The Touchwood Project

Vintage style + tweed + bicycles = Tweed Run. This year’s Tweed Run event in London saw 400 immaculately dressed cyclists gallivanting about the city, soaking up the sunshine and stopping for tea at regular intervals. I’d love to do something like this, though I think argyll sweaters and multiple tweed layers will be more the order of the day than this: Which projects to try next? Already we’re… Read the rest of this article >>

I love when I try something new, think I’ve failed, and then it turns out great. Such was the case with my first attempt and dyeing, carding and spinning my own yarn, the first of which I’m calling “The Coming Storm”. But it’s also brought up some questions about why getting paid for something seems to equal appreciation. As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to create a yarn that captured both the colours… Read the rest of this article >>

As my Dad told me recently, I’m well on my way to the 14th century at the rate I’m going. Well nothing says medieval like spinning yarn, so today’s post is for the crafty types and wool lovers out there with whom I’d like to share my newest project: Orkney tweed yarns. Getting started with spinning When we moved to this house, our landlandy generously left behind her spinning wheel to use and it’s been… Read the rest of this article >>

Last night I realised that our campaign to promote hitchhiking on Orkney is nothing new — it simply revives a time-honoured tradition. Yep, a kind of hitchhiking used to happen all the time on our island in the form of people stopping to give lifts to each other. Why’s the bus service so bad? Over a cup of tea, Malcolm heard the story from James Stockan, our councillor for Stromness and Hoy areas, while… Read the rest of this article >>

We’re taking the plunge. Malcolm and I are selling the car and going car-free. Bring on the circus bikes! Going car-free in a rural location Unlike when I lived in Washington DC you didn’t really need a car, not having one on Orkney is highly unusual. Pretty much everyone drives…. Read the rest of this article >>

Our quest to have fun, be playful and enjoy living green has started to move in another direction lately: getting rid of the car. Given that it’s 11 miles from our house to Kirkwall and the nearest bus stop is 2 miles away, walking or conventional cycling leaves me feeling apprehensive (the wind! the cold! I’m so not that fit!). So if I’m going to give up something as freedom-giving and effort-saving as a… Read the rest of this article >>

Hitchhiking is something I associate with grubby guys, desperate backpackers, and the occasional kidnapping or worse. I have some notion that it’s even illegal in some countries. So suffice it to say that when Malcolm approached me with the idea of hitchhiking I was skeptical — I believe my response was “No way in hell.” However, I’m rethinking my staunch opposition and am coming around to believing that… Read the rest of this article >>

The latest way we’ve been describing what we’re developing with Touchwood is a ’21st century, luxury Skara Brae’. For those who don’t know what Skara Brae is, it’s a Stone Age village that is a World Heritage site. The houses were at least partially underground, with connecting tunnels. This is a photo of one of several of the houses. You can see the (thought to be) box bed on the left, and stone dresser on the… Read the rest of this article >>

Since we live on the beach, we’ve long eyed up the swaying fronds of bladderwrack, kelp and dulse seaweed — both as free wild food, and as a cheap home spa treatment. Today we and our cats braved the miserable weather to harvest some seaweed because it’s the spring low tide, meaning that the tide is out further than at almost any other time of the year — perfect for gathering fresh seaweed…. Read the rest of this article >>

Today we caravanned along the road to check out the first straw bale house being built on Orkney. Our interest is both personal, as a home for ourselves, and for Touchwood, as potential accommodation eco-cottages. I have to say, it’s a strong contender in the quest to find the best eco-friendly, locally available and enduring building material. Nick Morrison and Amazonails… Read the rest of this article >>