Celtic Cable

Celtic Cable

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Monday, July 22, 2013

Scotland!

I spent the last week in Scotland with two friends ...

Melrose Piper's Competition

Abbotsford, home of Sir Walter Scott

Self-Explanatory

Baa-aaa

Why is the steering wheel over here...? Is it even possible to shift left-handed?
 Partway up to Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Melrose Abbey
Hadrian's Wall

The only knitting I did was at the airport en route and in the plane coming back. I had a great time! We went just to see castles and abbeys and ruins and such, so there were no knitting-related activities, except for this: 

Working mill near Edinburgh Castle
Black thread for .... 
...threading onto the giant wheel. 

I couldn't take a lot of pictures of the mill, because it's a working mill and they don't want the workers distracted. This guy is winding colored threads onto a giant wheel, in preparation for making a tartan. Each tartan is different and has its own pattern; this one has a lot of black in it, so he is threading a lot of black onto the wheel. I wasn't there long enough to see the next color. But I understand the idea is that he'll thread the colors onto the wheel in the order of the weaving. I should have taken more pictures around the mill, I only have these three. 

I had no idea there was such history behind the tartans. There were dozens of gift shops with tartan-patterned purses and such. I bought one wool wrap in a lovely purple plaid ... It's still upstairs and I'm lazy, so I'll show it off next week. 

Back to the knitting! I'm still working on the skirt I have such high hopes for. 

Cheers from the HMS Britannia crew mess!

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis,who is unfortunately suffering from a bad wisdom tooth, to see what everyone else is up to! 

10 comments:

  1. First of all, YOU LOOK FABULOUS!

    Beautiful photos! One day I hope to visit Scotland. For now, I will where my family's colors at the local Scottish festival.

    Thank you for sharing.

    I am in LOVE with that loom!

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  2. It looks like you had a wonderful trip! I loved visiting Scotland! It's truly a gem of a country.

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  3. Wish we had run into each other over there! Hope you had an excellent trip.

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  4. Oh, Beth! what a fabulous trip!!

    my only trip to Scotland took me to Shetland....where i sort of fell in love with everything there!!! must go back someday!!! (right now the bags are packed for Kenya....doubt i'm going to find much knitting going on there!!!)

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  5. Oh I am so jealous! My gift to myself for finishing Grad School in 2015 is a trip to the British Isles. I have quite a bit of Scotch heritage and would love to see it all :).

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  6. What a lovely vacation, and the best excuse ever...for not having time to knit. I bet you got plenty done on the trip there and back. The cable looks wonderful. And I am in love with the Orange lace on your header photo. Thanks for stopping in and visiting me...I like to peek in at everyone on Wednesdays and Fridays as well.

    With All That I Am
    Carrie - The Handmade Homemaker

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  7. How exciting, that lovely trip. Thanks for sharing all your photo's. I lived in Abbotsford , WI as a child. I wonder if that town is named after Sir Walter Scott's home?

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  8. I've always been very fond of all kind of fabric or yarn related industry. It's very interesting to visit a factory.

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  9. Oh my gosh... so much envy over here.... I would have loved the mill tour. You would have been like, "come on Kathryn, we're going to go get some whiskey." I would have been like "whatever." lol. ;-)

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