Monday, May 19
The day begins very slowly. Jill doesn’t want to drive and no one else feels competent on these very narrow streets, my toe throbs and Michael wants to knit. When the rain finally stops however we venture out to explore the shops, many of them listed in the Crafts Trail booklet. Jill as usual wanders off and is soon lost to me and Lynn. Michael is where? We have no idea. We look at sweaters at Quernstone–beautiful but machine knit so we stroll out. We find a very nice North Ronaldsay sheep pelt (these are the sheep that live on seaweed and kelp mainly, at least on North Ronaldsay) and chat with the storekeeper and we find our way to the Harray Potter (not Harry or Hairy for that matter) which we have heard a lot about. We’re holding off on buying anything yet, just sizing up the many crafts. Lynn is yearning for an Orkney chair.
The wind is brisk and after a quick trip to the pier where I can get my email we head back to the cottage and after cooking up some of the Scottish bacon ( a far cry from our over salted version) we make BLTs for lunch. In the afternoon I beg Michael to attempt to teach me how to do the netzpatent knit pattern which I have watched other folks in our spinning group try to do without mistakes…or barring that level of perfection, learn how to unknit correctly. It’s not that difficult but it is incredibly hard for me to remember which row I am on. Here is the pattern. The yarn is North Ronaldsay wool from the Woolshed.
NETZPATENT
After casting on an even number of stitches, knit the foundation row on the wrong side: K 1 (YO sl 1, K 1) repeat to final stitch YO sl 1. Now the pattern begins:
Row 1 K 1 (K 2, sl 1) repeat to end YO sl 1
Row 2: K 1 (K 2 tog, YO sl 1) to last stitch, YO sl 1 This row requires a full counterclockwise wrap (a full circle) on the final stitch
Row 3: K 1 (K 1, sl 1, K 1) to final stitch YO sl 1 Be sure to K knit stitches & Sl slipped stitches!
Row 4: K 1 (YO sl 1, K 2 tog) to last stitch YO sl 1
Easy enough…and so easy to switch pattern in the middle of a row when distracted!!
After an hour of this we decide to go out and explore the town leaving Michael behind in the peace and quiet. He is still trying to figure out why we can’t get WiFi. The password has been written on three separate stones left conveniently around the sitting room. We walk off the main street we live on–it is actually six streets more or less end to end, Ferry Rd, Victoria St, Dundas St, Alfred St, South End (we’re at #4) and Ness Rd–and walk up the hill.
Here is a view of the harbor looking off toward Hoy (the name means High Island)
Jill asks a couple of young mothers with their babies in prams what people do for work here in Stromness. There isn’t a lot. The fishing industry has collapsed as it has everywhere, there’s farming and tourism
Jill and I make dinner. It hasn’t been a very exciting day and dinner isn’t very exciting either:
Frittata Stromness
2 large potatoes, sliced and parboiled, layered with
a large onion, sliced very thin
3 mildly hot peppers
a crumbled slice of bacon left over from lunch
1/2 a head of garlic sliced…all sauteed for about 10 minutes
6 eggs, well beaten poured over the vegetables, a bit of chili powder, herbes de Provence, salt & pepper
Cook covered an additional 5 minutes
Serve with a good bottle of Beringer’s 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon
After dinner it’s more Spite & Malice and this time Lynn is really on a roll. She wins all three games: in all three games I draw exactly four wild cards, not exactly winnable hands. Michael is stoic in defeat