Moonshine Mohair at Keldaby Farm – Page 3 – Here at Keldaby we raise the beautiful, gentle and shyly friendly angora goats that provide Moonshine Design with the cloudsoft and highly lustrous mohair used in our fine selection of hand dyed, hand woven goods. Wrap yourself in a throw, toss a scarf or shawl around your shoulders or luxuriate in our fabulous ruanas. Step back to a more romantic era in a Western Isles hood. Discover the magic of mohair socks dyed in every color of the rainbow.

Eleanor and the Butcher

Wed, May 15th 2019

Jen has noticed that there will be a guided tour of the standing stones and Barnhouse village this morning so we head out for Stenness because although we’ve been there numerous times we figure there’s more to learn. Good call! Eleanor MacLeod, who hales originally from Lewis (in the Hebrides), is an excellent enthusiastic guide, full of stories and folk traditions. She also clarifies for us what a henge is; many think it is the ring of stones, but no, it is the ditch and earthworks which may or may not include standing stones. For more on the village check out this link: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/barnhouse/

And you can find some of the traditions about the standing stones at this link: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/

They’ve come to listen to Eleanor MacLeod!

Jen has also checked the tide times and so we then head to Birsay, It’s low tide, there is hardly any water at all and so no seals appear and we quickly walk across to the Brough and stay for a while though we don’t make the trek up to the lighthouse and cliffs beyond.

In Dounby we find the butcher shop open and are truly relieved. We had worried that perhaps it had closed. She’s the same bubbly person we’ve met before and we buy lambchops, porkchops, a shoulder of lamb and of course home-raised bacon. Back at No. 10 Jill makes lambchops for dinner accompanied by new potatoes and butter, peas and homemade mint sauce. Yum indeed! I make a sort of tomato-garlic melange. The weather has been beautiful for days now but in the afternoon the wind picks up, it’s cooler and the water in the bay is very choppy. Tomorrow we’re off to Hoy.

Hither and Yon

Tues, May 14th 2019

Jill sleeps in again (that stubborn cold–or perhaps she is secretly watching BTS videos!) so the rest of us head downtown, checking out what interesting clothing is available at the Cat Protection Society and Red Cross consignment shops. And of course, armed with kitty treats, we feed every cat we encounter.

First one, then two, then three kitties show up for snacks

We catch a glimpse of Moxie hanging out on his favorite corner and learn that in fact while he loves to hang out either on his corner or across the street at the CPS shop, he actually has a loving home and is very well cared for!

Near lunchtime we run into Jill. She and Jen can’t face another BLT so they buy sausage pasties–Lynn and I have BLTs of course–and we head back to #10 and a quick lunch before driving south through Burray to a strange (IMHO) place apparently called Eastside which has a seemingly ancient standing stone but with clearly modern carving on it, a ruined church, an enigmatic stone structure and a foul smelling beach which we comb. Everyone except me finds at least one cowrie shell so Jen gives me one of hers. That’s good–we all need the good luck they bring.

We’re on our ongoing quest to find Minehowe burial site which is supposed to be not far but once again we are not successful. It is not open often, or perhaps never in May. Photos in our guidebooks show it having a precarious entrance down very sketchy steps; it’s just as well we can’t tempt fate on this one. Here’s a link with terrific photos and a bit more history. https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/minehowe/index.html.

So turning east toward Tankerness we decide to have a mid afternoon coffee and dessert at jeweller Sheila Fleet’s new Kirk Gallery and Cafe, located of course in a desanctified church. It’s an elaborate place, very trendy, the dishes impressive to look at but a bit underwhelming. The gallery upstairs is lovely.

http://sheilafleet.com/shops/the-kirk-gallery-cafe-orkney

And finally we head west and north to Dounby for a second trip to the Harray Potter where more new mugs are purchased and Jen and I each acquire perfect little cups for our single malt. In town we stop at the Dounby Butcher but the shop is closed and something about the signage leads us to the disturbing possibility that the shop is closed for good.

Jen makes a shepherd’s pie for dinner and then it’s off to have some Orkney ice cream and a bit more beach combing. We knit for a while, watch an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, root for our favorite contestant and comment that our viewing taste has lost all pretense of intellectual pursuit. Jill is completely immersed in her BTS videos, a beatific smile on her lips.

Rousay

Mon., May 13th 2019

It’s a miracle–another gorgeous day! We drive up to Tingwall to catch the ferry to Rousay, a half-hour trip northeast across Eynhallow Sound from Mainland. There are a lot of sites, over 100, on this small island–its nickname is Egypt of the north–but first it’s scones, clotted cream, strawberry-rhubarb jam and excellent coffee at the Crafthub in Trumland before our 14-mile trip along the island’s only road. Clearly the Crafthub is a social hub for the whole island’s 200 or so residents. We head off clockwise, exploring Taversoe Tuick burial cairn and Blackhammer Cairn.

This link will take you to a humorous but good article on the sights and sites of Rousay: https://must-see-scotland.com/rousay Good photos too.

We don’t walk up the long hill to the Knowe of Yarso but drive on to Midhowe cairn and broch, the most visited site on this island. The original roof of the cairn is gone but this 90 foot long, chambered burial site has been totally enclosed within a hangar-like building with walkways around and over it. Because we can see everything from above and don’t have to crawl about on our knees we really get a good picture of a chambered cairn.

Just a few yards away is the broch from a later period, complete up to a height of about 10, 12 feet.

“Midhowe Broch is one of at least nine brochs that stand along the banks of narrow, dangerous Eynhallow Sound in Orkney. It’s in an excellent state of preservation, especially its stone internal fittings. A water tank, fireplace and room partitions are all visible.” (from Historic Environment)

From there we walk along the beach to the several iron age and medieval sites–a church, the remains of a hall. The link above describes these ruins well as well as giving good photographs. From here we can see Eynhallow (Holy Island) and to the south the broch of Gurness on Mainland.

After eating our BLTs back at our car we complete the circuit of the island. We watch seals cavorting on the Saviskaill Beach and arrive back at the ferry slip with enough time to visit the Rousay Cultural Centre, do a bit of beach-combing and watch a large sailboat dock with 14 musicians on board. They have been traveling around the islands for several weeks and will be playing this evening at the Crafthub, but unfortunately we can’t stay. We’re told they will be playing at the Reel in Kirkwall on the weekend so we’ll try then.

We catch the ferry at 5:30, pick up a few things for tonight’s dinner (fresh tagliatelle and homemade sauce), Jen and I break open the bottle of single malt I bought yesterday and we all watch Queer Eye before heading off to bed.

Ruins Neolithic & Norse

Sun, May 12th 2019

Jill is fighting a cold and sleeps in until 9 o’clock and we’re happy to just sit back and enjoy our coffee. By 10 though we’ve pulled ourselves together and we head off to Orphir, south of Stenness, on the road to Kirkwall. We visit again the Orkneyinga Saga Centre but skip the short film we had watched on our first trip, then walked to the Earl’s Bu, ruins of a Norse farmhouse and home to several of the earls who figure in the Orkneyinga Saga and finally to the Round Kirk of which only the apse remains.

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/earls-bu-and-church-orphir/

We’re off then to Waulkmill Bay, this time properly shod in our new wellies. I’m sure that I saw a rock I’d seen two years before, coveted then but not taken because it was too big. Lynn and I aren’t quite as crazed by now but we all pick up a few to take back to the cottage. https://www.orkney.com/listings/waulkmill

A quick trip to Tesco to return some unneeded olive oil–there’s plenty on hand in our kitchen–and then we head home for lunch, our first BLTs.

We sit and knit for a bit but the weather is beautiful and here in Orkney, in May, one doesn’t waste warm, sunny, windless days so we head for the Ring of Brodgar. We can’t walk into the Ring! Victim of erosion damage, almost certainly caused by climate change, and perhaps too much tourism, the Ring is now cordoned off and we can only walk the exterior perimeter. We drive next to the Stones of Stenness and the neolithic Barnhouse village. https://www.orkneyjar.com/history/barnhouse

We’ve never gone to the Unstan burial cairn so that’s next on our agenda. The cairn is located in a privately owned farm and we meet the owner. We crawl in and see the five burial chambers. There is a swallow-like bird etched on the lintel of one chamber. https://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/unstan/index.html

Back home we have a delicious chicken soup that has slow-cooked all day, watch a Tiny House episode (though Jill is completely engrossed in her BTS K-pop videos) and make plans for a trip to Rousay.

No. 10 South End

Sat, May 11

Before I even begin to describe our third trip to Orkney a year ago, let me just say that here we are in month three of the Covid-19 era and I am pretending to write this as a day to day, contemporary account while our lives go on in semi-isolation, immersed in social distancing, sanitizers and masks. Strange it is to be describing our “normal” life, pre-virus, as if it were a pattern that would go on forever–at least as long as we are still able to travel without oxygen tanks, canes, and “Help me, I can’t get up!” buttons! Thank goodness Jen is still young and more than happy to be the driver. The rest of us have been deemed too old for car rental in the UK but despite that we are planning a fourth trip in May 2021, Covid permitting! Okay, so here’s our second day…

Button-Ben is quite a lovely B&B right near the water, the day is warm, the hosts are congenial and the breakfast is more than generous. I have oatmeal, toast and jam, smoked salmon and poached eggs on bannocks. There has been no email from Roncari’s and although I consider trying to pick up a cheap camera somewhere, it does occur to me that my Kindle might suffice though the camera is not a good one.

We are anxious to begin our day so with Jen at the helm of our Tepec we drive first to Fursbreck Pottery in Harray to visit with our potter friend Andrew Appleby. He tells us that he had planned to retire from his business but then discovered he would miss the shop. He’s been busy since we were last here writing a couple more volumes of his “Skara” as he describes them Neolithic noir novels. Jen and Jill buy new mugs in preparation for tomorrow’s breakfast. www.orkneypottery.co.uk

We still have several hours before we can move into our cottage so we head next to Kirkwall where we revisit all our favorite shops, purchase nearly identical wellies, and predictably end up at Judith Glue’s for lunch. From there we head to Tesco to stock up on all the food we will need the first few days and midafternoon we arrive at number 10 South End. This is the poshest yet! We each have our own en suite bedroom. The living room, on the second floor, is equipped with reclining leather couches and armchairs, though no basket of yarn and knitting needles! My bedroom has a wonderful sign saying: In the event of an emergency pull this dresser out and remove the panel behind it, then exit into the adjoining building–or words to that effect.

At Tesco we had bought a precooked chicken which Lynn and Jen turn into a delicious chicken salad. After dinner Jen, Lynn and I walked the entire length of the main street–South End, Alfred, Dundas, Victoria, and Ferry Rd–to buy milk at the Co-op. We rounded out our first cottage day with a couple games of Spite & Malice, a bit of knitting and a episode of Tiny House living before turning in for the night.

The Orkney Rovers Are Off Again–2019

9-10 May 2019

We’ve packed and repacked for days! The anticipation has kept us happy for months. Finally we assemble at Jill’s, check to insure we all have our passports, tickets, money, Gussie takes a couple of final photos us crowding into the car and we’re off to Bradley Airport. Bob is sad and wistful but Sally and LJ will be arriving later in the afternoon so I am sure all will go well.

At Roncari’s where we are leaving the car Lynn is mysteriously handed an envelope with a $100 bill in it and the brief message: Enjoy! Lynn phones her daughters but they both deny knowing anything about it. It has to be them we all agree though we momentarily think perhaps Roncari is rewarding us. We have given ourselves a lot of time for check-in and security, way too much time as everything goes remarkably smoothly. At six o’clock we’re on our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin. The food, not memorable, and wine no longer complimentary, I immerse myself in a Beatles documentary, 8 Days a Week, and then watch Rami Malek play Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. At five in the morning we touch down in Dublin.

As we have had, finally, the good sense to check our bags straight through to Aberdeen, we have only to find the gate for the next leg of our journey and we’re there before nine o’clock. Here we have a long, long layover but we are too weary to drag our suitcases into town and there’s no way to check them in yet. We have seven, yes, seven deadly hours to kill and it nearly kills us and this is because a flight we had booked to Kirkwall has been cancelled. Our airport breakfast–at last–is good and the airport shops are somewhat entertaining. I read the titles of every possible book in the bookstore before burdening myself with a Hilary Mantel and an Ann Cleeves. We play a very long game of Spite and Malice. The wait is interminable–during which I decide to take some pictures. No camera! I empty my backpack to no avail, my small Bagolini isn’t hiding it. No camera. I remember handing it to Gussie for the requisite departure shots and I remember getting it back from him. The luggage has already been checked in and I pray that I stowed it in my rollerbag.

Finally around four, dazed with boredom and too much sitting, (and worrying about the camera, which isn’t even mine, but Joanie’s) we are finally airborne and heading for Kirkwall, a 40-minute flight away. Hurray, it is beautiful, warm, windless and sunny. Can this really be Orkney! We get our car, a large, very square Peugeot Tepec and head into town where all the shops are closed but we have an excellent dinner at Lucano (putanesca for me) and then drive to our Button-Ben Guest House in Stenness. www.buttonbenguesthouseorkney.com

We are too tired for a card game (it’s been 40 hours since I’ve slept) and try as we might we have a hard time enjoying the tea and cakes our friendly host May brings us in the sitting area. Worst of all, the camera is not to be found; I’ve turned out every pocket, nook and zippered compartment. I shoot off an email to Roncari’s just asking them to look in our car and let me know if it’s there. Fraught with anxiety and depressed that I have no way to record our trip, I fall asleep in the luxuriant double bed with a dozen pillows.

A Few More Watercolors

What fun this is! Would I ever have gotten here without Covid19 I wonder? The isolation has removed all the pressures of dyeing yarns, weaving, knitting in anticipation of upcoming shows. So far shows have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely (and really, I do have enough stock should there be a sudden reversal!) Here are some more of my watercolors.

These were done this winter when the living room was toasty warm and all I had to do was move from one chair to another for a different perspective.

I also drove out and photographed a few places just so I’d have some more potential drawings to do.

Of course I did some right from my own yard

Of course, there are my cats, both of whom have died leaving me bereft and needing to find another wonderful brother-sister pair. The little calico was Muizza (named for Mohammed’s kitten who fell asleep in his arms so he had to cut the sleeve off his robe in order to go to pray without waking her.) The tiger was Mischa Mouseky (Named for the cellist Mischa Maisky.)

And I have a few from recent trips to Spain and Italy (even if I didn’t get to go to Sicily this spring!)

Also one more from Stromness. Gulls having retrieved lambchop remains fly off

Adventures in Watercolor–Orkney

If Covid-19 has done nothing else, it has given me permission to spend time drawing. Now, I am no artist! I’ve never taken a formal class though I have watched a number of sketching and drawing classes that are offered through The Great Courses, which I highly recommend. (Some are available through Kanopy, a wonderful public library streaming site.)

This is my first attempt at reviving my blog and it turns out I’ve pretty much forgotten how to do it! Right now I am trying to figure out how to insert photographs.

It was windy and cold at the Kirbuster Farm this day!

The last morning in Stromness and it’s up to Brinkie’s Brae

Where Does Mohair Come From?

Mohair comes from angora goats. Angora comes from angora rabbits.

The angora goat is an ancient breed that originated near present day Ankara (formerly angora) Turkey. Bible references date the animal to 4000 BCE. The Arabic word mukhayyar (mohair) means select or choice, and specifically, the cloth of goat hair – indeed, this is the Sultan’s closely guarded secret! Angora goats were not allowed to be exported from Turkey until the mid nineteenth century. Today the largest herds of these animals are in South Africa, New Zealand and Texas.
The fleece of the angora grows nearly an inch a month. Adult mohair is used for outerwear, upholstery and rugs. Kid mohair is best for fine garments.
We have found that unlike sheep’s wool, mohair does not attract clothes moths as long as the garment is clean.

Moonshine Design Product Gallery

After a great deal of procrastination I have finally assembled a gallery of products that I make here at Keldaby. Although some of these specific items are still available, this series of photos is really meant to give you an idea of what I offer. Of course you know me, the colors are always changing. If you are interested in a specific piece or in a general category put it into a “Comment” or “Contact Form” and I will be happy to photograph what I currently have here in the studio.

Virtually all yarn used in these products is 65 percent Keldaby-raised mohair, 35 percent wool. Unless specified as hand spun, my yarn is mostly made at Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney VT. I do have to purchase the boucle yarns which I like to use interspersed throughout my pieces or as the weft; however, I always buy white and do all my own dyeing. I sell yarn here in my studio and at the shows we go to but it is possible to order from me if you don’t live in our area. Mill spun is $20 to $28 per 4 oz skein and has approximately 220 yards. Hand spun skeins are priced according to weight and composition but are generally $9 to $10 per oz.