Wool Tribe and Edinburgh Bound. . .

The excitement is building for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival - only two more sleeps!  On Friday I received Wool Tribe, the companion booklet produced by the organizers.  You can still order a copy here.  It's a lovely publication with six patterns, four lovely walking tours of neighbourhoods in the city centered around craft, coffee and cake, a sheep spotter guide and a list of woolly places to visit in other parts of Scotland. I absolutely fell in love with the Inglis Mitts on the front cover, designed by Ysolda Teague.

They are the perfect train knitting project, but I couldn't wait and cast on immediately.  I've now finished the left mitt.  I've used the new Tamar DK yarn from Blacker in this gorgeous purpley-grey colour called Valancy.  It's so, so soft and I love those cables. 

I also really like the Burnet Hat designed by Karie Westermann and based on Victorian tiles in Glasgow. 

And Lucy Hague contributes another of her gorgeous cabled shawls.  This one is called Dunedin.

Last year, after EYF, I knit Hague's Nine Maidens shawl but stupidly used the wrong needle size and it came out far too small.  But I think I'll take these two yarns which go together so well, and re-use them for a Dunedin. 

Tonight I'm going to start packing and getting all the supplies I need for my workshops.  One of the ones I'm looking forward to is freeform crochet with Carol Meldrum.  It's been a while since I've done any crochet, so I pulled out a hook and some Rowan Summerspun wool/cotton yarn I'd had in stash and just started doing trebles to get my hands in the rhythm again.  I don't really know what this will become - maybe a basket, maybe a project bag - but it'll be something easy to work on at Knit Night and on the train.

I'm especially feeling light-hearted and happy because I've finally finished the first module of my course and I sent it off this morning to be assessed.  Whew, it was a lot of work,  but I've learned tons and am eager to see what comes next.  The first module involved a lot of swatching - for various different cast-ons and offs, selvedges, hems, edgings and tension squares. It is certainly helping me to justify my stash!

But with that off my shoulders, I can head off to Edinburgh with my conscience clear and no impending deadlines on the horizon.  Bring on the fun.  And the wool!