From the purple dyeshed...

Last week was certainly a busy week for visitors.  The dyeshed is not generally open to the public, and I don't have signposts indicating where I am, but somehow folk find me!  The first visitor last week was as a result of a Twitter conversation.  Alice bounced through the gates like a breath of fresh air - she'd been camping in Clachtoll in probably the worst weather we'd had all summer, but it had done nothing to dampen her enthusiasm for this part of the world.  And as a result of Alice showing her purchases around the campsite I had a few more camping visitors come and visit.  Then I had a return visitor, Jackie, who was holidaying in Dornoch on the east coast with her family.  While Jackie and her daughter rummaged through boxes of yarn, her husband and son explored the hill behind our house.  It was lovely to see them all.

Then on Thursday I had a visitor who I have been wanting to meet for a long time now.  Deb Robson is well known and respected in the wool world, and so it was a real privilege to finally get to meet her this week.  She came up for a brief visit with a mutual friend, Jeni Reid.  Jeni is one of the most talented photographers I have known.  If you are on Twitter, make sure you follow her (@jenireidmog) to see some of the stunning images she puts up from time to time.  While there was discussion and chat about wool and fibre, we also covered topics such as eastern European conflicts, dogs, and much more besides.

[caption id="attachment_7766" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Copyright Jeni Reid[/caption]

I long to have Jeni's ability to capture the colour and textures of my yarn in the way she manages:

[caption id="attachment_7771" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Copyright Jeni Reid[/caption]

What had been a dreadfully wet morning turned into a beautifully sunny and warm afternoon, so we took advantage of the weather and made our way to the top of the hill behind the house, where I managed to get one snap of Deb and Jeni together:



Jeni even managed to capture Peggy quickly - no mean feat when she is a dog which, when she sees a camera, begins to squirm and wriggle:

[caption id="attachment_7772" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Copyright Jeni Reid[/caption]

Jeni and Deb were able to come to the Made in Assynt market as well, where Jeni couldn't resist trying a double treadle spinning wheel:



She soon had it running smoothly:



Thank you to all my visitors this week, but especially to Jeni and Deb for making the long trek north to ceilidh.  And a special thank you to Jeni for all the lovely photographs she has allowed me to use.   Including this one! (superwoman?):

[caption id="attachment_7770" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Copyright Jeni Reid[/caption]