Shetland Wool Week: Day 20: A change of plan: Mon 2 Oct

I was awake early and heard the shipping forecast. This was unsettling as the gales forecast for Monday evening were even stronger than they were last night. We had friends on the boat and heard  that the ferry journey was rough. We made a fairly quick decision that we need not travel on the ferry tonight, we could stay over until Tuesday and hope the storm would have settled. I contacted the ferry team once they were available and although we could travel on Tuesday, the van could not be accommodated until Thursday. Fortunately there was also a cabin for us then so we changed the booking, hoping that by Thursday  there would not be another storm with the resultant  gale force winds. So we now had another 3 days and looked forwards to winding down as the past 24 days had been pretty intense. (Even though we had been only 20 days, the time leading up to us being away in the van for that long needed careful planning and then there is the added stuff I need /want to bring to Wool Week.)

I had arranged to see Elizabeth Johnston briefly on the Monday morning to have a detailed discussion about some machine knitting processes and I knew she had people to take to the airport. Elizabeth not only understood the questions I was asking but could also give me more than one answer. I am very grateful to her both for her expertise and willingness to see me after what must have been an exhausting week. We enjoyed the trip down to Scousburgh and reminded ourselves of how wonderful that south western coast of mainland is. 

I was rather envious as both Minnie and Elizabeth were off to the North Atlantic Native Sheep  and Wool Conference in the Isle of Man. Perhaps one year soon I will be able to attend this conference too. 

Well, it had to be Mackenzie’s for coffee as we passed by to return to Lerwick, this time I had sticky fruit cake. As expected this was delicious. Today we decided to have lunch in Mareel. Their bacon and cheese croissant was as delicious as the morning cake. 

Now a leisurely trip to Jamieson and Smith. My aim was to choose some yarn to dye and then knit the Lunklet Jacket pattern. I spotted another Christmas present - the Jamieson and Smith story, which also contained some lovely patterns and I was also tempted by some individual patterns too. 

By now the weather had turned, it was very wet and very windy and we decided to go back to the campsite and hunker down. I would have time to knit, such a treat. I decided to work on the edging for the Houlland  Shawl (Donna Smith)and noticed just how much easier lace knitting  is with a knitting belt and rapein string.