Saturday 11 th October A pottery day

What a glorious sunrise! I was outside with the camera at 6.22 am  taking photos and then would you believe it I decided to get out my Jamieson and Smith shade card and my Jamieson shade card too so I  could match the colours. I am already planning a peach and blue tam. No wonder the colours in Fair Isle 'go' so well -living in this sort of environment is a real help.

So all this creativity made for a leisurely start but that was fine as we planned to park on the Quay by the 'Migraine hotel' ( see blog post of 23^rd October) and I would walk up to the Makers ’ Market in the Town Hall for 11.00. I was particularly hoping for a quick word with Elizabeth Johnson to try and arrange to see her Sunday morning - my remaining 'free slot'. After a steep uphill walked I joined the queue and met Eve again! What a tremendous building this in.

Once the door opened it was a bit manic! All good news for the stall holders. I could hardly get near Elizabeth (Johnston) but no wonder she does have the most wonderful handspun and naturally dyed yarn ( www.shetlandhandspun.blogspot.com), but the arrangements were made. The stalls were all beautifully arranged and so typically of Shetland there was lots of stunning food.

I made some purchases and left to have lunch and then go to Vala Fine Art to meet Jane (Ennis) who was finishing the 'Lace Knitting with Organic Wool' workshop, taught by Sheila Fowlie there. It was a nice opportunity for me to look round the shop and see the organic lace knitting,  particularly as I had to miss out on the croft visit on Tuesday due to the Migraine. This was much thicker than the lace knitting that I do but interesting to see so much lace again. Organic fleece appeared to be £10/kilo to be ordered. As Jane and I were ready to leave we were interviewed by Radio Shetland. My interview was later used on the Radio Scotland Programme which came out in February 2014 on Radio Scotland, another nice memento of my time at Shetland Wool Week.

After taking Jane to Tesco so she could buy food for the journey back to London on the train on Sunday (emergency rations ) we went to Hay's Dock Restaurant so she could have lunch then I gave her a quick tour of the lace knitting and other textiles at the Shetland Museum as she was returning on the ferry that evening. Unfortunately she wouldn't have time to fit in a visit to the Shetland Textile Museum at the Bod, but like me she had enjoyed her time and was already wondering if returning next year was a possibility. ( answer is yes and accommodation is booked!). It had been great to meet up.

So after that we went to the Hub where I left Jane in the capable hands of fellow Wool Weekers. Needless to say I bumped into other colleagues from the week, a lady from the Lace Class from Monday evening so we shared horror stories about the weather, and Lucy (of broken boat fame). Lucy is knitting THE most amazing hat of her journey to Shetland from Kent, it is SO clever.

So it was off to find M, a nice spot for afternoon tea and a rest, I was running out of steam ......