Shetland Wool Week trip 2022: Tues 13 Sept

No rain today, but wind! When I looked at 6.00, my phone warned me of major disruption due to gales, but we hoped (and as it turned out were correct) this would not affect the plans to go up to Unst. This was to be a leisurely day and I hoped to find time to use my Ashford Electric Spinner which I had brought with me for the first time. (1) 

The ferry from Toft was booked for 10.45, so on the way up we were able to stop off at Brae. We didn’t try the Brae hotel for coffee, although this does look worth a try, but instead went into Brae Co-op which in our view is a super shop. We stocked up on pastries and enjoyed the coffee and hot chocolate (me) that we made in the Motorhome to have with these.

I had brought some natural dyeing and wool related items with me which I was going to gift. I was going to Unst Heritage Centre to have an afternoon with the Knitting and Spinning ladies tomorrow, so more gifting, and hence more space in the Motorhome for purchases. 

One of these being a bag of Lincoln Longwool locks that I had bought from Rigby Lincoln Longwools. I wanted to spin some fine to add to my complement of fine spun fleece types and  also to add some details of the fleece and the history of the breed to go in the ‘gifting bag’. 

Lincoln Longwool fleece unwashed 

The staple was advertised as ‘at least’ 10” inches long but the locks here were longer than that, 15” (38 cm)! 

I had washed some for myself previously and spun fine yarn with it. This is one of the skeins. A thing of beauty, so lustrous, from locks so full of lanolin. It is always a pleasure when I can start with the fleece, produce the yarn, and then as added bonus natural dye it and knit with it. But all time consuming!(2)

A spun skein, 2 ply. Singles 125 wpi (wraps per inch) NM 2/23

I was also going to take the Ashford Electric Spinner for the Unst ladies to try if they wished, so hoped that when we got to the campsite I would have time to check the e-spinner had survived the journey so far. For me this was late preparation! 

So we progressed to Toft and onto Yell and drove through to Gutcher to wait for the ferry to Belmont in Unst. (For interest in autumn 2022, the return fare was £21.70 for our motorhome). 

Arriving in Unst, Belmont House now a private property

I thought these were for the space centre, but I was informed by a local crofter they are in fact for the wave energy project around the islands of Yell and Unst. 

We drove straight to Uyeasound where we would stay overlooking the sea. What’s not to love about this place! 

There was one caravan parked there, so we parked up and proceeded to get lunch. The facilities had been renovated and now included 2 showers, with hot water, new washbasins etc. but no heat. We have a shower in the motorhome that will be warmer! This year for the first time we would not be able to use the facilities of the Gardiesfauld hostel due to covid restrictions. We had always enjoyed meeting and chatting to the many people who stayed there. At this time of year many would be ‘birders’. Also we got good Wi-Fi reception there, this year only my phone, Vodaphone, appeared to be working, ie no Three reception. I can understand why the hostel was only available as a ‘book the whole hostel’ but felt it would be have a serious effect on the income of the island businesses. One of the challenges of such a remote life, try and keep Covid at bay but still be able to maintain an income. I hoped as Covid becomes less of a concern in the future, the hostel will become a vibrant part of life in the island again. 

Looking one way from our parking spot

And the other way - taken at the same time! 

We decided to leave driving around some of our favourite spots in the island for another day. We had a couple of busy days ahead of us. I got out the electric spinner, which was working just as well as when I packed it away and settled down for a full afternoon of fine lace spinning in one of the most beautiful places. Bliss. It was so good to be back. Sitting looking over the sea we were blessed with great views of a little plover on the beach and a red breasted merganser in the sea. 

1. I use a rechargeable Talentcell (model YB 1206000 -USB ) which I find excellent and lasts for a long time between recharges. It was a bit of a fuss when it arrived as the rubber on the lead going into the back of the spinner was too wide, ie the hole made by Ashford was too narrow. I needed help from a knowledgeable friend to know which lead I needed to buy to go through the hole. When you know what you are looking for it can be found on a well known online auction site. I made sure I labelled the ends of the leads carefully! 
2. To spin 2.5 g this fine takes me two evenings, that is 1 ply of this skein. I have not added up the other processes. You can see why in Shetland at the height of the fine knitting era, often the knitter was not the spinner and the end product was a family affair. 
3. This gives some additional information https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2022/02/16/its-clean-its-predictable-and-its-invisible/

Cley- a gem of the North Norfolk coast

I have several half written posts about places in East Anglia that we have visited this summer. Out latest was a trip to Cley on the North Norfolk Coast. I am determined to finish writing this post and then will try and work at finishing the others. 

The village has Anglo Saxon roots, Cley being a derivation of clay! Cley is pronounced to rhyme with ‘shy’ but at times the village has been called Clay! 

If you are a bird watcher then the word  Cley will mean something to you ….a bit like when I hear the name Shetland which is tied up with spinning, lace and fair isle  in my head! 

Cley is described as one of the best bird watching sites in the UK and the home of birding in Britain. It sits looking north with only sea between it and land over the globe on the other side! It attracts a lot of migrants, especially in autumn and spring, acting as a staging ground. We actually visited as we hadn’t been for far too long due to Covid 19 restrictions. We weren’t intending to see any bird in particular but as you approach the beach this is a common sight.

Like many places along our coastline it is but a shadow of its former self due in the case of Cley to silting up ! Cley is now ‘Cley next the sea’ but the village has been a decent walk from the beach since the 17th Century. The much photographed and ‘ loved by artists’ windmillI was actually built in the early 19th Century. Over the years it has been more or less fully restored and now operates as a rather special B and B and self catering venue. (The Church in the photo is in a neighbouring village!) 

I spent a notable birthday there a few years back- great views from the windows over the surrounding area. The sides of the window were mirrored! 

 Cley  used to be one of the busiest ports in the country, where cloth, grain, and fish were exported or imported.Along with other Norfolk ports there was much trade, in particular connected with weaving, with the Low Countries and probably more goods moved this way than by land to other parts of the country. Goods were taken to Hull and London by sea rather than by land. 

The village used to be based around the Grade 1 listed Medieval church, set even further inland. As with many Norfolk Churches it seems large, parts date back to 1320-1340. The village itself is a nightmare for both pedestrians and traffic. If driving when you want to pull on the side to get out of the way of the local bus there will be a building jutting out into the road! Much patience and driving skill is needed. When built the narrow roads and lanes were not designed  for the volume or size of modern traffic. However the village is worth pursuing, there is a free car park at the village hall, delightful lanes and alleyways and some very nice shops - a great deli, a second hand bookshop, art gallery, pottery, smoke house and at least one really good coffee shop with views over the marshes. If you do venture to the village, take a look at the buildings, everything from flint cottages to very modern via Dutch Gables (reminding one of the trading links) and grand Georgian. 

 View from the West of the village near Artemis coffee shop and the Deli. 

Cley itself sits in the area of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding National Beauty. The bird reserve is to the East of the village and is surrounded by  marshes important for their populations of rare and breeding birds. It is the oldest county Wildlife Trust reserve in the country being set up in 1926. It is a special place and one of the iconic birds is the avocet, to me such an elegant bird. 

The previous thatched reserve building now hosts exhibitions during the year and in 2007 a new eco friendly visitor centre opened. It has a good cafe, nice shop with cards by local artists and a good book section besides the usual gifts. There is an interpretation area, and talks and workshops are held in a separate ‘education’ building. One can sit having coffee and cake and look over the reserve.

(In the following photo the deeper blue line across the centre is the sea, the avocet photo was taken from one of the hides in the centre of the photo.) 

There are many hides allowing good viewing of the frequent flocks of birds and access to the beach is possible if one is prepared to walk.

Typical reeds

View  of the Beach looking west from the East Bank walkway-it was this busy whe we were there in the week! 

A great place to blow away the cobwebs and appreciate the natural beauty of our surroundings. 

Shetland Wool Week 19: 15 Estonian Edgings plus and Fine Lace Knitting

Thurs Oct 3:Day 18 

I had hoped to do Hadewych’s ‘Crossing Borders’ class last year, but it wasn’t to be. I was very pleased to be doing it this year and it was to be another day spent in Hoswick. Again there were just 6 in the class, Maggie and I from England, an Israeli lady who I first met and chatted to in a previous year when we were in Unst, an American  lady and 2 ladies who were friends and part of a group of 4 from Australia. 

Hadewych (1) began by showing us some of her colourful and beautifully finished knitwear. It was obvious she was, like me, a perfectionist in terms of finishing her garments and I realised I was going to like this class even more than I had anticipated.

We had been asked to bring a 15cm square which we would work round during the class. I had knitted mine in the grey wool of my yoked jumper and taken my naturally dyed ground elder yarn with me to use. (2) Hadewych gave out a well illustrated and clear handbook for us to use at home but did not expect us to work through it in the class. 

We started off doing what was described as a relatively simple border which resulted in a textured bobble edge and this got us into finding the stitches required at a border. After some time spent on getting perfect facings and learning about zip insertion that stays flat we moved on to Borders in Estonian Knitting. Hadewych had initially learned  from Riina Tomberg and I quickly realised that this could turn into another obsession. 

I was so pleased to be introduced to these techniques and I could see how different combinations of stitches and colours could personalise any knitwear. I had plans in my head for my 2020 knitwear. We will see if I can add some of what I leaned in this great class. (3)

Michael arrived back during the afternoon. He had driven to Ollaberry (a round trip of 80 miles) to look for the Bee Eater he had heard about. He had had a great day, watching it for some time and taking photos. 

We had a fairly swift turn round as we were off to dinner at The String. This was just as good as we had anticipated and it was great to see and talk to other diners who virtually all seemed to be there for Wool Week.

We then walked to the museum where I was going to Carol Christiansen’s talk on ‘Elegant and Handsome Specimens of Knitting: Shetland Lace Close-up’. 

I sat with Kate and we had a catch up on how we had spent the day.(4)

Carol’s talk was excellent. There is no other word for it. It was well illustrated and she spoke for an hour or so. There are about 400 pieces of lace in the Museum  Collection. Carol described the history of lace knitting in Shetland and  referred to 10 years of research. She discussed a couple of earlier pieces of work in the quest to try and define Shetland Lace Knitting and what sets it apart from other Lace Knitting. Most of the pieces in the Museum are knitted from hand spun yarn. Most of the pieces have little documentation. Her current research project was described and we heard how Ann  Eunson is examining and charting some of the motifs and Kathleen Anderson is knitting these as samples. The plan is that a book of these will be published. I took copious notes, as I do, 16 pages and so can do no more than outline  what I noted. (5). As a dedicated fine lace spinner and knitter I found this excellent and good value for my £6 ticket! 

What a wonderful day for both of us. 

1. Hadewych had a career as a teacher in the Netherlands. As a school pupil she spent some time in Norway and got interested in two colour knitting. She has run many workshops in wool week and also Netherlands, Norway and the Faroe Islands. 
2. In hindsight  this was not the best choice. I would have been better using strong clashing colours so I could see the separate stages of each process. 
3. As I was doing the class it brought back memories of machine knitting classes I had done at Metropolitan Machine Knitting with Carol Hocknell based on the work of Audrey Palmer. I determined to get these samples out when I got home! 
4. An early piece of lace in the collection has been on show in the museum and belongs to the family of Kate, dating from when a distant grandfather was Minister in North Mavine. It is thought the piece was knitted by the nurse to the baby. This is a very complex piece  with a hood and is being  studied by this research project. 
5. Carol was interviewed for Fruity Knitting podcast 89 where she talks and shows some of the samples of knitting done in the quest to chart these motifs. She has also written a blog post about this latest project on the Museum website here. https://www.shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk/blog/the-fine-detail-of-fine-knitted-lace

Shetland Wool Week 19: 9, The Heritage Centre

Fri Sept  27 Day 12 

This day is always a bittersweet day for me. The ‘bitter’  bit being that this is our last full day in Unst for the year and the ‘sweet’ bit being it is the ‘Have a go day’ at the Heritage Centre. This is when at least one of the knitting and spinning group will be there with an additional display of items and encouraging visitors to have a go with a spinning wheel and with a knitting belt. 

We were up early, it was unnervingly calm and still, so unlike yesterday. We were at the Health Centre for 9.00 for the latest INR test for M. I opted to not go into the Health Centre. It was what I would call and an atmospheric day and I wanted to explore a bit with the camera. 

M was back quickly, the news being he needed to phone our home surgery to have his medication confirmed and to book another test when we were back on Shetland mainland next week! He got through to the surgery and we now need to phone later to get the dosage! He decided he would take the binoculars into the garden at the back of the Health  Centre and was delighted to see a Red-breasted Flycatcher. We drove to Baltasound and I decided to have a wool session whilst he walked to Haligarth Wood from there. We were booked into a window seat for 12.00 at Victoria’s Tea Room and were back there in good time. Although the table was reserved,with a big sign on it, it took some negotiating from the staff for the couple to move! 

Wool week attendees were obviously arriving on mainland and the adventurous had travelled up to Unst - the wool week hat is a wonderful introduction to a conversation. There was a group over from America and they were planning to go to the Heritage  Centre to take in the ‘Have a go session’ too. 

Once I got there, it was great to see a Hazel  Laurenson (1) was going to organise the session for the afternoon. She was happy that I had my wheel with me to spin as well and it was great to see Kate, from East Anglia, who was back with her wheel too. 

Hazel produced books, her file of recent lace knitting samples and other examples of what she (and possibly others) had been knitting recently. 

Before we started I took the opportunity to go into the room where the majority of the historical lace knitting is on display. I was particularly interested in the mitre of any shawls on display. It was the mitres that I was homing in on this year.(2) I showed my embarrassing little sample to Hazel and was keen to get her expertise on ‘mitres’, having tried different versions of the ‘knitting on’ type in my sample. It was a useful discussion, although in Unst the traditional shawls  they knitted avoided a mitre completely. I had avoided the mitre in my cobweb shawl mentioned in the previous post. 

It was a great afternoon, spinning and chatting. One of the American ladies, Inga, who actually lives in London, had a tiny nano wheel (3)  in her bag and it was great to see this in operation. What was even more surprising was that she had got some extra bits and refinements for the wheel from a spinning friend from back home  in Norfolk. Wool, spinning and knitting are international and it is joyous to have such friendships. 

A general view of the room where we did the dyeing a couple of days ago

The afternoon ended all too soon and 16.00 saw M there ready to pick me up and for us to return to base for our last night. 

We had treated ourselves to a Lasagne meal from the Final Checkout, made in Scalloway. It was excellent, full of meat and much better than ‘bought’ meals back home. 

There was good news to end the week, the Youth Hostel had won one of the Community Grants for £500 so could have new flooring in the conservatory and I hoped I played some small part in this happening.  New people had arrived at the Hostel for bird watching and it seems that the following week there were to be to even more arriving which is all good for keeping the hostel going. 

Fortunately there would be very little packing up, one of the big advantages of the camper van. We were booked on the 9.45 ferry in the morning. Kate, the friend from back home, was going via Ollaberry so we would catch up on things once we both arrived at the campsite (for the next week plus) on Saturday evening. I had plans for shopping in Lerwick on the way through. 

1. Hazel Laurenson is, IMO, a real expert in Unst Lace. I was very fortunate to have an all day class with 3 others, with her in my first Shetland Wool Week in 2014. She has the ability, that I have yet to gain, of being able to look at a lace motif and translate it into knitting and to design an overall item with a very balanced set of motifs. She has translated patterns from the collection found in a case, in Unst, some years ago. Some of these are in the booklet ‘Recreating Vintage Shetland Lace’ and others are in separate patterns. These are available to buy from the Heritage Centre and contribute to funds to keep it going. 
2. Previous posts in this Shetland Wool Week 19 series have included my attempts at getting a knit on mitre that I am happy with in a small sample hap. 
3. This nano electric wheel is called ‘the electric wheel nano’ and is by Maurice Ribble. It was initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign and as I write this is between $80-$110. Postage and customs duty to the UK needs adding. There is a FB page devoted to this with over 4,000 members. 

Shetland Wool Week 19: 8, wind, lace knitting and birds

Thurs Sept 26 Day 11

A windy day had been forecast and it was windy in the night but we had experienced much worse during earlier stays. The good news was that high tide was at 9.00 this morning and not during the night. We do worry about a High Tide when there are high winds as we are very close to the beach. I did give a thought to those on the ferry last night, as I know several ‘wool weekers’ do come over a few days early. We know there had been lots of rain in Scotland and further south and thought we were on the edge of the bad storm that was the heavy and persistent rain on the mainland. It was very mild for the time of year and we thought we would probably rest here and in the hostel for much of  today. I had spinning and many photos that were still in the camera. I like to have them in at least two places as an insurance. When it was light M drove the van up behind the hostel, the rain started and it was likely the wind would get up to 54 mph during the day (1) 

However, we did need to get out as M had to make another appointment for an INR test at the Health Centre, this was made for tomorrow at 9.30. We decided it was definitely a day for a bacon bap at The Final Checkout (2). I thought I recognised the man sitting there drinking a hot drink, and I quickly realised it was Michael who, with his wife Dot, lives at the Zero Carbon House which they run as a B and B. Dot was part of the dyeing group at the Heritage a Centre last year and kindly asked us round for tea. (3). We chatted for quite a time and then left to go to the Viking Longhouse as I was determined to take some photos of the shawl(4).  I had knitted it many years ago and there was also the Dunella scarf that I had completed earlier in the year. It was going to be dark in there but not wet and hopefully not windy. In fact it was windy, but I had taken pegs and string and would be using the tripod so could use a long exposure if I could keep the lace knitting still. One or two visitors turned up as I was doing this and clearly thought I was crazy. 

These are a couple of my shots. 

                         

I had spent a long time on the Dunella Shawl and got thoroughly frozen. I really need to take the bigger shawl back next year and spend quality photography time on this to get a sharper image. 

It had been very cold in there so then needed coffee, we made a quick visit  to Victoria’s and met a Swedish lady who was over early for wool week.

The it was onto Norwick, as we were so close and we made an early lunch of soup. 

It was great to look at the Turnstones, turning over the masses of seaweed that had been brought in. They are very well camouflaged. 

The Unst  Partnership shop was open from 14.00-16.00 and it would be good to look round a local ‘secondhand shop’. This proved a great place for me. I bought some dpns, some machine knitting cones of yarn (but not all) and some machine knitting patterns that were definitely in the category of vintage and I had never seen any like them before. M got some novels and we decided we would go back to the hostel and warm up and have our afternoon tea there. Yes, this was a day of sitting and relaxing and having drinks and cake. The Swedish lady, Helen, was staying at the hostel for the night and as I chatted to her, as she was here for wool week, I was very envious. She had done 5 day courses in Sweden last year, one on designing and Knitting a yoke for a jumper (that I think was taught by Hazel Tindall) and the second was learning to use 5 spindles for spinning in 5 days. We realised we were both doing Elizabeth Johnson’s ‘Spinning for Fair Isle’ workshop. 

After dinner we moved the van down by the sea, it was getting much windier and was wet, M sloped the van into the wind. 

So now I could semi organise my photos from the week. 

M has written the following about his ‘birding’ when we are in Shetland during this trip. There was little birdwatching today, other than of the gannets plummeting into the rough sea at Norwick. 

From Michael 

People often ask me when on Shetland what do I do while Janet is taking part in  Wool Week.  Well I do have an interest though I have never even learnt to knit.  My Father, like my Grandfather before him worked as a tackler (5) in a Cotton Mill near Wigan in Lancashire.  My Dad in fact was more interested in the engineering side and went to night school in Bolton to get his qualifications.  The mills were closing down and he managed to get a job in Manchester as a journalist on a specialist magazine before being taken on by the Civil Service to work for the Cotton Control during the 2nd World War.  He then became the editor of a magazine for the Textile Industry (The Textile Recorder) until he retired.  I remember as a Chemistry student he would recruit me to read some of the articles on Dyeing  to make sure the Chemistry was correct!

However what I really come to Shetland for are the birds.  I am not an expert or a very experienced birdwatcher but it does give me a chance to see birds that I would not normally encounter.   We always spend our first week on Unst, during which I will go to Norwick or Skaw, my two favourite places, as often as possible while making sure I check out some of the other good spots for example I always visit Halligarth Wood to see what might be there.  This year we were lucky to find the American Golden Plover right by the Uyeasound turn off the main road.  I found a red breasted flycatcher in the Health Centre garden, saw a redstart at Valyie and also at  Skaw as well as a Whinchat and another flycatcher.  I also picked up another bird I have not seen before in the Geo on the other side of the headland to Norwick, an Iceland Gull.  Going back to Valyie later in the week I had my best ever view of a yellow browed warbler.  There is often not much more that a glimpse of one in a bush but this one came out and let me watch it at close quarters for about ten minutes while it moved around feeding.   It is experiences like this when I find a bird by myself and can observe it properly that bring me back to birding again and again.  On getting back to Mainland I heard about a Bee-eater  at Ollaberry.  After dropping Janet at Hoswick for a class I headed North and found the Bee-eater happily using the gardens there to catch insects.  There I  joined about 20 birdwatchers and was able to watch the bird for 30 + minutes.  As I drove a 90 mile round trip to see this bird I am told I was behaving like a twitcher, not really my normal style!

Michael 

Back to Janet......

 ...and so to bed 

I was glad our bed was at the back of the van. The wind calmed down considerably about midnight but it was another night I would not have wanted to be crossing from Aberdeen. 

1. I have the Unst app on my iPad and we have found this accurate for the imminent weather. 
2. Victoria’s tea room does not open until 11.00, and the bacon bap at The Final Checkout is very good. 
3. Post of 4 Nov 18 gives details of this.
4. This was my first fine hand-spun (88wpi) it is Shetland fleece with some Crookabeck Angora from the side of Ullswater in the Lake  District  added to give lustre. It was knitted in 2003/04.(I first started spinning after a trip to Shetland in 2000). The yarn is 2ply. The shawl weighs 88g, size 100cm x 50cm) and goes through a wedding ring. I combined motifs from Sharon Miller’s first Heirloom Knitting book (pub.02) and knitted this, in the Unst traditional way. It is not very fine compared to my spinning now! 
5. A tackler was someone who could tackle anything.  When the looms broke down, as they often did, it was his job to get them going again.  With the weavers on piece work it was important to be able to get each loom back working as quickly as possible.

Shetland Wool Week 19: 7, Birds, photography and natural dyeing

Wed 25 Sept: Day 10

Today started with a visit to the Health Centre where M had an appointment for his INR test at Baltasound. It was a glorious sunrise. (The square building on the right is the ruined Greenwell’s Bod, see post 27 May 18 for links to the Hanseatic League in Unst and Norfolk and more about it) 

The blood test indicated his INR  level was not within his given range. This had two immediate implications - the need to ring the surgery at home for them to adjust his medication and also we needed to book another appointment in a few days. The phone call was made and we needed to make another after 16.00 to be given the medication dosage. Fortunately M had a new mobile phone which made this relatively straightforward. The mobile signal was good, the most frustrating thing was trying to get through to our home surgery which is always very busy and can take around half an hour! 

Today we decided we needed  a second breakfast at The Final Checkout. We met a couple in a large rented motorhome, who were also not aware of Wool Week. They had flown up from London  and were enjoying a few days away from it all. They were becoming increasingly concerned about the weather forecast for Thursday and were deciding to drive back to Mainland today to be sure they got back for their flight home on Friday. It seems 50mph winds are forecast for Shetland and there was torrential rain in the north  west of England and Scotland. (It seems from contact with family at home East Anglia was pretty wet too!) The bacon bap was great, but soya cappuccino was not available so I collected lactofree  milk from the van and had a different sort of coffee for a change. 

Today we were driving along the road  to Skaw, the most northerly beach in Unst. We stopped along the way and M walked along the road to Lamba Ness to look for a Short-toed Lark. It had temporarily moved on somewhere and could not be found. I played with my graduated filter taking photos of the breathtaking scenery. It was a great day to be out in this wild place. 

We then drove onto Skaw and walked on the beach, where again I took more photos, this time of seaweed. This beach is great for getting a variety of seaweed. We had another good beach view for lunch and as a bonus we saw a Redstart and Winchat as we sat eating. 

M went on a walk round the headland and saw more birds (he’ll write about this in a day or so) and I stayed in the van checking I had everything ready for the evening. 

That evening  I was running an indigo dyeing workshop for the Knitting and Spinning ladies at the Heritage Centre. Last year we had dyed with madder and this year  it would be more hands on, with everyone able to have their own indigo vat. I had all my fingers crossed as clearly I could not bring all the dyeing equipment with me. Normally I would have varying with me if I was running a workshop at home. We had been in correspondence before the trip and we were all looking forward to the session. M had weighed out the ingredients, we had a couple of hours and I hoped everyone there would get some strong blue and also feel confident  to repeat the dyeing at home on their own. 

The mixed yarns and fibres I had dyed whilst trialling the method before travelling

We went back to the Hostel, cooked an early dinner then drove to the Heritage  Centre to prepare. The ladies were extremely well prepared and all had insulation for their dye baths sorted out as well as plenty of yarn and items to dye. I demonstrated setting up the indigo dye bath and  whilst waiting for this to be ready the ladies were able to get set up. 

All went very well indeed and the colours achieved were superb, I got so involved I forgot to take photos but this one sums it up. 

One of the ladies, Helen who lives in Yell, dyed a white linen top which she had  already tied up. She added this photo a few days later to her iG thread ( hart_of_shetland ) 

What a wonderful evening, I was paranoid about the clearing up as I knew on Friday the room would  be used to show fine lace and be the venue for the Knitting and Spinning ‘have a go’ session. Clearing up was a case of ‘many hands make light work’ ! 

It was a very rewarding evening for me and a delight to see everyone get great results. On the way back to the Hostel my head was already hatching embryonic plans for what we might do next year! 

Shetland Wool Week 19: 6 More knitting, more birds

Tues Sept 24 Day 9

It was an unseasonably warm night and at 6.00 the van was showing it was 12 C outside. I was hoping this mildness indicated little or no wind and I could photograph my Dunella Shawl. My aim was to try and complete my practice piece mini hap. 

We had a leisurely start and planned to arrive in Haroldswick for 11.00 when Victoria’s Tea Rooms opens this time of year. We were there  ready and waiting. There was another couple and I assumed (wrongly) they were early wool weekers like us. However, they knew nothing about Wool Week and had arranged their own holiday. They were determined to get to Unst and caught the early bus and ferries up and had been dropped in Haroldswick and it was 5 hours before the next bus back. Once we got into  the teashop I managed to find an Unst leaflet and indicate some things they could do in the area. I think they were going to stretch their coffee out a bit as a start. 

I was pleased to be able to get soya cappuccino and the view was just as good as we remembered. We decided we would book lunch for Friday when I would definitely be back in the village as I would be spinning with the spinning and knitting ladies  at their  ‘Have a go with a wheel and knitting belt’ afternoon. 

Then it was on to the Heritage Centre and this time my guess that the lady who came in was a wool weeker was correct, in fact it was Jane of iG ‘Ithought I knew how’ and we had previously been in touch so I knew she was visiting Yell and Unst during the week before Wool Week. It was good to chat in person and not surprisingly we saw each other a few times during the week. 

Besides the usual exquisite lace knitting in the Museum section , the local ladies had mounted a display of patterns they (mainly Hazel Laurenson) had devised. These were for sale with examples of the actual knitting. These include a ‘new’ (as in not seen by me) little mat involving the knitting techniques of a bigger piece and another traditional Unst shawl/ scarf, this one being called the Norwick Shawl. I decided I would buy these. Mental note to self.....you need to get on knitting these or your eyes will give up before you make the set! 

I also bought some super cards showing the fine lace to send special people who I knew would really appreciate them. 

We both voted for lunch at Norwick beach again. I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would rather look at as I knitted after lunch and M was more than happy to use it as a base for birding after he had eaten. 

The knitting went well and all I was left with was grafting the middle border to wedge 1. The middle piece is worked from the inner edge of wedge 4 and wedge 2 and 3 are added as the centre is being knitted. This  just leaves  the

 inner edge of border 1 to be grafted to the stitches remaining from the centre border.  It has been a great learning piece and has helped to hone  my eye in as I look at other Shawls.  However as a way of completing a shawl I am not convinced it is for me, I had failed despite counting everything I thought  to get the joins of the wedges at the corners of the centre. Also there are too many opportunities  for loose stitches this way and I noticed the ‘square’ in the middle is rectangular. (More about this later). Perhaps blocking would  improve the look of it. At the moment this shawl does not suit my perfectionist streak. I am not happy with it, but I have posted it here as my comments may also help someone else Next time it needs to be much bigger but as I said before a great learning piece. 

The now completed mini hap 

We went home via Skiboul stores, the majority of the shop is a grocery store with chiller and freezer cabinets, veg and fruit and the bakery. So having chosen a quiche - to help with lunches, Danish pastries for afternoon tea and a trifle for ‘pudding’ with dinner - we were set up. (We don’t normally do pudding with dinner but feel we use more energy living in the van, compared to being at home - well that is the excuse. ) The bonus was we saw 2 red-breasted mergansers in the water in front of the shop. 

Dinner was great, Donald joined us so we could swap bird notes, although this was very one sided. Donald is a serious and knowledgeable birder who was staying at the hostel. 

Another great day with the promise of an even more interesting Wednesday. 

Needless to say it was not still enough at any time during the day to photograph the Dunella shawl. 

Shetland Wool Week 19:5 Checking up on Unst after a year’s absence

Monday 23 Sept: Day 8 

It was a grey morning but we were very snug due to the  van’s central heating.(1)

Today we planned to visit some of the shops in Unst. Given that the population in the 2011 Census was 632 there is a good range of shops. 

These are: 

Skiboul Stores (and bakery and small self service cafe and petrol station) 

Henderson’s - probably the largest and more varied of the three general shops, selling nearly anything we have ever wanted. 

(There is another great store and cafe - The Final Checkout - which is also a petrol station and where last year I bought sandpaper needed for my spinning wheel! ( Discussion of visiting this later along with the other ‘shops’ in Unst).

We would also visit the Heritage Centre which has a shop related to items in the Museum. 

I also had a plan to take a photo of my Dunella Shawl (post of 14April19) through  a window of an abandoned croft. However the shawl is very fine weighing just over 25g and today the wind, although light by Shetland comparisons, would be too much and blow the shawl horizontal. However I had a fallback plan for this photography too. 

The day started with a wonderful surprise, I was now the proud and very grateful owner of an Unst Shetland fleece. I was over the moon. I am going to knit a wool week 19 hat for the donor of this. However, from my previous ‘knitting a hat for another person’ I was definitely going to get the head measurement first. (Post of 29May19). M provided his hat, to be tried on, and I feel confident I can knit one now to fit. 

M’s INR was not stable when we left home so we needed to go to the Health Centre to arrange a blood test.(2) This involved registering as a temporary resident and making an appointment. He noted the ease of doing this and the fact that the waiting room was empty, unlike at home. 

Next it was on to Henderson’s, which is a great shop, and a real joy to spend time looking around. Besides the fan heater, for which we had a choice of two, we bought a couple of sharp knives, we seem to need 4 when we are away  and only had 2 with us,  and a lovely little bamboo and silicon spatula for getting the last bit of froth from the coffee machine froth maker. Then to Skiboul Stores where we got a homemade pie for lunch. 

Next we drove up to Haroldswick and could not go through the village without going into the Heritage Centre. I bought a great locally authored booklet on the History of Unst, looked at the patterns which were newly available so I could decide which I would buy. 

I was pleased to see Frances so we could chat about what had happened to us both during the year. I was very glad to hear that  the Heritage Centre had been very busy. It is hard work for the small band of volunteers that keep it going. They were trying to build up energy for the numbers that they knew would come up during wool week. 

Norwick beach, one of our favourites was designated lunch spot . 

Before we left home I looked in Sarah Don’s book, ‘The Art of Shetland Lace’ which I have had for an age. As I look at more lace I see more and more. I liked some of the ‘patterns’ as they would be called in Shetland, but I am more likely to call them motifs. I decide it would be a good discipline if I turned the text of of how she describes them into charts. I had brought plenty of graph paper with me for the job and this afternoon sitting with a cup of tea in the snug of the van seemed like a very good place to get started on it. I knew I was going to get my knitting fix later. I did not finish but had made a good start and could already see how much help this was being to me. 

Stage one of charting a tree and wave

M walked up the road away from the beach to Valyie, one of his favourite  birdwatching spots in Unst. 

After an early dinner I was in for a lovely treat. I had been invited to the knitting group that meets at the Youth Hostel on Monday evenings.  I took my sample lace shawl. I had knitted the lace edging and had picked up stitches and knitted one of the wedges which I worked out had to have loops on both ends of the wedge. I would attempt to knit and join on the second wedge during the evening. It was rather a silly thought as it needed full concentration and although there were brief periods of silence, there was knitting chat too. It was lovely to meet the ladies again and talk about their latest and current knitting. One lady was also a machine knitter but always hand knitted her Fair isle yokes. This is my feeling too, I can’t imagine wanting too, or actually knitting the yoke on the machine- who wants seams in a yoke? 

The Youth Hostel works on a tight budget, so does the Community Hall at Uyeasound and from the meeting I understood that voluntary organisations were able to bid for a grant and that the whole community were invited to a meeting the Thursday of Wool Week to vote for who was to get the money. I was happy to write a couple of lines about why I thought the Youth Hostel was a deserving case (3)

I did manage to do a couple of the wedges with the joining on but I wasn’t really liking the look of this method much in this yarn with this pattern but I would finish it. 

We live, at home, in an area where we have no street lights but as I sat there I realised I had to negotiate going across the lawn and finding the correct place to step down to reach the van afterwards. What a relief to see DH waiting for  for me with a torch when I tore myself away from the knitting. 

Another great day. 

1. Our motorhome is a Wildax, one of it’s many brilliant features is that it is fully insulated to the highest standard. It also uses LPG which we use for cooking and can choose to use for heating and the fridge. This enables us to ‘wild camp’ something we have only done occasionally. I prefer to be on a recognised camp site, partially because I believe strongly in supporting the local communities we visit while enjoying their local scenery. 
2. He takes warfarin daily as he has had 2 major heart operations and now has a mechanical mitral valve. 
3. Back at home, this would be decided by the village or town council. Here each group was to have a table at the voting evening and my understanding was that a representative or two of each group was to be there to explain their case and answer any questions members of the community might have. Although, this is quite a burden on each voluntary group it did seem to be a way  of really involving the community in decisions. I am happy to say the Youth  Hostel were successful in being awarded the £500 they had asked for, this will now go towards reflooring one of the public rooms of the  hostel that is in poor condition. By having a successful hostel, there is somewhere for people to stay, at low cost, on the island which has to help bring in more money to the local economy. Uyeasound Hall was also was successful in its bid. 

Shetland Wool Week 19: 4 A rest day in Unst

Sun  Sept 22 Day 7 

We had come up to Unst for a week’s relaxation before wool week. We love the people, the landscape, the knitting and the birds, particularly at this time of year when there might just be some early migrants as well. Today was deemed a real rest day as we had been travelling and busy for 6 days. 

Another view from the van

We woke to a blustery and grey morning but the temperature outside was 10 and inside the van first thing it was 13, much warmer than it had been in Perth. 

We had a good start with birds, spotting a redshank, ringed plover and turnstone on the beach right by us. 

The hostel was very much as it was last year but with an important new addition. There is a new ‘cleaner/ essential job man’ (but that does not do justice to his impact), who is also a crofter  with lots of Shetland Sheep. The downside is that the fleece had gone off to Jamieson and Smith already. He is a delight to talk to and this is an extra treat for our time in Unst. 

M stayed chatting in the hostel and I walked down to the van to make a coffee using our new mini  Nespresso machine, it was delightful. I had turned the fan heater on and at the same times flames shot out from the wire at the back. Having removed the plug  and dealt with the flames I was quite shaky! We were going to buy a new fan heater anyway, hopefully tomorrow.

It was a day to do some laundry and we deemed it a ‘4 peg day’ , that is per item. As I left the linen line the washing was horizontal, as long as it doesn’t rain it would be dry in no time and by lunch time it was much brighter. 

I had planned a knitting afternoon. I wanted to have a look at Hazel and Elizabeth’s DVD (1) I was keen to remind myself what this showed about making a loop at the start of a row, that would then be knitted into later. I wanted to refine what I was doing and realised that the tension of this first stitch would be very important. 4 ways were shown, with 3 being suitable for lace and then ways for joining in lace were given. This was comprehensive and I decided I would join my 4 wedges using different joining methods selected from combinations of these. 

As I started the knitting the wedges in the hap, I realised I had already been inconsistent  as there was a different number of loops on each right edge of the  wedge. As I pulled out the wedge I realised this was as important as the openness of the loop. What a good job I rather like doing samples and trial knits. 

In this  diagram I am showing what I am attempting to do. It is an ‘outside in’ shawl which I am told is the traditional Shetland method. 

When I was knitting M walked up to the main road and back down past the lochs behind the sea. He amassed a list of seventeen birds, including snipe and red breasted merganser but nothing at all that was unusual for Shetland at that time. There will be more about birds in a later post. 

We had brought lamb with us to roast and decided to stick with this even though Uyeasound Hall had a Chinese Night. I had only had one Chinese meal since I had my severe food poisoning 13 years ago and I did not want to risk being ill for our week in Unst. Perhaps next time I will be up to a meal at the hall.

(1) 50 tips from Shetland  Knitters : Hazel Tindall and Elizabeth Johnston. 2 DVDs with over 3 hours of great advice. For many techniques more than one way is shown. These are based on many years of experience perfected by generations of Shetlanders. In my mind it is brilliant and is my go to guide.