S.O.S. -No, not a cry for help

 not in this instance anyway. 

SOS stands for several things but here it stands for the Scottish Owl Sanctuary. We've been talking vaguely about visiting this 'one day', without the day ever having arrived before. However, due to the vagaries of the weather and possible ferry disruption we ended up with a spare day in Glasgow before setting off for Stockholm so the 'one day' arrived. We gave Son No 2 a lift into work, thereby making him late for the first and probably last time. Honestly he gets there early every other day and has to take two trains and then walk; you would think that the one time he got a lift in a car he could do at least as well. What can I tell you? Glasgow commuter traffic. 

We went straight on to the Sanctuary after dropping him as we couldn't face trawling back through the commuter traffic in the opposite direction to the flat only to go out again half an hour later, but this meant that we arrived rather more than an hour before the place opened. Luckily the cafe was open so we spent some time in there.

I risked a scone, and it was fine. Baked on the premises fresh every morning apparently.

And then we went and looked at owls. I do love an owl, so I took lots and lots and lots of pictures, some better than others. Here are a few of the best ones. 

Eurasian Eagle Owl. Shame it shows the cage wires; the OH's phone camera is fancy and somehow gets rid of those. 

This is a burrowing owl. Judging by its performance the day we went, it spends large portions of its life standing on one leg. Well, why not? 

This one couldn't be bothered to pose so I couldn't be bothered to remember what sort of owl it was. A 'Whatever' Shrugging Owl, perhaps?

My favourite - the snowy owl. 

A Very Cross Owl

And a Very Fluffy Owl (also possibly quite cross)

The SOS has the largest collection of owls on show in the world, and they are from every corner of the earth, from deserts to rainforests . They do flight demonstrations twice a day and we were lucky enough to catch one; even more luckily one of the owls used was the female snowy owl. They get really close up to you so you get a very good look and the talk by the handler was informative and funny without being too much. We had a really lovely time. So glad we finally made it. 

Where We Stay In Stockholm

 We always stay in the same hotel when we go to Stockholm. It's on a small island called Skeppsholm; Stockholm is built on a series of islands so that's no big deal. There's a bridge to one part of the city centre, and ferries to other parts of Stockholm so getting around is easy and it's  very close to the National Gallery, so it's almost ideal for us. The only slight inconvenience is that there aren't many restaurants or cafes nearby which make eating out in the evening quite tricky sometimes although we did sample the inhouse restaurant on this occasion and wouldn't be averse to eating there again. 

Anyway it struck me that although I have put up some pictures of notable features on the island I haven't ever just posted pictures of the immediate environment, which is worth doing. Almost all of the architecture  dates back to the 17th Century and a lot of the buildings were used originally by the military, especially the navy as the island 'guards' one of the sea entrances to the city. Most of them have been converted to civilian use these days as museums, offices or indeed 'our' hotel. 

So here you go

Above and below views of 'Fantastic Paradise' an installation which has moving parts powered by water in the summer and is affiliated in some way to the Modern Art Museum just behind it.  Despite some scarily sharp edges on the metal parts Swedes seem perfectly happy to let  their children run about, play and climb on these structures when they are working; mine would never have been let near most of it! and I can't see anything 'paradisal' about it either. Now if they had called it 'A Nightmare of Paradise...' My ignorance showing here I'm sure.  

And of course the now standard photograph of the beautifully calm dining room and one of my breakfast choices. Incomprehensibly, there is no cinnamon bun on that plate...

We Are Back

 

and we had a (generally) wonderful time. 

More details to come over the next few days; today will be post holiday sorting out. But I did want to share that picture of the beautiful Stockholm waterfront. 

It's been a while...

Months in fact, since I was able to have my nails done. Sadly the woman who did them has been struggling with a chronic health condition but she is now on her way to recovery and is starting up her business again. As soon as I saw the Facebook post about her return I messaged her and made an appointment; such a lovely coincidence that she is returning just about the time we were planning to go away. 

I went along yesterday and although I had been fantasising about revisiting my inner Goth and decorating them with ravens, skulls and red roses, in the event it was such a lovely sunny day that I opted for something sunny and springlike for my nails. 

Like so

Click if you want to see them more clearly. I used to follow a blog where the writer said 'click to embiggen' and I often wondered what she had against the word 'enlarge'. 

Obviously not being able to have decorated nails wasn't the end of the world and I didn't repine, but it is lovely to have them done again. A little thing, but it lifts my spirits. I am already plotting about what to have in May when we go off to the Loire but meanwhile, given that according to my own personal weather reporter - i.e. the OH with his phone -   temperatures in Stockholm are still low and they are even having the odd flurry of snow,   a reminder of the approaching spring will be no bad thing. 

We Did Valentine's Day!

Long term readers here will know that Valentine's Day is a bit of a hit and miss affair in our household. Sometimes we 'do it' , sometimes we don't, sometimes one of us does and the other doesn't - although all credit to the OH whose 'doing' is  a bit more consistent than mine. 

This year we both got our acts together. I got him the cutest Emma Bridgewater Valentine mug

and he got me Lego flowers rather than real ones. Upside they don't die or produce pollen or take up life in a vase that then needs washing; downside, I suppose, bits still fall off. Not that bits are falling off yet as we haven't made it up, and I have a busy week coming up, but maybe we will tackle it at the weekend. We are away next week; a flying trip to Stockholm, so it would be good to have it done before that really. 

 

The Color (sic) Purple

 If you've been here a while you'll know that The Color Purple was (to date) one of the few books from the books to read poster that was both new to me and that I enjoyed.So when I heard there was a new film version out I was keen to see it, although I doubted if it would get this far north. 

Well it did, and when reading the blurb on the cinema e-mail I noticed it said 'based on the book and the Broadway musical' and I was like 'Whoa! What! A Musical!' and wondered if I really did want to see it. I havered a bit and then thought what the heck and suggested that we go. 

So we did, yesterday. We even had a bit of lunch in the cinema cafe beforehand. This was less than exciting, but perfectly nice. Then we went to the 13.00 screening where there were the two of us and one other solitary patron, but I suppose lots of people can't do one o'clock on a weekday. 

I persist in my belief that this story does not need to be a musical and I am not sure that the songs, few though they were, actually added anything to the story. In particular there an incredibly cringemaking musical number purporting to show the welcome received by some black American missionaries in 'Africa', including a dance by some half naked 'natives' who also sported some extremely colourful feathers which were never ever worn by a bird. Not that shape, not that colour. Also not that amount of artificial textile. 

Nitpicking aside though, I did enjoy it. As did the OH, much to our mutual surprise. Like the book, it moved me to anger, to laughter and to tears, and was also, like the book, ultimately beautifully life affirming. What more can you ask? *

*other than the opportunity to see the previous, non-musical film version of course. 

What I Did Actually Do in February

 (channelling my inner Morwenna Banks in the title there.) 

So craft in February was as always mainly knitting but I finished a trio of cross stitch cards that have been hanging about the place unfinished for years

And then there was the knitting. In no particular order

hats using up left overs for Bonnie Babies. I'd planned to do lots more of these until it occurred to me that it would take ages to use up small amounts and given that my aim is to reduce my stash as much as possible my time would be better spent on larger things. Mostly. So most of the left overs went off to the Charity Shop That Shall Not be Named.

I'm so proud of finishing this. I had completed the knitting over a year ago but it's knit in the round so you end up with a tube and then have to graft the two ends together, After two very frustrating and unsuccessful attempts to do that the project had been consigned to the 'I'll never be able to do that' pile, but when I picked it up out of Box 1 I realised that it was taking up a lot of space and it would be a good idea to have another go. And this time it went really easily. Whether I picked a different You Tube tutorial that made things clearer to me I don't know. I didn't enjoy it because it was a long slow process but at the end I had a beautiful cowl and could add 'grafting a tube' to my skill set so it was worth the time and effort. 

This is Poppy the Penguin who came to live with us, or I should say , with the OH at Christmas. She was a bit chilly apparently, so I grabbed a small amount of cream DK left overs and made her a cosy blanket. Since I was knitting some squares anyway - see below. 

Socks for me that almost got thrown away several times. I bought the wool in a destash in Ravelry years and years ago and never knew quite what to do with it. At some stage I had obviously decided to make socks because in the depths of box 1 there was a leg of a sock. I've never been 100% sure about the green sections in this ball of wool but as I'd done the leg I thought I might as well finish it. For some reason  unknown to man I put a 64 stitch foot on a 56 stitch leg and didn't realise my mistake until the toe didn't line up properly and I really looked at it. Once again I hovered on the brink of throwing the whole thing in the bin. But then I had a bright (?) idea.  I would redo the socks in the right size but I would cut out the green bits that I didn't like and just use them for heels and toes. So that's what I did. I think I could probably have done the whole pair in the pink/white but I didn't want to risk running out.  Also the cable detail that you can see on the outside of the leg is supposed to continue down the gusset and all the way along the foot to the toe, but given that I wasn't really in love with the yarn that seemed a step too far so I stopped it at the end of the leg. Not my favourite ever project and a lot of faffing about, but I suppose the upside is that at the end I had a wearable pair of socks.  

A small group of us in one of my Ravelry Forums made squares towards a blanket for another member who is going through some tough times health wise and a total hero of the group ( obviously not me) stepped up to sew them altogether. The end result was lovely, and these four were my contribution. The designs were taken from the pattern for last months sampler cowl, as indeed was the pattern for Poppy's blanket, so knitting that has been useful in more ways than one.  

And a pair of  mitts that I made for a swap. These are Helen Stewart's medley mitts which  have become my go to pattern for fingerless mittens.

In addition to the above I made a lot of progress on a large project which still isn't quite finished, but the end is in sight. I had a special reason for wanting to finish it before the beginning of May, and in fact it should be done very soon. I'm quite excited about it. 

And unrelatedly, a velvetiser update. For interest  and information there's a pretty comprehensive review here. Meanwhile I have tried the Black Forest Gateau flavour and although I was doubtful beforehand  ( be honest, it does sound fairly disgusting doesn't it?) I liked it. I am hopeful that the plain, darker sachets will be more satisfactory than the milk ones we originally bought, and the OH is also experimenting successfully with instant hot chocolate powder and cocoa. 

The jury's still out

 on the Hotel Chocolat velvetiser. It's very smart

and the drink it produces is indeed smooth and velvety. It's also quite tasteless. This may be to do with our choice of their sachets; we opted for milky and perhaps we should have opted for something with a higher cacao content, 

I was musing this over with a facebook/RL friend, who we discussed the purchase with way back in September when we met up in Yorkshire, since we knew he had one, and he offered to send us some alternatives. They arrived today, hurrah! so looking forward to giving them a go. 

Not quite sure what postie will have made of the top line of the address, where friend had written 'Essential Chocolate Supplies'.

Highland Wildlife Park

 So we had a day to fill on Tuesday while we were away last week (originally intended for a shopping trip to Inverness which we did on Monday because of our changed lunch/afternoon plans.) The OH suggested a trip to the Highland Wildlife Park which I thought was a good idea so off we went.  

It was a bitter sweet trip in some ways as the one and only other time we had been there we had given a lift to a friend who lived in Wick and we had met up with a family of mutual friends from |Cornwall. The friend from Wick has since died, far too young, of oesophageal cancer  and it was impossible not to think about him at various times during the day. 

That aside we had a wonderful time. The weather wasn't great and it was February and not a school holiday which kept the numbers down and as a lot of the animals there are from northern Europe or the mountains of varying parts of Asia they show to more advantage when  the weather is cooler. 

When we were there before we hadn't had time to do the drive through part, but we did that this time - twice in fact, once when we first arrived and then again just before we left. That bit wasn't brilliant for taking photos although here's one of some  przewalksi horses getting chummy with the car in front - there were lots of them and they were having great fun licking the slat off the cars as they drove around! 

The walk around bit was much more successful for photograph taking.

arctic fox

snow leopard

eagle owl

chief wolf...

....and pack

I don't have photos of the Amur tigers who stayed resolutely too far away, or the Scottish wildcats or the wolverine, but we saw lots of all of them. The catering was a (deep) disappointment sadly, - when did everything suddenly have to be Biscoff flavoured for goodness sake?) but the shop was very lovely. I never expect much from Zoo shops as they tend to be full of tat, but this one certainly wasn't and we came away with various bits and pieces; , most of them, unusually,  for us rather than other people. 

And it was the Highlights Concert inn the evening of which more anon. 

Antiques and Curios

 was the name of the jigsaw puzzle I bought while we were away and I finished it yesterday.

It didn't take long because it's only 500 pieces. Next up is a very tricky looking one that I got for Christmas, but it won;t be started for a few days. 

In other news we have been trapped in the house (not literally although it feels like it) since we got back due to the absolutely foul weather; very cold winds and heavy intermittent showers - although I'm not personally convinced the showers were exactly intermittent. However, although the forecast is promising us gale force winds and heavy showers again today neither are currently present so after we've finished the current cup of coffee we are off out for some fresh air and a modicum of exercise. 

The Great Wool Sort Out - Update 2

So stats for February. 

Wool In totalled totalled 252g, which was 120g gifted to me plus 132g that came in the form of 6 small balls on the front of a magazine. which I bought thinking I would make one of the cover projects as a practice crochet piece. In the event when I saw it in the magazine it wasn't quite what I was expecting or wanted. so I'll have to find something else to do with the small balls of not very good quality DK, but I'm sure inspiration will strike.

Wool out came to 1226g; much of this was either gifted or sent to a local charity shop but some of it was knitted up. Net  reduction in stash for February was 974g which wasn't as good as January but still satisfying. 

So that was the end of my allotted time for box 1 which started January looking like this

and ended February looking like this 

which I think we can all agree is a big improvement.

Box 2 for March and April looked like this when I got it out on Thursday

and when emptied onto the bed the pile looked like this

I took out various ones to try and sell; one or two should never have been in that box in the first place and will be moved, and I have definite plans for quite a lot of the rest. So I'm quite hopeful this box will look a lot emptier by the end of April.  Let's hope so because I know I have some pre-ordered yarn arriving early in April. 

I'll post pics of the projects I completed in February another day; this seems enough woolly talk for now.