Edinburgh

After more than a month of silence, I'm determined to resume blogging. I have no valid excuse for my absence; however, the torridity in combination with a stupidly busy social calendar has completely drained every drop of motivation from my vessels. I know I'm in good company. I've seen many of the feeds I follow suffering from similar scarcity. My plan is to continue to try catching-up, starting where I left-off. 

Our final, and favorite destination during our May (Jiminey Cricket, where has the time gone?) vacation, was Edinburgh. We departed London from King's Cross Station and boarded a first class coach headed north. We were incredibly lucky to experience Scotland during a heatwave, and enjoyed sunny 75-80F temperatures during our exploits. It was gorgeous. We were reminded of our good fortune as we passed the numerous wool and cashmere shops that lined the streets; the number of them is incredible. 

 

Edinburgh is a really beautiful city. It's moderately sized, boasting a population of ~500k VERY FRIENDLY citizens. The scenic aspects of the city offer a nice blend between historical/modern. Based on our limited exposure, I would be willing to bet that a person could find almost anything she went in search of in this corner of the world. We ate yummy, veg friendly food at Elephant House, David Bann and the Grain Store (however, I was not brave enough to try veg haggis). We consumed our volume in tea daily. We roamed the castle. We appeased our fancies in a variety of hobby and specialty shops. We had a glorious time!  

There was also a nice balance between urban and outdoor areas available throughout the city. In fact, once we climbed part-way up Holyrood park, we hardly felt we were in a city.  If you find yourself in Edinburgh, I recommend taking a few hours from your day to make your way up to Arthur's Seat. The views are outstanding. 

We did a fair amount of shopping in and around the Grassmarket while we visited. Mike and I really appreciate the opportunity to shop at local, privately owned/operated, niche stores. And we particularly fell in love with The Red Door Gallery and Demijohn, which are just up the street from K1 Yarns. 

I'm nearly positive every yarn sold in this shop is derived from Scottish producers, which was a treat. The selection was somewhat limited compared to the stores I'm accustomed to, but the yarns are beautiful. I left with a sweater worth of Orkney Angora "St. Magnus" DK. YUM! 

For fabric, we trekked to Pins & Needles. This shop is slightly off the beaten-path, but definitely worth a visit. I found some DELISH wool tartan, because, well, I couldn't not buy at least one cut of wool tartan while in Scotland, and I also got some really wonderful cotton/linen laser-cut eyelet. The best part of this shop, the prices. I couldn't believe how reasonable the fabric was priced (It's possible it only seemed so  in comparison to The Silk Society fabric I purchased days before...).

At any rate, Edinburgh= AMAZING.