Hello everyone – hope you are all having a lovely day, however you are spending it. We’ve just been out for a very windy walk. Let me tell you, there is a very good reason that those nineteenth century women mountaineers abandoned their skirts at the foot of the hill — the damn things act like a bloody sail when the wind picks up.
Ascending was pretty difficult in this get-up, and Tom had his own problems . . .
The weather really is quite bizarre: the past two years, we have had crisp, white Christmases, but today it is weirdly mild, incredibly windy, and strangely brooding. There was no-one to disturb us up on North Berwick Law.
Tom is wearing his new Christmas sweater. He picked out the wool himself to match his kilt. It is Alice Starmore Bainin in the ‘Cairngorm’ colourway – a very pleasing shade of blue. Tom also more or less designed the sweater (based on one he already had) and I then knit it – more or less to his specifications. It is a high-necked raglan, plain and very simple.
Looks good with that blue-y green tartan, though. (It is the Macdonald of the Isles ‘ancient’ tartan, for those of you who are interested)
Tom’s Christmas sweater is ravelled here.
Right, a feast beckons. I’m off to the kitchen. See you later!
Great photos. I thought you might like this photo of Fay Fuller, the first woman to climb Mt. Rainier in Washington state, in her climbing garb ca. 1890: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7786. She wore bloomers and of course a small straw hat.
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Beautiful sweater, beatiful kilt ! Windy Scotland ! All the best to you all !
Happy New Year from Paris !
Elena
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It’s New Year’s Eve, Happy New Year! I’m home, hiding from the crowds (I have the same hearing difficulties as you) and I just read The Yarn Harlot’s blog.
Congratulations! You’ve been “Harloted!”
Diane
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Style over practicality, for once! Alas, I am the same, although at least you both seem to manage to wear suitable shoes. Merry Christmas, and best wishes for the coming year. Anushka x
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Love the tartan, and new sweater also. Hope you both, and Bruce, had an enjoyable Xmas, lovely to have all this in pics to yourself a bit.
Happy New Year coming to you and your family Kate!
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FYI i don’t know if you saw this about the fair isle (pop 65) knitters and their doyenne, 89-year old annie thompson.
http://fair-isle.blogspot.com/2011/10/traditional-hand-knit-fair-isle.html
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thomson, i think, so sorry.
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By just looking at the images, I can already feel the serenity of the place. How I wish I can have a place like that for a casual hiking.
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Merry everything and happy always!
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Bruce and a kilt all in one pic. Be still my heart. (Sorry, Kate. Were you in a picture?)
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Boy – I need to move to Scotland. Men in kilts. Nothing sexier! Happy Holidays!
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You know, a couple of weeks ago, after reading the post on your blog, I finally made an order on the Cabbages & Roses website – for the plaid skirt that looks like the one you’re wearing! (Though I think yours is the dress, right? It looks fuller than the skirt.)
Hope you had a marvellous Christmas. :)
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wow, you two are amazing !
bruce is not bad either :)
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Hi Kate,
I have been following your blog for a few months and loved Wovember. I have just found found this really interesting TV news story about the development of the merino sheep in Australia. Apparently these merino sheep had a big impact on the Bradford spinning mills. I thought you might be interested. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-27/book-released-on-the-history-of-famed-sheep/3748292
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Something quite funny happened last night when I was scrolling through your post. My husband came up behind me, saw the photos of you hiking in your long skirt, and said “Who’s that?”
I startled myself by replying, completely without forethought, “Kate Davies. She’s a wool activist.”
He accepted that at face value, and wandered off, leaving me to laugh at myself and marvel at the truth of it.
Happy St Stephen’s Day!
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I hope you like this. The middle part with the bagpipes is particularly awesome!
http://www.clarrissegill.com/videoclips/amazing_grace.php
Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year to you all!
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Lovely !!!! Thanks for letting us know Tom’s tartan is MacDonald of The Island Ancient ! Very nice . There aren’t enough kilts worn in this world , in my opinion. lol.
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how wonderful to see the MacDonald of the Isles Tartan!! We live in Illinois USA . My married name is MacDonald and first name was Lawson. Very wonderful to see the plaid THank you…
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Thanks so much for this wonderful post! I find myself inspired by every word, and the photos are wonderful! I will sit my my own fire today, a pot of tea brewing, the Pennsylvania sky as brooding as yours, and take up my knitting! Thank you for all your words! My soul is so much better for them!
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Merry Christmas Kate, I hope you and yours had a lovely day. Loved the photos in the wind and the sweater is perfect with Toms Kilt….lovely photos :-)
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Merry Christmas to you and your family and thank you very much for the wonderful designs xxx
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Merry Christmas from Australia :) We had a bit of everything on Christmas Day … cool, crisp morning, then sultry, then violent thunderstorms and absolutely pouring rain. Weird. It was lovely seeing your part of the world … I kind of know it, my husband was born and lived in Musselburgh till he was 12. Then his family joined the long list of Scots who have migrated to Australia and New Zealand.
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There is something so sexy about a man in a kilt ……… nice sweater too.
Merry Christmas. Over here in Melbourne, Australia we have had the most bizarre weather, hot sticky 30 degrees all morning then amazing thunderstorms, hail the size of golf balls and a tornado this afternoon and evening!
Lovely to see you enjoying a walk.
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Blowing the cobwebs away… Over Here we have a super strong easterly this morning zooming across thousands of kilometres of desert to the west coastof Australia. It always makes your eyes itch and the blinds flap and the dust swirl. It also means that today is going to be hot, tomorrow hotter 37oC. Up North there is a cyclone brewing in a massive spiral. So, not so much gorgeous men in their new sweaters but cool T-shirt and shorts. The easterly would have the same effect upon a kilt though… Have a great day. PS Message from Woody to Bruce – “Did you get a bone? I am off to the beach again to see my mates – will try not to get dumped in the waves again. Got rid of the bow too……. Happy snuffling, Woody”.
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Tell that man he’s looking rather rugged in the new sweater. Rather lovely.
Hope you’ve had a grand day altogether.
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Gorgeous – both of you! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, and thank you so much for all of your wonderful blogging this year. I have learned heaps and find you a daily inspiration. (Do you think you’ll be writing Tom’s sweater pattern up? My hubby could do with another decent jumper….) x
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Merry Christmas from Philadelphia! Tom looks especially handsome in his new sweater and kilt…nice gambs :) Hope you have a wonderful new year filled with joy!
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We are having unseasonably mild weather in eastern Ontario as well. Looks as though you had a lovely way to work up a good appetite.
Happy Christmas!
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Merry Christmas from the West Coast of Canada, where we’re having some fearsome winds and mild temperatures as well. Lovely sweaters and tartans!!
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very happy you made your trad christmas day ascent and hope there was some mead waiting for you at home.
merry christmas to all!
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Happy Christmas to Tom, Kate and Bruce.
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Altho I am sure you did not mind the ‘view’….I would say the wind makes the need for a longer kilt! LOL
Lovely sweater and it goes perfectly with the kilt! Happy holidays!
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Lovely, lovely kilt – what clan is it? Sweater is perfect! Happy Christmas to you three.
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Looks great on him. Merry Christmas.
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I was almost in despair, but on the 24th it finally started to snow in Sudbury, Ontario and after the Christmas Eve church service it took 10 minutes or more to brush all the snow off the car so that I could drive home. I powered into the driveway and waded through the snow to the front door. Today, I’m “snowed in” because both the road plow and the sidewalk plow have gone by, but since I’m not going anywhere it doesn’t matter. When the whole family comes at 4:00 p.m. for present opening followed by Christmas feasting, my 3 sons can shovel the driveway(I hope). Merry Christmas to you, Tom, and Bruce. You all look as if you’re having a grand time and Tom looks very happy in his kilt and matching new sweater. Enjoy your feast. I’m really looking forward to ours. I LOVE great family occasions!
Cheers and red wine, Hazel.
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Happy Christmas! We are enjoying a mild and windy Christmas day here on Vancouver Island, but if we walked up the ‘hills’ here, we would be into snow. We have the ski hill on Vancouver Island that often boasts the most amount of snow of any ski hill in the world!
Lovely sweater – handsome husband and gorgeous dog. Beautiful photographer, both inside and out!
Peg
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Merry Christmas from Portland, Oregon USA. You all look great and of course I love to see Bruce!
It’s been odd weather here too ~ we usually have lots of rain and it’s been quite dry here of late.
Have a really lovely rest of your day!
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It’s like a scene from Wuthering Heights– except you two look pretty happy :-) Thanks for sharing!
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Merry Christmas from Canada. There’s snow on the ground here in Alberta but only zero degrees so we too shall have a good walk later. Enjoy your holidays.
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all the toys have been opened by 2 excited grandchildren and granpa and younger daughter (the one sans kids) are napping as are the 4 dogs in attendance. This afternoon great grandpa and gigi are coming for a spaghetti dinner. Mild here no snow at all! your scenery is beautiful, as is Tom’s sweater
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I’m out in the Borders for the holidays and we nearly got blown away taking the dog for a walk up a hill! But it wasn’t really cold at all, just incredibly windy. Very strange weather when you consider the last three snowy winters. Have a lovely Christmas!
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You all three look just lovely with your tartans billowing about – thanks for the Christmas Day post.
I’m enjoying a cup of coffee with a wee shot of Irish cream while working on my Neep Heid.
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Merry Christmas!!
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I’ve often wondered about the double thick pleats in a kilt and all that weight…. it all makes sense now.
Merry Christmas
… another Kate
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