I blinked

Well January went by so fast I am not sure I didn't imagine it. We had a jolly old knees up for Burns' night with home made haggis supper (beer battered haggis and chips) washed down with some locally made ale by the Speyside brewery (Dark Sky sold to us by the brewery owner, Seb) http://speysidecraftbrewery.com/ followed by a wee dram from the local Glen Moray distillery. Very nice evening although we didn't address the haggis as is traditional as we were too keen to eat!

haggis supper

Kung hei fat choi!

The following weekend we had a Chinese feast celebrate Chinese New Year but with all of these well known festivals there are two local fire festivals which are well known up here but not so much further afield. Firstly there is the Burning of the Clavie in Burghead which we attended last year. Hundreds of people turn out to watch a group of (possibly crazy) men in wide brimmed leather hats as they cover a wooden barrel with a long iron nail (the clavie) in tar before setting light to it and carry it through the town visiting each well known establishment on the way around. The idea is that each place gets a bit of the burnt barrel to bring them good luck in the year to come. At the end of the tour they settle in a central location and continue to cover the burning barel in tar. Waves of flame whoosh upwards and light up the sky and the faces surrounding the group of men. There is some derring do as the men dash forward, courting severe burning injury, to grab sections of the barrel. At the end the clavie (the iron nail) is removed and kept to be used the following year. Putting it all down here is certainly sounds daft but being there in the cold and the dark with hundreds of other people who are mostly silently watching until the flames blast upwards and the cheers fill the seaside village is an unforgettable experience. I didn't feel like an outsider looking in. It was an all inclusive experience as we all watched the men in leather hats, held our breath as they narrowly missed the flames which shot outwards and pushed the ring of onlookers outwards slightly.

Another local fire festival is Up Helly Aa held on Shetland, one of the Northern most islands in the cluster of Islands off the coast of Scotland; closer to Oslo that Edinburgh. I get some of my wool from there and it is lovely knit with. The festival is said to be amazing although I have not, as yet, witnessed it. Here is a link to the information http://www.shetland.org/things/events/culture-heritage/up-helly-aa/

my wool from Shetland

I know I said I blinked but lots of things have been happening. Over the next two months we have two sets of visitors coming up so plans have been made (exciting!) and I have been spinning more and more. As yet my wheen is still being run in so my spinning has been on the drop spindle including, would believe it, dog hair. A friend in the nearest town is a dog groomer and gave me the fur of a samoyed (woolfy type of giant dog) and it has spun really quite nicely. It is hanging up on the up-and-over above Mrs Jones drying off with a weight.

spinning the Samoyed hair

Mini skeins of home spun yarn

This afternoon I shall be off to the woods for a walk with the munchkins and JR and in between a mini scavenger hunt I may day dream about what to knit with it...

Hugs from Haggis Land,

Jx

Slainté