerusalem by Alan Moore, this is another huge book which I am really enjoying.

On TV we are still journeying around Italy with the Giro and last night we had a musical journey around Europe with the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Sadly the UK came last but well done to The Netherlands who scooped the win.

I think that's it for this week. Have a great week and happy crafting,

Mary

Sunday 3rd March

Hello friends, welcome to the Sunday Sock.

I hope you have all had a good week. My week has been very mixed thanks to a cough on Thursday which sent my back into spasm and left me in severe pain and having to use a walking stick to get around. This severely curtailed my knitting time.

Being that this is the first Sunday of the month it is time to share my progress on the Happy Scrappy Blankie.

The top is the start of Feb and the bottom is now.

As you can see Penelope Penguin has moved on a little.

Other knitting has been limited as I have been very monogamous working on just one project.
On Monday I found my missing ball of yarn and finally decided to cast on a Still Light Tunic. I knitted this pattern back in 2014 and it is one of my most worn handknits, so I decided it was time for another.

I have gotten through the yoke section and have divided for the sleeves. The pattern is written to knit the body first, but sleeve island is my nemesis so I am working them first.
This very wearable garment looks great worn with leggings or jeans and is so wearable. The fact that it has pockets is a huge bonus. Although it is a paid for pattern it is very well worth the money as it is so well written and to my mind it is an ideal introduction to knitting a top-down garment for beginning knitters. I have just under 3 weeks to finish this if I hope to wear it to EYF.

The Sunday Sock will be out and about in East Lothian on Wednesday 6th March. I will be at Archerfield Walled Garden having brunch with my good friend Sheena. We will be there from 10.30 am till around 12 noon. If you are in the area come and say hello.

Until next week, happy crafting

Mary

Looking Forward to 2019

Hello friends, I do hope you had a good Christmas and that you are having a peaceful end to 2018. I will be having a very quiet end to the year without the usual Hogmanay celebrations as I am on a very strong antibiotic for my tooth which doesn't mix with alcohol at all. So, come the bells I will be toasting the New Year with tea and my favourite chocolate.

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do in 2019 and the first thing is to try my hardest to post to the blog every Sunday. I have also really enjoyed knitting the socks for Operation Christmas Stocking and the hats for gifts this year so I am going to start filling a box with these sort of things which I will donate to The Salvation Army. These wonderful people looked after my great-uncle many years ago and I have never forgotten their kindness to him.
Another thing I want to do is take my sock knitting out and about to share my county with you. I will try, once a month to get out for coffee and cake and hopefully meet some like-minded folks and who knows I might even convert some doubters to become knitters.

I was asked in a Ravelry group about my knitting around the world and how I came to choose the number of rows I need to knit. I am using World Walking, Around the Globe for this personal challenge. Here is the route I will be taking

And here is how far I am to date, I love how it calculates where you are on the map,

as you can see I have a very, very long way to go. My intention is to use my new row counter to add all the rows I do each week, add them on a Sunday then share my progress with you.

Now at last to actual knitting. Today's cast on will be the 2nd of toe-up Dumbledore's Christmas Stockings using Ripples Crafts Reliable Sock in Early Morning and Drops Fabel in Mustard for the toe and cuff

The first sock is looking so good

I am also making good progress on a pair of commission socks for a friend's daughter. These Fidget Socks are again being knit toe-up as I really do think that is my groove. I honestly seem to knit socks so much quicker doing them this way.

This yarn is Stylecraft, Head over Heels, in the Sugar Loaf colourway. I am just at the point of turning the heel on this sock so I hope to be starting the second one next Sunday.
My Adventurous Wrap has nearly reached the half-way point, sorry no picture, so I have chosen the mini-skeins to go in the second half.

This is such a relaxing knit and a great way to use up mini-skeins or even leftovers from other projects.

I think that is all for now, time to get back to the knitting.

Happy crafting

Mary

Links

World Walking 
Dumbledore's Christmas Stockings
Fidget Socks
Adventurous Wrap
Ripples Crafts
The Sunday Sock Ravelry Group

Summer Staycation Day 2

Hello again. So yesterday was the first day of my nearly 2 weeks off work this summer and I decided that I would try to do a short daily post of what I get up to. Of course, it will be very yarn orientated but I may surprise you now and again with photos from around East Lothian.
In the last 24 hours, I have done some crochet on Rings of Change I am aiming for 1 round a day now that they are so long, but mostly I have been knitting.

A couple of weeks ago I kept seeing on the Ravelry forum radar, pictures of the amazing Fading Point  wrap by Joji Locatelli. I decided that I really had to knit it so off to the stash I trotted and pulled out these 5 beauties.

From the left we have

1. Hand painted 100% merino from Chandlers in North Berwick in colour Merlyn
2. Ripples Crafts Suilven, a merino/ silk/ yak yarn in colour Sea Stack
3. Eden Cottage Yarns Titus, merino/silk in colour Hektor
4. Suilven in Bay of Stoer
5. Suilven in Mountains of Assynt.

I will give you a progress photo tomorrow but suffice to say for now I am in love with Joji's patterns and already have my eye on the next one I want to knit.

I leave you today with a wee snapshot of the estate I live in to give an idea of life here in this wee corner of Scotland.

Time for me now to get back to the needles and my latest audiobook, It by Stephen King.

Until tomorrow happy crafting

Mary

Could it be Spring at Last?

Hello and welcome to The Sunday Sock.
After a long an mostly grim winter we are slowly seeing signs of spring finally emerging here in East Lothian and what a welcome sight it is. I am sure you all agree that when it is brighter you feel just that wee bit better inside.

As I have already mentioned East Lothian let me start this week by talking about naming projects. If you are a Ravelry user you will know that for your projects there is a space for naming them. You can always name them after the pattern and that is fine until if like me you sometimes want to knit the pattern again. You may also have noticed that this year there is a challenge tab where you can, if you wish, challenge yourself to complete a set number of projects. Being me I decided to combine the two and chose to complete 45 named projects. Why 45? You may be asking, well I looked on Wikipedia and there are 45 towns and villages listed for my county of East Lothian and I decided to name my projects after them. Going alphabetically I have finished with the E's so am getting there.

Now on to the knitting itself.
I have one new cast on this week and one finished object.
Let us start with the FO

This is the Nougat cowl which is for a friend's daughter's birthday. I have knitted a complete set of cowl, hat, handwarmers and socks for her and will show you the complete set after her birthday.

Now to the new. With the promise of spring an summer just around the corner I wanted something light to wear. I remembered tat when I visited Ripples Crafts dye shed in October I had been smitten by the Virgil sweater and had bought the yarn for it.

This is a beautiful lightweight short sleeved sweater in fingering yarn. It is a paid pattern with about 8 or 9 sizes to choose so there is something for everyone. The yarn I am using is the Burras base from Helen in the colours A Cerise Which Demands Attention (main) and Turquoise Delight and Soft Lilac as contrast. It is knitting up quite quickly although my colourwork sections are slow due to being somewhat of a one handed knitter. I just cannot get to grips with holding yarn in my left hand.

Also still in the basket are

my Burntisland socks with just 39 rounds to go. Blueberry Waffle socks with 5 rounds of rib to complete on first sock and Batik shawl with part 2 complete and ready to start part 3.

Nothing new came in this week for once but I do want to ask your views on something. Have any of you tried the Addi Crasy Trio? Being a sock knitter I feel I ought to try them out but the price is a bit off putting. I would love to know your thoughts either here in the comments or over in the Ravelry group. Speaking of which I will put all the pattern links in a post in the group.

I think that is all for this week and I look forward to chatting with you all again next Sunday.

Happy crafting
Mary

A Wee Walk - Cottyburn

It is another lovely afternoon here in East Lothian so I decided to take the dogs out somewhere new for their afternoon walk. Cottyburn Siding was our destination.

There is a small car park there and a choice of destinations if you want to go for a longer walk ( we went about 3/4 of a mile towards Haddington and then turned back).

Along the way there were signs that spring has sprung.

Bluebells in bloom












and the glorious yellow of Oilseed Rape in the fields.

Here are some baby pine cones.










Also along the way there were various posts with fabulous information about what to look out for as you walk.

The last post shown here even tells a little of the history of the siding itself.

We found a little pond, and had glimpses of the Hopetoun Monument in the distance.

Just before we returned to the carpark Gibbs decided to go and explore the bridge which has been restored to allow the footpath to cross it.

Towards Longniddry

Towards Haddington

It was a great place to go for a walk and I am sure we will be back soon for some more investigation.

Flaming June

Life

I love my job! I really do. I meet some of the nicest people and it is my pleasure to help them make the most of their visit to our wee museum. If you want to come along and see for yourself where I work all the details are here!

I other news this week, hubby had a hospital appointment at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary. We were so lucky in that we quickly found a parking space, he was seen promptly by a lovely Dr who explained why she wanted to do further tests and she organised for most of them to be done there and then. The only one she could not get done was a MRI scan on his brain, that will be organised and an appointment sent out in due course. Of course this has left me worrying, does he even have a brain? And if he does will they find it to scan it? Shush, don't let on I said that. 

Another thing odd this week was the weather. It has been glorious, warm sunny days followed for the most part by warm muggy nights. Now seeing that big shiny yellow thing in the sky is a most welcome sight, but it is tempered slightly by the high humidity we suffer. It must seem strange to some that we go nuts in this country when the temperature climbs to over 16 Degrees Celsius but with the addition of the humidity that spells hot to our pasty selves. Also this year we seem to have gone straight from Winter to Summer. Spring forgot to turn up at all. 

New to the home this week is that instead of having the TV on we have been enjoying books of an evening. A while ago I downloaded Audible for my laptop and took a 1 book a month subscription. This past few days Bill and I have been rediscovering our mutual enjoyment of the Skinner books by Quintin Jardine. These crime novels are set for the most part in and around Edinburgh and East Lothian and we both find them most enjoyable. It is lovely in the evening for both of us to just sit and relax whilst listening to the story unfold. 

Knitting

The needles have been cracking on apace this week and my Camp Loopy project No1 is complete. I just have to bath and block it. Now it is a modified version as for some reason I ran out of yarn with a fair few rows to go but I like how it turned out. No finished photos yet so you will have to make do with an in progress

The yarn I used is one of the softest I have ever worked with and I loved it. It was Skein Top Draw Sock in the Sunspots colour.

My other KAL of the socks is not moving quite so quickly but I do hope to have a progress report next week.

The only other thing I have to share is that a new resident has come to stay.

Little Loopy arrived along with a lovely skein of Lorna's-Laces Shepherd Sock in Iris Garden and my Loopy reward for reaching Cotton Club.

Knitting calls

Stay safe and happy crafting

Mary

Cruise Ships at Cockenzie!!

Upon perusing the local weekly paper I happened upon this story Cruise Ship Vision for Cockenzie . My immediate thought was, nah it'll never happen, but reading through the story my attitude began to change. I began to be excited by the idea.

A Little Background.

My dear husband and I have been on a number of cruises in our 10 years together. For most of these wonderful holidays we have driven the long and sometimes frightening road to Southampton. We arrive at the port exhausted, feeling dirty and really not up to enjoying the first day of our holiday. Now do not get me wrong the transition through the port is totally trauma free, (unlike some airports I could mention), but it is still a long, long way to go. It can take anywhere between 9 and 12 hours to do the drive, and of course you have the same when you return. Yes you may say we could fly, but see above, (DH has metal pins in his back) or we could take the train but as those of you who know us know DH lives in severe pain and driving is truly the best option as we can stop whenever and he can move about freely and for as long as he needs. 

As DH'S health has deteriorated we have all but given up on ever doing another cruise as the drive we would now deem impossible, so having a cruise terminal almost literally at the foot of our street would once again mean we could save and dream.

The Site

The site they are proposing this development on is currently a coal fired power station with a rail link from the main East Coast Line leading directly in to it. It is less than 5 minutes from the main Edinburgh - London A1 road and is about 30 mins from Edinburgh Airport.

The power station is due to close in March of next year and there is planning to replace it with a gas fired one. The power station has been here all my life as far as I know, so is lets just say over 40 years, and is  now only used as a backup facility and manned by a limited staff. The same would be true for a new one, which as the article says is becoming more remote than ever due to the current economic climate.

As far as I can see this site would be ideal for a development such as a cruise terminal. Just think of the jobs it would bring to the area, the tourists, the kudos to East Lothian of being a port of call. 

East Lothian is a gem of a county, it has scenery, what would at times seem a climate all of it's own and history in spades. What a boost this would be to the county. Yes people would still go on trips into Edinburgh etc, but some would also want to explore what it is East Lothian has to offer, and we do have some wonderful golf courses, beaches, museums, castles, market towns, need I go on? 

My Final Thoughts

Would this be a good thing for the site? Yes.

Would it be good for the county? Yes

Do I want it on my doorstep? Yes 

Do I mind increased traffic and all the people who would come along with the project? No

Do I want to see this area reborn and vibrant? Hell Yes

Scotland has no dedicated Cruise Terminal, we use freight docks or tender passengers from ship to small jetty, don't we as a people want a more positive welcoming picture of our country from the people who have chosen their cruise to include a visit to our wonderful country?

I sure as hell do.

So in conclusion I say Cruise Ships at Cockenzie, BRING IT ON!!

These are my personal views.