Shetland Autumn 2023: Day 20 and 21: Wed 20th and Thurs 21st Sept: spinning and knitting; Scalloway Museum Knitwear and early history

It seemed milder today and up to 15C in the motorhome, but the forecast for further south in Britain was not good with high winds forecast. I wondered which way the weather was travelling, fearing the worst! 

I had targeted a good part of the day to spinning and knitting, which I rarely get a chance to do once we are in Shetland. I thought I had a clear run for these until late in the afternoon. 

I had bought some naturally dyed yarn with me for which I had used spinach! In the summer I read that spinach gave a green dye. I was extremely sceptical and could not get any evidence for this from any trusted written source I consulted. As I had set up a range of solar dyeing in the  greenhouse using cobweb Shetland yarn to see what different shades of yellow I could get I decided that I would try solar dyeing with spinach. 

I had no more ready mordanted fine yarn  available so I used some fleece that I had mordanted. This was a blue faced Leicester/swaledale cross which I knew was pre 2014. It gave a nice yarn but I was not sure how fine I could get it. I was wanting to know that too! So after taking a handful of fleece  about 10 g, the amount I was using for the other solar dyeing I set about ‘wetting’ this fleece using washing up liquid and added 200% spinach and set up the dye jar with the others in the greenhouse. 

Before we left home I rinsed and dried this and today I was hoping to spin some. 

I divided the fleece into two ( I carry a 2 dp balance with me for this!) and then combed the fleece. Once I had combed half of the fleece I used a 1mm sized diz (1)

And this is what it looked like prior to the spinning. Is it green, well on the green side of mustard I would say! If I do some more this year I will also try some  additives as it did dye nicely, but not quite what I would call ‘green’ ! 

Spinning that finely takes time, so I today I only managed to spin  one of the two plies using my Ashford E3. 

My ‘holiday’ knitting had to be simple (not a fine Shetland lace shawl) and I was knitting a pair of fingerless mitts, to match my  own pattern that I use for knitting fair isle yokes of jumpers or Shetland Wool Week beanies! This year I was using naturally dyed pinks to deep violets using cochineal and indigo from the left over yarn from my yoked jumper. 

J and S 2 ply jumper weight 

Time goes quickly when spinning or knitting and all too soon it was time to dress up a bit as we were going into town to have dinner with Janet at No88 in Lerwick. Although  the cruise ship was leaving we were disappointed not to be able to park yet on the pier. This meant a trickier journey walking down the hill for Michael. Then the table was not ready, so what was to be the third thing to ‘go wrong’. Answer nothing (yet!) we had a lovely table seat and the hospitality and food were both exceptional. 

By the time we left Lerwick it was very windy and it felt a long journey back to the campsite, even though it is just up the road! There was no ‘should we or should we not ‘ move the motorhome tonight! We drove straight down into a sheltered spot, so the strong south wind would not disturb us. We both slept well! 

The plan for Thursday was to visit Scalloway Museum. In all the years we have been coming we have not managed to get into the museum. The year prior to Covid we drove there on the Monday after wool week had ended only to be told the museum was now closed. So today that is where we were going. We got up and away early, so early in fact that when we got to Cornerstones for a coffee we both decided to choose a second savoury breakfast. We then walked to the Museum. 

This is not the only street in Scalloway with colourful houses. 

Initially a small museum was opened by the local history group in 1985 mainly concentrating on the activities of the ‘Shetland Bus’ which denotes the operations between Shetland and Norway during WW2. There is an excellent display pertaining to this currently. The new museum was opened in 2012 by the Prime Minister of Norway. It is a delightful museum, the staff are volunteers and are very helpful. The museum, to me, is a model of a local museum, it contains a wide ranging collection of exhibits. These are beautifully presented with very informative labels. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and look forward to visiting this again. 

Choosing these photos to give an idea of the breadth and quality of the exhibits has been difficult. 

Spherulitic felsite prized by stone age ancestor. 

Fair Isle knitwear gives an instant impression then there is the very rewarding bit of looking more closely. What a gem of detail this one is. knitted in Hamnavoe and called the Churchill pattern and yes there is a link! 

Good to see a display relating to lichens and natural dyeing

I love looking at the detail of lace Shawls, this one was knitted for Lady Grimond, the wife of a long standing and respected MP of the area. Such detailed planning needed to get a corner like this shows real understanding and skill. 

This is showing a button mould for horn buttons, yes they can be moulded.

I am drawn to Hanseatic  League information from Shetland as places in Norfolk had links with the Hanseatic Leagues and hence Shetland way back in our history. There was plenty of this in the museum. 

A reconstructed Neolithic plough, using an Ard point. I am finding small flint flakes and small axes in our garden going way back like this, near the current small stream which I suspect was a bigger river then. 

…and that was just the morning. We headed to Hay’s Dock and thought we might get a late lunch there. It is now run by the team at the Dowry and we were keen to try more than just coffee and a cake. It was a good choice. All library books were returned to the library and we headed down to the campsite. Tomorrow we were expecting it to be busier as people began arriving in numbers for Wool Week. 

Notes: 

1. Diz from fleecelovedproducts@gmail.com. I see lots of lovely Diz for sale but the holes are always far too big for my fine spinning! 

Shetland Autumn2023 Day 8: Sept Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers, Knitters and Dyes meeting snd Shetland Museum and Archives

Since Covid I have belonged  to the Guild,as an ‘outwith’ member and both last year and this year we were in Shetland on a Guild meeting day so I have been able to go to that. The meeting in September is a special day as it is the day the trophies (8 in all)  are given for all the different challenges available to Guild members. This year Members took their items to one room in Islesburgh House and the  meeting was conducted next door while the judging of the items took place. 

Today the meeting had a Speaker, Carol Christiansen was going to talk about Latvian  knitting. I was very much looking forward to this. 

However, initially it looked as if I might not make it! Michael  awoke with a painful and swollen left leg and could not put his weight on it. We had booked him lunch in the Dowry  at Hay’s Dock. The plan was that he would drop me at the Guild , potter in Lerwick or drive to one of the spots we know and like, he would rest and enjoy the scenery. I would have my packed lunch with the Guild  and then go and meet him at Hay’s Dock. It looked instead to me like a trip to The Gilbert Bain might be in order. He was thinking he could manage, take 2 paracetamol and then on Monday he would try and seek medical help! It seemed much too urgent to me. We reached a compromise, we would park the Motorhome at Hay’s Dock, he would get into there and have some lunch and I would meet him there as planned. He would phone me if he got worse. This disrupted things rather and made us slower than normal so I was much later to the Guild meeting than I intended. 

The room for the talk was quite small, the meeting was well attended  and I got about the last remaining seat, on the front row as it turned out, next to Emily Poleson. Great to see people I knew but I was flustered, did not manage to get a drink and needed a few deep breathes before the talk started. 

There was some technical challenges, as often happens with one device not recognising another…which today played to an advantage for me. When Carol stood up to talk she said the talk  was about Estonian Textiles. Well, that sounded good to me too. The presentation was excellent, there were lots of maps of parts of Estonia and photos as well as lots of items and books and some recommendations from Carol. It turned out that Emily  had one of the books and rated it highly and I ordered it as soon as I could and it will now be a Christmas present. Items, such as gloves,  are knitted on fine needles and with fine wool and hence are dense and last well. This sounds good to me as during the winter I find myself patching up knitted gloves too frequently. It also seems that Estonia really values knitting, not just for tourists and their trade, but to keep the traditional crafts going and developing. The skills involved are valued and it is possible to study these at a high academic level. It seems currently this is not the case in this country and maintaining and teaching the skills relies on the Guilds and elderly people who have the knowledge, experience and understanding in their heads and genes! Textile courses, even if they exist in colleges seem to get rid of their valuable equipment. A lot of time and effort had gone into the preparation of this through presentation and I for one really enjoyed and appreciated it. In fact it had so much information in it I would like to hear it all again. 

After the presentation, eating my packed lunch and finally getting a drink it was time to view the results of the judges deliberations in awarding the places in the categories and the trophies, in all but one case. The judges today were Anne Eunson and Pearl (I hope I have remembered that properly). It was great to see Anne again, besides going viral for her Shetland knitted ‘fences’ she is a very talented designer, fine lace spinner and knitter. She has designs in previous editions of the Wool Week Annual and I think  teaching 3 classes for Wool Week 23. (She is also a machine knitter and we have spent time in previous years sharing knowledge and exploring possibilities here in Shetland).  

It was good to look at the entries for the different classes under the theme this year of Maritime and I was pleased to see that the Member’s  Choice Trophy went to Rachael Hunter for her imaginatively designed fine lace shawl. (1) I really needed to get back to Michael to see how his leg was, so having checked the time for meeting to help set up the Guild Exhibition and tables for the tea in Tingwall Hall next Friday evening I walked swiftly back to Hay’s Dock. 

I was surprised to see Anne arrive in her car as I got there, and when I found Michael paying his lunch bill she was there too! This is real friendship Shetland style, checking how Michael  was as I had told her what I couldn’t  stay longer at the Guild meeting. 

I managed to get another drink and a sweet treat from the counter. 

M was insistent I should look round the knitwear in the collection as we had planned whilst he go and sit with his ‘improving’ (?) leg up back in the motorhome. 

I really love these bright gloves that were knitted in Yell in the 1940’s.

I homed in on a case I had not noticed before which displayed fine lace knitting from Unst. 

Just consider  that these Unst pieces were created with no written instructions, that is besides the fact that the yarn was hand spun and extremely finely  spun too. Also there were no photos for them to examine either. That is what makes these pieces fine Shetland Lace imo. 

I always like to see the mitre in a shawl or stole, as so much can be learned about the construction. 

 

This is an example of a traditional Shetland method, one advantage of which is that only some of the piece needed to be worked on at a time. These knitters were true masters of design and economy of time and process. Not a gathered corner in sight. Also look at how fine the threads are, these are likely to be formed of 2 ply yarn too. Each ply would be spun from only be a few fine fibres. 

I had not seen this piece before, I love how it had meaning 

I understand it is a sample for a shawl knitted for Queen Victoria. note the crown. It has been attributed to the Sutherland Family. 

Then onto a modern but wonderful example of using lace. 

Again this has quite a story behind it. The highly talented Angela Irvine from Whalsay has updated this yacht originally built by her grandfather in the 1940’s. (2) 

Time to get back to the campsite, get the poorly leg elevated and rest. What a great ‘textile day’ this had been. 

1. In all the fuss I did not take a single photo at the Guild meeting but if you search under Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, weavers and Dyers, including in Facebook you will be able to see some of the items that won the prizes. 
2. Angela produces a variety of imaginative craftwork. Some of this can be seen at  https://www.angelairvine.co.uk