This is still in rough-draft stage, but you’ll get the idea of where I’m going with it. This is my idea for a boot cuff (boot topper) inspired by the cuff of a pair of Swedish gloves. While the gloves used stranded colorwork designs, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to include another craft with my knitting — inkle weaving. This very narrow band (barely 1/2″) reminds me very much of Sami designs because of the very bright colors. Also, this cuff serves the same function as the Sami bands — keeping the lower edge of your pants tucked into your boots and well closed to prevent the snow from getting in.
Here (left photo) is another example of the bands in use. They also are found on the lower part of her sleeves.
More from Scotland
On the Thursday of our May trip we headed north from Inverness into the area of Scotland that is also the northernmost part of the UK (well, except the islands, of course). The road passed along Loch Broom through Ullapool (one of the larger villages in that area; population around 1500), before heading inland and further north. This was the only day of the trip where we got rain, but it was over pretty quickly and later brightened up a bit.
Our destination was Middleton Croft, where Australian Helen O’Keefe has settled. Helen is a bundle of energy and ambition, managing the croft, the local tea shop, and a mixed-breed herd of very interesting sheep. During the Covid shut-down, she began a business with one of her neighbors called the Green Bowl to market local produce. Her long-term goals are to make crofting more profitable, by not relying on a single income stream.
Helen started her herd with Soay sheep. These very small but hardy sheep from the St. Kilda archipelago (outer Hebrides) are one of the primitive breeds that roo or shed their wool in the spring. Her initial herd was purchased from a person who was leaving crofting, and the sheep hadn’t been bred for two years. In her first lambing season, Helen’s sheep suffered the loss of nearly all of their lambs. She talked of standing at the window and seeing the ewes with their new lambs, and looking back a few moments later and seeing the lambs laying in the field; dead. It was crushing, but she didn’t give up.
Helen’s sheep now are mainly Shetlands, some Soay, and a single Beltex (for breeding for good meat sheep). Diversification of her flock was a good business decision, giving her high quality dual purpose (meat + wool) sheep. She has had a significant amount of wool spun for yarn, but hasn’t yet had enough time to decide how to do marketing. I brought some home, and will do a test knit one day soon.
From Helen’s croft, we walked across the road, over the hill and down into a small valley to meet Hilda (above left). She doesn’t have sheep of her own (just one very elderly goat), but is the neighborhood lamb daycare center for those wee ones who were abandoned or rejected by their mothers, or whose mothers simply can’t make enough milk. We arrived just in time for feeding, and it was amazing to have all of these little lambs (at least a dozen) bouncing around us (and all over us when we sat down).
Hilda grew up in Austria, but after a trip to Scotland, fell in love with the countryside and moved there as soon as she was able. She also runs a B&B and spins in any free time. Hilda washes her fleece, but does no further processing, preferring to spin directly from the locks to produce a nice mid-weight yarn.
We spent all of our time with her in the barn, feeding and playing with lambs, who when full of the milk we brought, were completely content to stay on our laps for ear scratches and cuddling. We almost couldn’t bear to leave, but having another croft to visit that day, reluctantly got back on the road.
I should note here that I haven’t mentioned the driving part. Let’s just say that Bruce did a heroic job of driving on the left on some of the narrowest roads we’ve ever seen. True to the stereotype of the thrifty Scott, roads are only wide enough to serve their purpose. So major roads might have two lanes in each direction, but secondary roads only appear to have 2 lanes, and you have to be constantly alert. Tertiary roads are a scant cars’s-width, with periodic turnouts to pull into when you meet a car coming the other way. On those roads there is frequent backing up to get out of the other person’s way. You’ve never seen such a happy person as when Bruce returned our rental car!
Meanwhile….
I’ve gotten a little behind on my Tour de Fleece spinning (according to the schedule I set). My goal was a spindle a day (around 1 oz. fiber) which sounded about right in the abstract. There was 1 non-spinning day (when the bikes are transported from one part of the route to another). That day I transferred what I had spun to storage bobbins. This upcoming Sunday is a challenge day, and I’m hoping to be caught up by then with 9 full spindles. I’m leaving the last 5 days (20th-24th) for plying, washing, and drying. The goal is to have my 6 completed skeins for the close-out meet-up at Heather’s farm. Stay tuned!
Looking forward to having you back! I’ll have Racka wool carded for you by then. 🙂