Orchids & Fairy Lights Hat

...aka my lovely new autumn hat.

The pattern is Orchids & Fairy Lights by Tiny Owl Knits, and the wool is Malabrigo Worsted. Super soft and lovely to work with. On a recent trip to London (the night before which I was frantically finishing the hat in order to wear it that week) I visited the beautiful shop Loop in Islington, where I picked up a couple more skeins of this wool in other beautiful colours. I'm reluctantly going to knit them up into Christmas gifts...

My head is currently whirling with projects I want to cast on, becoming more and more confused with the different wools, the different patterns and whether they will match up. Tonight I plan to lay it all out and make a plan. Using Ravelry is a good way to keep it organised, so i guess i'd better line them up in the project queue rather than continuously adding new patterns to the library.

Is anyone else planning on knitting some gifts for Christmas?

Did sea define the land or land the sea?

The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,
Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas

To posess Aran. Or did Aran rush
to throw wide arms of rock around a tide
That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash?

Did sea define the land or land the sea?
Each drew new meaning from the waves' collision.
Sea broke on land to full identity. 

Lovers on Aran

Seamus Heaney

Downhill Demesne & Mussenden Temple
21st September 2013

field notes

I have inadvertently amassed myself a collection of Field Notes. I didn't mean to, but every time the email comes through with the next limited edition, I can't help it.

They are a perfect little notebook. Small, slim, lightweight, graph-lined with a handy section at the front for noting your name and pertinent co-ordinates, should it be misplaced.

They are arriving in my postbox, being admired and then stowed away and saved for a future use. But I have no idea what that future use is. 

So time to start taking them out into the field. Having been inspired by reading Elizabeth Spiers' On Keeping a Notebook in the Digital Age, I resolve to keep one on my person and note down ideas for knitting projects, recipes, travels, decor and anything else that catches my eye. Notes on my iphone isn't going to cut it any more.

holiday on film, part four

Formentor beach. We took a boat round to this hidden spot, sought shelter in a cafe (of sorts) from a rain shower, and then swam in the clear water. 

holiday on film, part three

Some days were just spent at the villa - swimming, reading, eating, snoozing and drinking.

Which is sometimes what holidays are all about.

holiday on film, part two

This film turned out beautifully - it truly shows the warmth of the colours that we saw every day.  I think it was a lomo 100. 

Every single time I get another film developed from this camera, I fall in love with it more and more. The depth of field and clarity of the images are perfect. I'm so glad I left the digital slr at home and "relied" on the film one. 

1. entrance to our villa  

2. beautiful blue shutters that match the sky  

3. elderflower cocktails  

4. an evening paddle  

5. more delicious cocktails  

6. looking out to the table where we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in the heat  

7 - 12. lunch and taking in old town pollenca