Overlooked

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J > Browsing through our Google Photos, as a distraction from the raging storm outside, I soon found myself basking in the reflected sunshine of my trip to Navarra last October-November.  To my surprise, I discovered a batch of photos I’ve overlooked in posting about that trip.  It was the first Sunday in November, and as it turned out, the sunniest day before I returned to Scotland four weeks later.  To be fair, it was a cold day : as in the Outer Hebrides, the clearest skies are associated with cold winds from the north-west. But it was sunny and dry, and I’m used to wrapping up against the cold. It turned out to be the best day out of my trip to Navarra!

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Beinn Stac – Hebridean Sock Kit

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Denise > I’ve got a stack of the new Beinn Stac and Hebridean Sock kits ready to take up to the Hebridean Woolshed’s garden shop (though they’ll just be put away in boxes of stock until we reopen at Easter for the 2020 season).   That said, they are available immediately for online customers.

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Tiling The Terrace

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Jonathan > We knew the terrace leaked : the sum we offered for the house – the offer that was accepted – took account of that fact. That was nearly two years ago, and with each winter’s damp and frost the bare concrete slab of the terrace could only get worse. So that’s the most important job I’ve been attending to during my two-month stay here in Navarra, at Casa Los Fueros.  Now Denise and I can think about adding more plants and pots to our terrace garden – the next time we’re in Navarra together.

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Angelina

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Denise > Here’s a scarf that I finished making today.  The handspun warp is made with wool from Masham sheep – which are native to a certain district in northern England.  The weft, too, is handspun, with wool from Merino sheep (dyed purple and lavendar), white Shetland sheep, and just a few grams of Angelina – a synthetic fibre that sparkles with the colours of the fibres it is spun together with.  Used sparingly, it adds a touch of magic to a winter wardrobe.  I wove the scarf on our Glimåkra floor loom, then washed and tented it, before finishing it with my ‘handwoven’ label.

 

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The Cats of Castillo Nuevo

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J > This year my time in Navarra has been much cloudier and wet than last year : in fact it’s been exceptionally wet.  But yesterday was a cheerful day of clear skies, warming sunshine, and – if barely above freezing, it was defnitely dry.  Perfect for a day out exploring : I’ve scarcely more than a week left before I must return to Scotland. I headed to the Basque far north east of Navarra, about an hour’s drive away, a land of jagged sierras, soaring viaducts, dry barancos, narrow twisting gorges, vultures, circling overhead, roads switching sides across roaring mountain rivers …

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