What - no golfclubs?

My incredulous husband made this remark when he heard I was going to Dornoch, home of the famous 400 year old golf course, with its Royal title, which is ranked number 5 in the world.

This weekend, though, I was attending the Dornoch Fibre Fest with my friend, Alison.  It was knitting needles and crochet hooks rather than drivers and putters, and balls of yarn rather than the white dimpled variety, that we had in mind as we travelled three hours north to the picturesque cathedral town.

The event is a celebration of fibre and woollen crafts and comprised classes, demonstrations, drop-in sessions as well as retail opportunities and was held in two venues in the town.  The gaily decorated lamp posts helped direct visitors from one hall to the other.

Alison and I aren't newcomers to the fibre festival circuit, having enjoyed previous trips together to Edinburgh Yarn Festival last March and the Highland Wool Festival at Dingwall in May 2015.

It was a delight to see stallholders we'd met before and some new vendors too.  Here's Helen from Ripplescrafts, Laurence and Clive from Gongcrafts and Julie from Black Isle Yarns.  It was lovely to blether and I may have purchased some yarn from them all along the way!

Fibre festivals are friendly, colourful, enticing places.  At Dornoch there was squishable hand-dyed yarns from dedicated small batch producers as well as beautiful undyed natural fibres.  There were cute kits to make kids garments, fabrics, threads, spinning supplies and all the knitting accoutrements and paraphernalia one could wish for.  Sellers and buyers shared their love of crafts, inspiring each other and swapping pattern details, and there was a happy atmosphere.

As well as enjoying morning coffee and lunch at the venue, and to keep up our energy levels, we visited Dornoch Patisserie and Cafe for coffee with warm white chocolate and raspberry bread pudding - delicious!  I just loved the illustration on their menu.

The festival also featured a cushion competition.  Entries could be of any design using mixed media so I entered the baable cushion I'd made which I wrote about here.

I was absolutely thrilled to learn I'd  won first prize.  My cushion also won the prize from the Shetland Sheep Society as I'd used Shetland wool for the sheep in my design.  Double first!

My prize was a beautiful candle bowl from Tain Pottery - in a design exclusive to Royal Dornoch Golf Club as they sponsored the competition.

So I didn't take my clubs to Dornoch - but I did come home with a prize from the golf club!