We haven’t done much since getting back from Edinburgh, Ally said she was in too much pain and tired from the trip and didn’t want to go anywhere. Today though, she said she was much better and took me to her craft club. They seemed like nice folk but nobody wanted to be photographed with me – must be cos I’m so gorgeous, they’re just jealous. I’m insulted and miffed though, cos I was ignored as they all got on with their knitting and gossiping and joking and not paying attention to me. They made more fuss over Ally’s new lacy scarf than they did over me... Hmmph. The craft club is really busy just now, making more baby clothes for the Highland Malawi Trust as it seems the people out there have nothing and the club sends out donations regularly. Here’s a pic of some of the things that went out in time for Easter.

I got really bored because Ally didn’t want me messing with her crochet again and thought I’d have a look round, I spotted something interesting and climbed the wall to see what it was. It was an Easter mobile thing some of the members had made and in it I found a hoard of chocolate, nom, nom, nom. Now that’s what I like to see. They made it for a special Easter lunch being held for some local pensioners next Tuesday, it’s going to hang over the servery counter as a decoration.

But I didn’t eat all the chocolate, honest. No really, after my sojourn with the green jelly babies, I haven’t room for chocolate too. But that’s a secret, so shhhh. We don’t want Ally to get suspicious... She’s not meant to know what we have planned for her. DF xx

Well, here I am again. Dragged out of my comfy bed at some horrible hour to get on a train to Edinburgh for something called a yarn festival. Goody, I like a good gab. Ally had some fun getting on the train as the staff didn’t know she’d booked assistance and she had to go and find someone with a ramp to help her. I must say, it was nice to be looking out of a window while travelling instead of stifling in a padded envelope, Ally clearly understands how to treat a VIP like me right. I had a lot of questions about the journey, didn’t get many answers though because Ally seemed a bit sleepy and cross.

We had the same problem with assistance at Haymarket once we arrived, but it didn’t take long to sort out and we were soon in a taxi to the festival. Did  you know that yarn means some sort of thread stuff as well as stories? Oh, you did? Well then. There was a riot of colour and noise the Corn Market when we arrived and I’m sorry to say, nobody noticed me, Rolly got a lot of attention which is not fair, I’m far more important.

I got a bit bored listening to all the stuff about knitting and crochet, so I settled down and learned to crochet myself, you can see my wonderful efforts in the middle of the collage below. Well, I am a genius after all.

Ally was given a lovely shawl and a parp, parp horn for Rolly which pleased them both. Here he is modelling the goodies.

It was a long day, so we shared a taxi with some of Ally’s Ravelry friends and went off to find our hotel and sign in. After dinner and  a soak, we settled down to sleep until I was woken in the early hours to hear Ally being rather unwell in the bathroom, apparently it’s my fault – hey I only wanted to be sure she didn’t go too high in the night. How was I to know a hypo could do all that? Ally stayed up for hours testing and eating jelly babies and pressed poor Rolly into service as a yarn holder so she could wind some of the wool she bought.

We finally settled down again about 4am when Ally’s numbers came up from a low of 2.2 to 5.8 and had a good sleep... Finally! Frankly, I could do without all that excitement.

Day 2

After a decent breakfast and decent numbers - Ally seemed pleased with her waking BG of 6.4 - it was into a taxi and off back to the Corn exchange for day 2 of the festival. I made sure there was plenty of sugar available in case of more hypos.

But nothing happened except more present swapping and talking to another lot Ravelry folk. They all seem obsessed with thread and yarn and something called knitting and there was a lot of oohing and ahhing whenever one of them came back with a new purchase.

We stayed till 3pm and then got a taxi back to Haymarket where there was another hunt for assistance. Ally seemed very quiet on the way back and was muttering something about needing spoons. She didn’t ask the tea lady for any though. It was dark on the journey and I was very bored with nothing to do. We were delighted once we reached Inverness to find the assistant waiting this time - it’s a long way down off the train and there’s a huge chasm between the steps and the platform. Then it was into another taxi back to Ally’s home where she went off to bed almost immediately. She hasn’t stirred yet and I’m getting awfully fed up sitting around with nothing to do... I wonder, I’m going to find that hoard of green jelly babies for a chat... See you later. DFxx

This is Ally (AlisonM), I thought I'd let you know I had a phone call this morning. “Ahmur at ra stayshun, come you an get me hame wi ye”. “I beg your pardon” says I, “do I know you?” It seems it's her maj, the Diabetes Fairy, she's spent the last few weeks at the Scots Leid School in Glasgow learning to speak proper Weegian. I have to go now and get her, excuse me...

... Got her, I'll let her take over from here.

Hmmph, so far I'm not impressed, Ally finally showed up to collect me, it seems there was a communications breakdown and nobody told her I was coming today. And, she had the nerve to tell me my Scots accent is worse than James Doohan's*, whoever he was. I’ve never been so insulted. To keep the peace I've gone back to my previous, more refined accents.

We went shopping. First stop, the Victorian Market for a lottery ticket.

This me, riding in style on Rolly. I must say, he's very useful to have around as there was rather a lot of stopping and having a “wee sit down” because of Ally’s aches and pains, I did rather mind having to sit in Ally's lap though, I think I should have a Rolly of my own. Our next stop was Yankee Candles to get a little something to go in with a gift for one of Ally's online pals she tells me we'll be meeting tomorrow in Edinburgh, then we went to the food court for a cup of tea and a wee sit down. We had soup as well, and I kept a look out in case anyone saw Ally test and jab (5.2, she says), but nobody did. After that it was off to Argos for something called a power bank, funny looking thing I can't see where you'd put the money. So it's nothing like a piggy bank then? We had another wee sit down there waiting for the thingummyjig to be handed over.

Then we went to a place called Markies (looked just like M&S to me) where we bought some supplies for the train.

And, guess what we did next? Yes, you got it, we had a wee sit down, lucky the sun is shining today so we could sit outside.

So this is Inverness? Hmm, I thought it was a City, looks like a little town to me and it was very quiet, none of the bustle I expected from a tourist trap. It seems the skiers have mostly gone home while the whisky lovers and ancestor hunters haven't arrived yet. Haven't seem much 'scenery' yet, the town centre is mostly below sea level and the buildings hide the hills. We'll see plenty on the train to Edinburgh though, Ally promised.

Tomorrow we're off to Edinburgh for a couple of days to something called The Edinburgh Yarn Festival where Ally will be meeting some online crafter friends for the first time and feeling up all the wonderful yarns. This is a good n she tells me.

That's it for now, we're exhausted and going to a wee sit down and another cup of tea.

Happy St Pat’s Day (for yesterday. Well, today, really, because I'm writing this today, but I will be posting it tomoorow, which will be today when you read it. Or possibly later.) DFxx

* For the youngsters among us James Doohan was a Irish/Canadian and played Scotty on the Original Star Trek, his cod Scots accent was appalling.