ELFS, MONKS AND GOTHIC CASTLES

5:16 PM PST, 9/9/2007

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Handspun Pure Wool Slub Yarn, dreads/felting/freeform knitting, 4m/4.4yds

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Last week was a bit chaotic - I received a second very late bulk of greasy fleeces (they were 10 weeks late because of all the rain and the possible foot-and-mouth outbreak, so farmers were not allowed to move any of their stock and fleeces etc.), so those had to go into the buckets. Then I decided to trim a good size hedge in front of the house, and let me tell you, if you haven't got a chainsaw, and you need to do it with an old-fashioned hedge trimmer it is less than no fun! But I am afraid of chainsaws, I would most definitely trim anything around me but not the hedge!!! I somehow managed to give the hedge a very nice and even shape, having ended up inside the hedge and on top of the surrounding shrubs several times, I finally crawled back into the house to lick my wounds and sore arms. The next day I decided to let the fleeces soak for half a day and packed up Sam to visit Melrose which is just over the border in Scotland - THAT I thought... well, if you plan to visit England, Wales and Scotland by using the scenic routes, meaning getting off the motor ways, you will need much more time if you want to get from A to B. Sometimes you simply have no choice but to take a scenic road because it is the only road that will indeed take you from A to B! In my case I ended up on the A7 from Carlisle to Galashiels, one lane, loads of trucks and tractors in front of you, and serpentines up and down the lowland hills like there is no tomorrow.... after 1 1/2hours and 30miles on I had managed to get half way to where Sam and I wanted to end up and it was already late afternoon. Sam is not fully travel-proof, and if there are a few too many curves and round abouts he will turn green in the face (believe me, even a dog's face turns its colour on these roads!!!!) So I decided to stop, look on my map, and there it was!!! Hermitage Castle, 7 miles away and marked with a beauty star - off we went!

I believe that Hermitage Castle is one of the most beautiful and most gothic ruins I have ever seen in my life! It seems to have quite a bad history, full of blood and battle because it was built in Border Country (which is never a good idea now, is it?), but I have taken several photos, have a look:

Note the tiny entrance in the bottome middle of the wall in the top picture!

Now, is this magnificent or what!!! Surprisingly the huge gateways on either side of the building were never meant to be an entrance but simply a show-off addition to the architecture, which was changed and so many times during the centuries - whatever was fashionable at the time...

A beautiful view from the chapel ruins

I so had to take a photo of this grave sign - hope you can read it well! Serves the b*****d right!

I have seen thousands of Cheviot sheep in the Teviotdale where Hermitage castle stands, which is right next door to the Cheviot Hills.

Well, before I finish today's blog I would also like to turn your attention to newly painted yummy yarns that I have displayed in my ebay store, plus 2 handspun yarn designs that were displayed in my Etsy store last week, well, they are already sold but I still want to show you how gorgeous they are, one is an elfyarn design and the other a fingering weight Merino yarn, all handpainted and handspun, have a look: