Island Wife by Judy Fairbairns

Island Wife: Living on the Edge of the Wild. Judy Fairbairns by Judy Fairbairns
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

However many pages of self pitying tripe that didn't really illustrate the normal day to day life of living, working and bringing up a family on an Island. I wanted to read this book as I grew up on an Island as well as working and raising a family there and wanted to see what this authors take on it was. But I found her description of life on the mainland developing their farm far more interesting and should have stopped after those chapters. All she managed to do was show herself to be a weak willed woman who wouldn't stand up for herself or her child(ren)and her husband to be a boorish man who didn't take a blind bit of notice in her. Not pleasant reading at all.

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New Earth by Ben Bova

New Earth by Ben Bova
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this classic sci fi where the science isn't so far fetched it overshadows the political and emotional issues. The narration of the audiobook was excellent and I would buy another of this authors titles.

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The Returned by Jason Mott

The Returned by Jason Mott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although I initially requested this advance copy due to enjoying the (entirely different but named the same) TV series I was pleasantly surprised by the difference. With the same general idea of the dead returning it was a much more thought provoking and emotionally charged tale. Excellent writing and characters really made me keep reading and I would recommend to any fantasy fans who like a touch of the real life thrown in for good measure.

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Episode 27: With Edinburgh Recap

Episode 27 of The Charminglochie Podcast

Unfortunately the Edinburgh Yarn Festival videos wouldn't join with the podcast episode so I've put them underneath the episode here.

Loving What You Do

A big theme of many podcasts in 2013 is that their presenters have stated 'in 2013 I will not make resolutions, but will knit what I want, when I want'.  An applaud-able attitude to have and one which I personally really wanted to adopt.  However, over the last couple of weeks I realise I haven't been following this.

It started off with a commission.  Now as all knitters know, we never get paid enough for a commission.  But we don't resent it. We often just accept that we will recoup the cost of our materials plus a little extra for our time when we would have been knitting anyway (well, at least that's how I work it for friends!).  And often we only accept knitting commissions for products we like to knit anyway.  However, with a knitting commission you can't choose WHEN you want to knit said item and so it was with my Merida commission.

I love the Topsy Turvey doll pattern from Jean Greenhowe and think it's wonderfully written and always turns out well (a testament to the pattern designer as opposed the knitter methinks!!).  So when I was asked to knit one in the style of Merida from Brave I was more than happy.  Especially as I had previously made one in the style of Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) for this same friend which I loved knitting up and was delighted with the finished the object (see Ravelry page for details).  I was also very proud of the fact that the little recipient had also loved the doll, even taking her all the way to DisneyWorld to meet the real life princess.

With the Merida doll one side of her was to be with her in her darker dress and one side with her lighter one.  Unfortunately my heart left the project after the first body piece and didn't return although I still had the other body, four arms and two gigantic skirt pieces to knit.  I finally finished after a month of what felt like slog, sickness and general apathy towards the project:

Merida Light Dress

Merida Dark Dress

I really hope the little girl this was made for loves the doll as much as the last one I did for her but I don't think in all conscience I can take payment for this work.  It took far longer than was originally quoted and I don't feel it was my best work.

And therein lies the moral of the tale.  I should have stuck to all the other podcasters 2013 resolutions and only knit what I wanted to this year.  That way the projects will be loved and have those good vibes knitted in to them as opposed to feel like a slog and turn my well loved hobby into a chore.

As a knitter I don't seem to be able to cope with targets and deadlines.  As soon as i put one on a project I just want to dig my heels in and say 'not gonna happen'.  So for this years gift knitting there are no deadlines!! I will knit things that take my fancy and if I don't want them for myself I will place them lovingly in the gift drawer until an appropriately worthy recipients event arises and then present them.

And from now on I will follow the other podcasters mantra and only knit what I want, when I want :)  Right, I'm off to find the gorgeous alpaca yarn and pattern for the scarf I purchased from the lovely Alpaca Loft at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival.  Well, with all this snow I need something gorgeous for my neck!

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2013

Well it's Monday morning after the fantastic weekend at Edinburgh Yarn Festival down in Leith.  Myself and Cairngorm Bags had a fantastic time and it was so lovely to meet so many amazing people.  We headed down the A9 to Edinburgh after school had finished and made good time arriving about half five.

I headed straight out to Vittoria's on Leith Walk for a marvellous dinner with the three organisers, Sigi, Kerry from Knitting For All, Louise from Woolfish, Emily of Tin Can Knits, and two other lovely ladies who I can't remember the names of.  Please forgive me girls but I was a tad overwhelmed and startstuck by this point!!

Headed back to the hotel nice and early to get a good nights sleep but of course that didn't happen as I was full of nerves and was up at 6.30am and ready to go at 7.15am.  The organisation and volunteers were fantastic when we got to the drill hall and we were soon in full flow setting up:

Seeing as we were ready to go at about half past eight and I was starving, I headed off to hunt down some food and take a look at what else was going on.  It was a great chance to get some photos of the other stalls so here they are :):

Those at the front of the Drill Hall setting up.

Knitting For All Stand, who I will hopefully be working with shortly!

The fabulous banner.

Ysolda Teagues Stand

Ysolda Teague and Friend

Alpaca Loft stall.  This stuff was gorgeous and I really wanted a pair of slippers but Mum pointed out Stanley would 'kill' them :(

Susan Crawford's stand.  This was full of so much beautiful knitting!!

The Skein Queen stand.  I didn't manage to acquire any this time but it was gorgeous stuff.

The queue inside at 10am.  Apparently it stretched right the way round the corner outside which was fantastic for us stallholders to hear.

The crowds and some knitted bunting.

Visitors relaxing in the cafe.

The lovely Louise of Caithness Craft Collective Podcast looking thoughtful.  We all met up for a podcaster meet up organised by Louise who was a pleasure to meet in 'person'.  Felt like i'd known her all my life!!

I have to admit we did start to flag about 3pm through lack of coffee and sugar so I hunted down a chocolate brownie and the world was good again.  At 5pm it was time to pack up and after having such a lovely day and meeting so many wonderful folk we didn't really want to leave!!

But this was a great experience and has taught me many things:

• always take chocolate
• and coffee
• lots of it!!
• wear lots of wool layers (we were warned how cold it would be but I didn't pay attention and was freezing!!)
• craftspersons are the most lovely, warm, funny, friendly and pleasant people in the world!!
• & finally it cemented in my mind that I am definitely going to work in this  industry from now on as it's where my heart and passion fully exists.

I can't wait till next years events and both myself and Cairngorm Bags want to say a massive thank you to the organisers for their tireless hard work and their great planning.  Not only leading up to the day but on the day they were constantly checking the stallholders were okay and had everything they needed and we couldn't have got very far without the help of the wonderful volunteers and their trolleys also :o)

See you all there next year?  I'll be the one hunting down the chocolate brownie again :o)

Episode 26