Postcards from Edinburgh

Edinburgh Yarn Festival



 

Just wanted to share few photos from yesterday's Edinburgh Yarn Festival.

 

 

It was fantastic. There were so many knitters and spinners and crocheters. So many yarn to drool over and knits to admire. I met lovely Ysolda and Dani and other talented people. There also were few stalls with buttons and I was happy to find TextileGarden among them. It's my favourite online button shop and it was so nice to speak to the owner in person.

 



I think I got dizzy from all those colours and shapes...

 

 



The amount of yarn on display was quite overwhelming and I found it pretty difficult to choose yarn that I really wanted to buy. After hours of browsing I finally settled on three delicious skeins from YarnPony. Very squishy 100% merino wool, hand-dyed here in Edinburgh. I'm really happy with my purchase and with the fact that I didn't buy anything else. I'm trying hard to control myself when it comes to shopping for new yarn and I think I'm slowly growing out of spontaneous buys.

 





The colour is very difficult to photograph. It's much darker in real life, a deep dark cherry red. I don't know yet what I will knit with it but I'm considering this lovely pullover.

Happy knitting!

Snow!

We've finally had some snow here in Edinburgh. Not very much but enough to have some winter fun in the park. Me and G. went for a walk after breakfast; she was so excited about snow. The last time she had a chance to see it was over two years ago but she was too small to enjoy it. Today we run, laughing and we threw snowballs at each other and she was so happy. The park was filled with children and their parents, everyone sliding down the hills on their sledges, building snowmen and having snowball fights. It all reminded me of my childhood.

Now, when I'm writing these words, there's hardly any snow left but maybe tonight it will snow again. Winter without snow is definitely no fun.

Happy weekend!

Last weekend...

...we visited Museum of Childhood. It's a great place to take your kids to but I must admit that the collection of dolls is a bit overwhelming. All dolls are gathered in large groups and displayed behind the glass: so beautiful in their dresses, so original, so very different from today's dolls but at the same time I found them a bit... creepy? Their faces... disturbing. None of them smile.

And this doll was the one I admired the longest. The power of imagination. It belonged to a poor child in the beginning of 20th century and was made from a shoe. It kind of makes you wonder. How little children had in the past and how much they have now and sometimes they still want more.

We also went to see the Christmas market that is now open in the city centre. Edinburgh is getting ready for the festive season and it does look magical.

And we are getting ready for Christmas too. I stared making some decorations, the first batch of gingerbread cookies is done and first presents have been bought. I feel like this year I'm well organized, first time in years. Maybe because Little G. is big enough to help me (she cut all forty cookies for me, all by herself). So much fun!

Happy December Everyone!

Edinburgh: random images.

(to be continued...)

Sea treasures.

When I woke up this morning, I opened the window as wide as possible and took a deep breath of fresh air. I could feel the sea... And to the seaside we went, G. and me, following the breeze and sound of seagulls.

I've never seen a beach as wide as this one. G. started running towards the water immediately. She was so excited! The beach was covered with medusas (medusae?) and other little sea creatures. We took a long walk, picking up seashells. There was plenty of them, half buried in wet sand. It reminded me of my childhood holidays at the Baltic seaside when I collected seashells with my sister. G. was overjoyed. We've collected quite a lot and next time we will definitely take a bucket and pick up some more. They will make a great decorative detail in our bathroom. I also have an idea how to use them on a rainy afternoon to keep my little girl busy. 

We had such a joyful morning. When I looked at G. happily running on the beach, picking up pebbles and seashells I understood what is so great about having children. They let us re-live happy moments of our own childhood. Something I thought was gone forever. 

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Ps Thank you all for your nice comments on my previous post. Your kind words always make me happy :)

Have a great weekend!

Corner View: M is for...

...moving...

...from one capital....

...to another.

We are still in the process of settling down, unpacking boxes, finding ourselves in a completely new place, dealing with post-moving mess (three boxes with some books, DVDs and external hard drive were lost by the moving company and there's no hope they will ever be found...). 

We're loving it here. Everything is so different, new to us and exciting and the only downside so far is the weather: so cold, rainy and windy. Unpredictable and capricious. It feels like it's already autumn here. But the city is beautiful and there is so much to explore out there. 

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