Scotland 2010

I've been putting off this post for ages, because of the mixed feelings evoked by Knitcamp 2010.

Positives:

• Met many, many interesting people from around the world. Just wished I was more pro-active in getting contact details for some people.
• Gained more confidence in my knitting. Will try and be less of a perfectionist in future and just experiment a bit more.
• Enjoyed most of the classes I attended.
• The Marketplace - managed to keep myself to a budget, but it was hard going. 
• Beautiful location (and the uphill back to the accommodation might have helped a little in compensating for eating three substantial cooked meals a day).
• Some lovely outings - my own or those organised by Knitcamp - such as visits to Edinburgh, Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, Loch Katrine and New Lanark Mill. 

Negatives:

• Not as advertised - in the end I only did one class that stayed unchanged from when I booked it in terms of tutor or content. Also various other niggles during the week, such as the saga of the goody bags (Ravelry link). Never got mine.
• Lack of communication from the organisers when things went wrong. 

The stash was enhanced (although it probably did not need more enhancement). I came back with:

• 10 balls of New Lanark Mill Aran in Ecru - I won this in a prize draw during the trip to New Lanark Mill. Have been using it to try hand dyeing for the first time (will be reported on in a separate post).
• 3 skeins of Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca Silk DK/Sportweight, colour Dreich. This had been on my shopping list for a while, it is destined to become a Goodale (Ravelry link).
• 1 skein of Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Cashmere/Nylon 4-ply, colour Bluebells, destined to become a shawl for my sister. It is superwash, so hopefully it can survive her attitude towards laundry.
• 1 skein of Artist's Palette Smoothie Sock, so that one day I can try and make nice socks.
• Lovely buttons from Textile Garden. Will need to seek this shop out again for future button purchases.
• 3 100g Bluefaced Leicester rovings from Freyalyn in beautiful blues/greys/greens. I'm having trouble photographing the colours successfully, but I'm really looking forward to spinning these - I plan to ply the three slightly different colourways together.
• I also bought a necklace and some soap from Injabulo, for a small taste of South Africa.

Enough now, better get off to work so that I can afford more fibre!