Isolation Scarves & Scottish Inspiration
I’m so lucky to live in the Scottish Borders, especially during this global pandemic. Lockdown has meant very few changes for me in many ways, as I already have a home studio to work from- I just can’t go on more than one walk a day as I normally do, and all the events and orders I had planned have been cancelled (ok, so it still has a major impact really!).
My lack of deadlines has meant I’ve not been motivated to carry on work as normal, but I have created some new colourways for scarves, inspired by the Scottish landscape around me during this time.
The new Eildon Scarf, inspired by the Eildon hills you can see behind it.
Inspired by the Scottish Borders Countryside
This new mini range of lambswool scarves has a colour scheme that has been inspired by the deep forest greens, heathery hillsides, lichen covered walls and branches, and grassy fields of the Scottish Borders that I’m lucky enough to call home.
They are made with finest soft lambswool, that’s mulesing free and spun and dyed in Scotland using Global Organic Textile Standard approved dyes. I have hand framed them on my vintage knitting machine, and hand finished them to the highest standards. One of the scarves, “Yair”, is limited edition, as I’ve used some colours that have been discontinued, but they looked so pretty together I couldn’t resist using them anyway!
For now, I can’t make any more of them as I’ve run out of the forest green, and as the spinners are closed for now, I can’t order more. The challenges of working during lockdown!
Colour Scheme Inspiration
Above, you can see where I get some of my colour scheme inspiration for my scarf designs. The beautiful rich yellows of lichens, vibrant mosses, pinks of bilberry flowers, and grey/greens of more lichens. Even some of the soil around here is a reddish pink colour. Spring is a time of year I always find exciting- I love seeing the countryside gradually come back to life and colour, and I’ve really loved being able to spot new clumps of flowers and leaves starting to open over the last few weeks. It’s one of the small things that brings me joy each day, and helps me keep lockdown blues at bay.
A view from the hillside near Yair over towards the Eildons.
Here are just a few of the bursts of colour and flowers I’ve found over the past weeks. Primroses, gorse everywhere, coltsfoot, and I think the purple flower may be a type of camassia. I’ve also found cuckoo flower, cowslips and woodland anemones, and now daisies and dandelions are providing colour too!
These paths might look very ordinary on a grey day, but with blue skies they are utterly beautiful to me. Even a fairly short walk up one of these paths gives you fantastic views, and you never know what wildlife you might see. Today I spotted a stoat (I think the first one I’ve ever seen), some days I see deer, grouse, pheasants, and all sorts of small birds singing their hearts out.
The sky might be blue, but that doesn’t mean it’s always been warm. It’s still Scottish Spring, and scarves are still needed here! I’ve made myself one of the new Yair scarves, and it’s really cheered me up on my daily outing.