Day 4 - September 2, 2011

Heriot Watt University, Galashiels, Scotland

This morning we went to Heriot Watt University’s School of Textiles and Design to participate in two workshops. We were split into two groups with 12 in each group.

In the morning, Janet Renouf-Miller taught us how card wool, make rolags and spin on a top whorl spindle.She had several of her knitted/dyed pieces on display.

This shrug was knitted mostly with handspun and hand dyed yarns. Different thicknesses of yarn were used including: bamboo, wool, alpaca, silk and camel.This cabled sweater was first knit with natural yarn then hand painted.I was able to spin and ply about 13 yd of the Texel fibre I was given. I learned the technique to use my hand like a little niddy noddy in order to create 2-ply yarn with the spindle.
I didn't crop this group photo of our morning group to give you an idea of the size of the classrooms at the School of Textiles.
We then went on a quick tour of the facility.

This is a huge ink jet printer through which entire bolts of cloth are run. The tartan samples on the wall may look woven but, in fact, they were printed on the Textile Jet.
This shop had 40 looms in it.
Here is the yarn cupboard. Beautifully organized in rainbow order.
This was a machine knitting lab. The woman working on the back left was fascinated that we were a touring group of knitters from North America. She wanted to do a demo for us but we were really short on time.
This Shima Seiki machine from Japan is the 'Rolls Royce' of knitting machines.This sampler lace scarf was on the swatch pile to the left of the machine.
Here are some closeups of the scarf.
In this lab, various techniques are used to paint onto fabric (silk screening, photo imaging, etc.) or to remove colour from fabric (chemical processes).After lunch, we went to the dyeing lab. We were able to select a colour from this colour card that had been created from varying amounts of red, blue and yellow dyes.Here is the recipe chart for each colour:
We then went to one of the stations set up for us where we mixed the dyes in the correct amounts along with vinegar and a mordent, submersed our fibre and heated the mixture to boiling.We then transferred the beakers to hot plates to maintain the temperature for 30 minutes to set the dye.
I after dyeing my bit of fibre, I chose to dye the little hank of yarn I had spun in the morning. just went around and dipped parts of my hank in others' beakers. I bought a spindle from Janet and practiced my spinning on the bus on the way back to Peebles from the workshop. The natural skein on the left is what I was able to get spun and plyed on that trip back.After our dyeing workshop, we were taken through a couple more areas.

There was an enormous laser cutter in this shop. Here, it is cutting out on a sheet of paper intricate shapes that had been previously programmed on the computer.
It also had etched this image of the Melrose Abbey on wood. In another area, hanks of dyed yarn were drying on big racks. Each hank is 500g.
Here's a closeup of the tag.Laurie (centre) posed with our two dyeing instructors.What a wonderful day we spent in textile academia. There are several colleges and universities in the UK like this. What a treat to be able to get a Bachelor of Arts in Knitting or Weaving.

And it wasn't over yet! That evening a few local ladies joined us for a 'Knit 'n Natter' at the hotel.
My new knitting friend was a local midwife. Several of us were surprised that her friend who sat across the table from us, a 7-month pregnant family physician, enjoyed a rather large glass of white wine. It's the first time I've seen a pregnant woman drink alcohol in decades.
Moy Mackay dropped in to say hello. She's the brilliant artist who uses fibre to paint her pictures. (Pat was knitting away in the foreground)
I came very close to buying this print of one of her pieces. I delayed enough that someone else bought it instead. I know she'll always love it as a cherished memento of our trip.
Here's an original that was also on display.The gal who sat beside Marion was making these delightful little creations with felted bits, ribbons and buttons.

Day 3 - September 1

Yarrowford and Melrose, Scotland

We were able to sleep in ‘til 8:30 for 9:30 breakfast call and a 10:30am departure for Yarrowford and the Sheep Dog/Sheep Shearing demonstration. Bobby Dalziel. Bobby is a 6-time National Champion and a 3-time International Champion. He will soon be competing with Joe and Spot for the World Championship. If he wins, he’ll hold the record for the Sheep Dog Herding 'triple crown'.

John sheared a couple of sheep for us. He eschews modern technology. Rather than using the electric clippers he prefers to use hand shears but prefers slightly more modern scissor-like shears. John first had to cut into the fleece around the sheep’s neck. He said it was like rope and really had to cut in to release it. He then expertly clipped row after row. Apparently there is a gap of about an inch between the sheep’s skin and the densest fleece where it is softer and the guide for the shearer. Within about 5 minutes, he had the fleece cleanly removed. There was also a Texel fleece. Laurie pulled some locks from both fleeces and washed them. The results were astonishing - white, white fiber ready for carding. She drafted and twisted them and made a wee skein.After lunch, we went to Melrose to tour the Abbey and then to visit Abbotsford House, the home of Sir Walter Scott. The Abbey had beautiful lines and was surprisingly well preserved considering it was about 1000 years old. There are lots of gargoyles including a pig playing the bagpipes. I particularly liked the tombstone with a skull and crossbones on it. And another view of the Abbey.After that, I walked around the block finding two uninspiring yarn shops. Then we were taken to Abbotsford House. We had very enthusiastic guide who, every time he mentioned ‘Scotland’ would thump his chest over his heart. We were fortunate to tour the house because in mid-September, it will be closing for 18 months for a huge restoration/renovation project. There were many interesting artifacts including the cross Mary Queen of Scots had in her hand when she was beheaded (a process which evidently took a while and was very gruesome for the lookers-on). High up on the wall of one of the rooms with battle memorabilia and armour was the Douglas shield, the clan from which we Inglis' are descended.- We then walked around the beautiful gardens.

Chronicles of My UK Knitting Tour

Days 1 and 2 - Aug. 30 - 31, 2011: Toronto to Peebles, Scotland

We left Whitby at 4pm and via the 407, got to YYZ at 5. There was quite a long lineup for check-in but it moved fairly quickly and we were at the counter by about 5:30, then through security and at our gate by 6.

Nearby, we had a light dinner and grabbed some bottled water for our flight. We boarded on schedule at around 8pm and taxied out on the runway shortly after our scheduled departure time of 8:25pm. All of a sudden we smelled jet fuel and just seemed to sit on the tarmac. After 9pm, the pilot came on the PA to say that we had technical difficulty and were going back to the gate for the technicians to try to fix the problem. To make a long story short, we finally got underway at about 10:30 - 2 hours late.

After arriving in Glasgow, we retrieved our luggage and found Janet, our tour guide, who directed us to the bus outside the arrivals area. We met Mike, our driver. We boarded our bus that took us directly to Loch Lomond. This was our first glimpse of the loch.We got on a boat and took a little tour. I loved the heather near the loch shore. This is one of the many islands. It was beautiful from every angle.Anne Featonby was wearing this lovely hat - a Kate Davies design - that we all admired.I was a little numb after the transAtlantic flight so didn't remember the name of this stately manor. It had a little waterfall to its right. After that, we made our way to Peebles for our check-in at the Tontine Hotel. We learned that we could get free wifi at the pub next door. I ordered some kind of ale and using their password we checked our email, planning our return for the next time.