[caption id="attachment_9015" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photograph courtesy of Woollywormhead[/caption]

When I knew that Woolly Wormhead had been asked to teach a few classes at Loch Ness Knit Fest in October I was so pleased.  I have long been a huge fan of Woolly's designs.  We had a little chat and decided that a collaboration for the event would be a most excellent plan.  We talked about colours, hat styles and yarn bases and eventually settled on the Sport Weight Merino in my range.  As many of you know, this is one of my favourite yarns.  It is soft, and has a beautiful bounce and springy-ness to it.  I thought a colour that always proved popular with my customers would be a good idea, but I wanted it to develop a little, and so The Dark Sea Storm was born.  This is a darker version of Stormy Seas, a colour that came about as a fundraiser for the RNLI.   Because of the method used in dyeing this shade, each and every hank will be slightly different - some will have more turquoise showing through and some will have a more even dark blue effect, but whichever one you choose it will look fabulous with the Burnished Gold colour that Woollywormhead chose as the contrast for her sample of the pattern.

"Why the name Scourie?" I hear you ask.  Well, Scourie is a little village to the north of Clachtoll where I am based, and a while back while driving through Scourie, Stevan and I stopped off for a little wander around.  And I came across a beautiful graveyard wall covered in lichen.  Many of you will know my love of photographing lichen, and this was one of the photographs that I took on one of the gravestones.

 



As soon as I posted this photograph on Twitter, Woolly said "I think I have the name for the hat!"  And so the name Scourie was settled upon.

Woolly Wormhead has written a blog post about Scourie, and as she has explained this pattern will be an exclusive release for Loch Ness Knit Fest for the duration of the festival.  I will have a variety of colour combinations made up into kits for the event, and also a couple of knitted versions of the hat with different colours on display, but here are a few ideas to get your colour juices flowing:

A Cerise which Demands Attention and Assynt Peat:



Shepherd's Delight and Moonshine:



or you may prefer the colours I'm using,


Turquoise Delight and Wild Violets:



The construction of the hat is similar to the patterns in Woolly Wormhead's Elemental collection, so if you enjoyed knitting any of those you'll love this pattern.  Ideally you'll have a contrasting colour that will really "pop" and show off the fabulous design.



Loch Ness Knit Fest 2017 is only a couple of weeks away now, and I believe there are still a few valuable places left on Woolly's classes, so if you want attend a masterclass on Knitting in the Round, or learn more about The Art of the Knitted Circle, then book your place soon.  I will have kits made up on the stand in various colour combinations which will include the printed pattern, or you will be able to buy the yarn and pattern separately, selecting your own colours.  Scourie will be released as a digital pattern later on in the year, so if you want to be alerted to when this happens make sure you sign up for Woolly Wormhead's newsletter.  Once Loch Ness Knit Fest is over I will have any remaining kits up on the website for everyone who wasn't able to make it to LNKF to buy.  But it will be lovely to see you in Inverness if you happen to be able to come.