In the Nick of Time....

Well, amazingly I have finished my entry for the forthcoming exhibition at An Lanntair, Stornoway. The exhibition is called "Grinneas nan Eilean" and is open to anyone involved in artistic activity who also lives in the Western Isles.

My entry is a piece of hyperbolic crochet in a sort of pinkish 2/11 nm Shetland yarn. It started with a chain of 6 and I estimate that there is around 25,000 double or treble crochet stitches in it. I then put it on a card base and covered it all with a double layer of shrink film to give it a firm yet slightly squashy feel. Then to hide the card base I stuck a bit of felt that I'd made from some Carloway bits underneath. However, it still looked like a cauliflower, so I presented it in a shallow basket on a bed of carded Carloway yarn. Wondered if the organisers might think it was a bit peculiar to be included - but haven't heard from them despite handing it in on Wednesday.

I was a bit stuck for a title, so I finally settled on "Brain Coral" which is what it looks like.

Yesterday our guinea fowl suddenly went berserk - screeching, screaming and running around in the way that only guineas seem to be able to do. When we went out to see what was spooking them there was a great big Goshawk sitting up on a telephone pole giving all the poultry the evil (or maybe that should be "eagle") eye. It hung around for ages, flying from pole to pole before finally gliding off into the distance towards Kyles where Calana Crafts is based.

A few days before that we saw a golden eagle fly over coming from the direction of the Isle of Skye. Typical - just before lambing. Up in Lewis and over in Applecross in Wester Ross the Sea Eagles take quite a few lambs - and not just the weaklings either. We are waiting on our first lamb to be born. Will it be black? Will it be white? Will it be spotted? Will keep you posted.......