I am home again after a very successful inaugural Highland Wool Festival.  Many thanks to Anne Marie Foot and her team of patient, helpful helpers for making the day such a success.  The event began for me on Friday afternoon when I went down to Dingwall Auction Mart to keep Anne Marie company during her interview for Scotland Television (STV) - a short snippet of which was broadcast on the 6.00pm news on Friday night.

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Sorry Anne Marie, I caught you with your eyes closed!:

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We stayed at Netherton Farm B&B, which was absolutely delightful.  And the uninterrupted views across the Cromarty Firth were lovely.  And by "we" I mean myself and my two Glamorous Assistants, Dorothy Stewart and Lizzi Lawrie.

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Friday evening was spent in conference to talk about what we need to do to keep things looking fresh and new on the stand, vital if you want to attract people back year after year.  Lizzi and I were sharing a room, and I have to admit to having a rather late night as we giggled and laughed ourselves to sleep ...... eventually!

It was a very early start on Saturday morning, but despite the ridiculous hour of the day, Romay, our B&B hostess, was up to give us some fruit and yogurt and much needed coffee before seeing us off on our way to Dingwall Auction Mart to begin the long process of setting up the stand.  I always approach new events with trepidation, as although we are often given dimensions of our stand, I am hopeless visualising space, and I'm never quite sure exactly how things will look until I arrive and get a feel for the stand.  The stand at the Highland Wool Festival was very long, but very narrow, and so we had to be creative in our setting up so that we could allow a natural flow of customers through the stand.

But before too long we'd licked it into shape, and there was time for a quick snap:

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as well as time to clean the dust off the mirror which customers can use to see which colours suit them best:

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And the Highlands turned out ..... in their droves!  Thank you to everyone who came to make the event such a success.  I know many of you found your way to the Knockando stand too, to buy some of the new hand dyed yarn which I handed over on Saturday morning.  I have to admit to succumbing  to one of their rug kits.

And to top off the weekend, I received an email while I was away to say I was a great aunt, again :)  Rosie Penman arrived on Friday, and I'm pleased to say that baby and parents are all doing very well.  Congratulations Martin and Avery.