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Monday 6 October 2014

Doune again

Hey!  Sorry I have been MIA yet again!  My sister is prodding me.  She's fed up logging in to the same page all the time, so time to do something about it.  Things just fill up my days.....

OK, let's see what I can write about today.  I have lots of photos of things that have been happening, and probably the best thing is my recent visit back to Doune  in Knoydart for the annual lacemaking week!  Yes, that time again!

0005 Gripper.and.GavinWe gathered once again at Mallaig one Saturday afternoon in September; were met  by Gavin, the boatman, and taken over Loch Nevis,in the boat Gripper II and round the coast of Knoydart to a very misty and dark looking Doune.

Always good to be back again, and almost immediately cares and worries seem to melt away, and it’s all peace and tranquility for a whole week.  P512 the lodgeWe all got settled in our respective accommodation: some of us in the wooden lodge in its own little bay round the headland a little, doune stone lodgesand others in the stone lodge rooms right next to the dining room where we, obviously, have our meals, and also make our lace.  P1090768We had time to relax in the lodge sitting room before dinner, and just enjoy being back.  As always, dinner was wonderful and we were to find ourselves being used as guinea pigs for some new recipes!  P1090673Everything that is cooked in the Doune kitchen is so good, that there are never any worries about things not working out!  It was dark by the time we headed back along the path to bed but we are all used to that and are kitted out with torches, as it isn’t just dark, it is  black dark!  The only lights are little pin pricks from the scattered houses P538 Sabhal Morand the Gaelic college across the water on the south end of the Isle of Skye.  Little did I know that three of my friends had individually booked into the college on Gaelic courses!

Next morning we were all ready to start lacemaking.   Out came the pillows, the solid type of cushion things that the lace is made on, the bobbins, threads and pins, and we were off!  Here are some of the lovely things being worked on this year.P397 Joan's lace

P398 Sheila's Lace

 

 

P1090741

Joan and Sheila work on beautifully fine Continental lace – I think this is of the type called Binche (French pronunciation where the IN is a bit of a combination of IN and UN with a nasal N!).  Margaret was working a piece of English lace called Buckinghamshire Point lace (Bucks, for short) and norma's bookmarkNorma was finishing off a bookmark norma's leafbefore starting on a piece of free(hand) lace in the form of a leaf.  I spent a bit of time contemplating how to work a piece of lace I had found in a picture.  I’ll show you a bit of the picture detail but can’t show you the whole thing as it is going to be a present – a surprise one!  That’s it below!P1090842

 

P1090664Liz, our lovely hostess, was working on a Honiton flower and finished it off this week.  Here it is before she took all the pins out and took it off her pillow.

P1013228Morag was sewing – beautiful panels of pre-printed (by herself) cotton.  This one was inspired by The Book of Nothing that her husband Michael was reading, and here’s another printed sheet below!P1090425

P401 Felted for Marge by MoragP403 Morag's fuchsiasShe made the felted spectacle case, (above) beforehand to give to Marge, via Margaret, and also brought the beautiful fuchsias to show us.

P1013188Lisbet was our “artist in residence” for the week, quite often to be found sitting sketching – us or the outdoors!  She drew a few with me in them so I’ll be vain and show them off!P1090505

We had a lovely American family there for the first half of the week and one day I gave the Mom, Ellie, a lesson in lacemaking, not realising that Liz was quietly sketching us.  Here’s the finished picture!

P499jelly fishThe family were lovely, and the two little boys very well behaved, but just like all little boys ready for some fun, down among the rocks looking for sea anemones, shells, crabs, and jelly fish!  One day Morag and I walked up the hill to the only section of road in Knoydart and were in time to take a ride down to Inverie with Gavin in the Doune minibus where he was collecting the family. P476 view up loch nevis We enjoyed the beautiful views along the routeP479 view to Inverie and had a quick glimpse of Inverie village before everyone piled into the bus for the return journey.P480 Inverie 

 

 

P468 doon here At the top of the track back down to Doune is a sign -  a play on words.  Doune is pronounced Doon, which is also the Scots word for Down, so you have Down here to Doune!

P1090486The boys were off down the path through the grass and hummocks of heather like the proverbial shot from a gun, and were happily playing in among the stones on the beach when we got back!  P1090638It was a shame we had to say goodbye to them on Tuesday.

I’ll stop just now and write some more next time.  You shouldn’t have to wait too long for that!

P1090648

3 comments:

Peggy Ann said...

What a wonderful week. Makes me think back when my two boys were wee. Wish I could spend a whole year in Scotland and go on this week with you sometime!

Katrina said...

I know what you mean about having so many things to do, I'm trying to catch up with everything.
I'm so impressed with all the artistic things which went on during your lace week. I hadn't realised that embroidery featured too. Great photos.

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

You'd be so welcome Peggy! I'm sure you would love Doune!