Shetland Wool Week 2015 - Day 7

It was another busy day on Friday.  In the morning I taught another group of lovely ladies "Fair Isle Knitting".  The task was to start knitting a phone cover or pouch from a choice of patterns.

 

Friday afternoon was really the first chance I have had to go out and about, I went to visit the girls at Ninian - they have such a beautiful range of yarn colours in the studio.

 

Finished garments in the shop:

 

 While I was there I knitted a coiple of rows on the Muckle Gravit (great big scarf), which was started by Shetland Arts and Crafts Association over ten years ago.

 

 

Empty shelves at Jamieson's of Shetland shows evidence that Lerwick has been invaded by knitters.

 

Fair Isle garments for sale at Jamieson's of Shetland:

Over at Vaila Fine Art  Shetland Organics have once again put on a beautiful display of a variety of work made mainly be local makers.

There I met  Alicja Tyburska  from Poland, she has been based at Vaila Fine Art during Wool Week and is demonstrating weaving traditional Polish doubleweave cloth on an antique loom.  Examples of double weave cloth can be seen behind Alicja.

 

The gallery is filled with examples of items using Shetland Organic wool:

 

 

Wool Week wouldn't be wool week without a trip to Jamieson and Smith - I dropped in on my way home, the shop was really busy and Deborah Gray had just finished a class on drop spindle techniques.  My camera card was full so I had to resort to taking photos with the iPad, so the quality is not very good.

 

 

It is now Sunday night as I write this and its all over - I am feeling quite emotional, very tired and looking forward to getting back to normal but also sad as I will really miss it.

 

I will be back tomorrow with photos of the last two days!

 

 

Shetland Wool Week 2015 Days 4, 5 & 6

At the beginning of the week I planned to blog every day but it hasn't happened like that - it has been a pretty busy few days!

On Tuesday I spent the day in the hub helping at the information desk and chatting to people. There were classes going on during the day:

Deborah Gray was teaching a class on Shetland Colours: Blending fibres.  Students were provided with a photograph of a Shetland scene and provided with fleece in primary colours and white.  The range of colours created were amazing. 

 

 

Helene Magnusson gave a class on the Icelandic lace dress with the help of her woolly assistant Henrietta!

 

 

The hub was full of knitters and spinners as usual: 

 

 

 

It has been really good to see the baa-ble hats but also really good to see other garments inspired by the hat.  These mitts were made by Amanda Richmond from NSW Australia.  You can see the project on Ravelry here.

 

On Wednesday I taught  "Introduction to Fair Isle Knitting" to a lovely group of ladies. 

 

 

 

 

In the evening I went to the Shetland Library, they were holding an informal knitting session (Stitches From the Stacks), the extensive textile selection of books were unearthed and knitters could browse through the books while enjoying a cup of tea and homebakes.

 

 

We were very happy that Felicity found her book Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook in the display!  (Have you noticed she has appeared in every blog post this week?!)

 

 

Today we had a visit from the knitting group from Whalsay school, this group is run by a group of volunteers and their knitting skills are amazing.  Its so good to see the younger generation so enthusiastic about traditional knitting.  They were all so lovely too.

 

Photo: Selina Miller 

 

We made some felt jewellery, they all ended up with a necklace an some felt "beads" they could make into a bracelet.

 

Their presence was a big hit  - here they are getting interviewed for Radio Shetland:

 

 

 Knitting projects!

 

 

Later on we had a visit from the knitting group from the Anderson High School - I wanted to get some more photos but I was so busy I didn't get time - I can't believe its Friday tomorrow!

Shetland Wool Week 2015 Day 3

I had no classes today so this morning on my way to Lerwick I stopped at the Scalloway museum. They are open all week and have a display of knitwear in the centre of the exhibition with a small selection of knitwear through the years.

 

 

 

 

Its not everyday you see a pair of Fair Isle underpants on top of a tattit rug (and before anyone asks these are not a serious item and were made for a joke!)

 

 

They have a small café with tables which makes an ideal place to knit a while and knit while enjoying a view of the Scalloway castle.

 

 

 

There was tea, bannocks, rhubarb jam and buttered oatcakes, all made by my Great Aunt Emma this morning.

 

 

 

Here she is - an amazing lady who at the age of 94 can do anything!

 

 

She is an expert at Shetland lace knitting:

 

 

There is also a shop area with an amazing array of handknits:

 

 

 

The museum is open everyday during Shetland Wool Week from 11 a.m.- 5 p.m., there will be locals there everyday demonstrating either knitting or spinning.

 

I spent the afternoon in the hub at Isleburgh, it was mostly chatting and not much knitting!

 

In the evening I had the pleasure of spending a wonderful evening at the museum lecture theatre where Ella Gordon and Kate Davies gave a very interesting talk on their collections of vintage knitwear.

 

 

 

Felicity (who introduced the speakers), Ella and Kate:

 

 

 

Some of Ella's extensive collection:

 

 

And I am still finding it a bit surreal seeing all the Baa-ble hats!

 

 

Speak tomorrow!