On Sunday afternoon, the husband and I left for a couple of nights away in Ayr, Scotland and Lancaster, Northern England, and I thought I would document whatever I could find that was knitting related.
Ayr is on the west coast of Scotland, and indeed there was some knitting history locally - on our drive from Dumfries to Ayr I was thrilled to find us passing through the small town of:
Yes, Sanquhar, home of fine knitted gloves and stockings, using its own sets of two colour fair isle, or stranded knitting, patterns. A pair of Sanquhar gloves has been in my Ravelry queue for quite some time now, inspired by Susan's attempts over at Damn, Knit and Blast It. We did not have time to make much of a stop in Sanquhar, but I did keep my eyes peeled for any reference to its knitting past - and sadly, saw none.
Our next stop was the beautiful seaside town of Ayr:
Almost hidden in the clouds in this shot is the Isle of Arran (but not the ones famed for Aran knits - they lie off the west coast of Ireland). This shot taken during our bracing morning walk on the beach - the "lang scots mile" of Burns fame. I was spoilt for choice when we turned back into the town of Ayr, as there are two yarn shops there - in the UK I am usually lucky if I find one! My favourite was:
The Sewing and Yarn Basket, Ayr, stocked a good range of yarn, although sadly nothing local/handspun, which I had been hoping for. Still I made a little purchase and stroked their range of Rowan and continental yarns. I popped my head into the other yarn shop, but it was designed for function rather than beauty and stocked a good range of baby and acrylic yarns, which I had no need of this time around,but there is certainly a place for these kinds of yarns too.
As I have been trying to do, I wore a handknit throughout this trip - this time the Perfect Periwinkle turtle necked top, an old knit from Steph Japel's Fitted Knits (again! - it's a great book):
I did this in Noro Aurora, which is a silk/merino blend with a sparkle through it. I wasn't sure if it would work, but funnily enough it does, as I usually enjoy wearing it and did this time. It is sleeveless, so during the day I dressed it down with a long line cardi, jeans and urban trainers and at night wore it without the cardi. The yarn blend is lovely, and the sleeveless style enables layering.
A walk in nearby woods followed our morning in Ayr, and there we saw the first signs of spring:
Snowdrops! And by the time we drove home today, I saw the first spring lambs in the fields of Cumbria and North Yorkshire. The woods were in the grounds of a historic house (Rozelle House), and when we popped in to the gallery/museum the house now is I came across this:
This handknit was knitted for a soldier in the local forces, and he wore it throughout World War 1, in the trenches. I love the design and colours, and would love to do a replica - another one for the queue!
Our next stop after Ayr was the historic town of Lancaster, where there was no yarn shop that I could find, but this rather lovely display in the window of the local Waterstones, of all places (clearly trying to push their craft books!):
There was clearly a local knitter around here somewhere! But I didn't find any other evidence, although the town was beautiful and interesting, and well worth a visit.
Back home now, and working on the husband's vintage-inspired sweater, armed with lots of inspiration for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment