We had the alarm on in the cabin for 5.30 as we like to get into breakfast and sit by a window as we approach Shetland and travel up the east coast to Lerwick. We were second in to breakfast so we are not the only crazy ones. We had a nice breakfast and were able to wait in our cabin to be called to drive off. We knew we would be off early as we were blocking most of the non freight traffic on that deck in. In fact there were a few motorhomes and not much else other than the big chained containers. If I thought about it I would have been intimidated by it.
As usual we drove to Tesco to do a decent shop for staples. Usually we are then driving up to Unst for week, but this year we were doing things differently and having a few days on mainland before driving up. This would allow us to meet with Shetland friends before it got busy for wool week.
We were disappointed in Tesco and felt as a shop it had substantially changed over the two ‘Covid’ years and there seemed aisle upon aisle devoted to packaged and other prepared meals. When we did get to the meat and poultry section the only option was a large packet of chicken joints, fine if we were a family with about 5 children. We have a nearly normal sized fridge with a freezer section in the motorhome but we didn’t want to fill this up just with chicken. However this ‘annoyance’ turned into a positive as we then frequented the Co-op. This had a much better choice, the food looked better and the whole ambience of the shop was more welcoming. That might have been our last visit to Lerwick Tesco.
Then it was into Lerwick and the customary journey to the wonderfully obliging tourist Information Centre. I bought the Shetland Adventures book 3 as it was focused on Fair Isle and had a section on machine knitting, a craft that is close to my heart. If I am knitting a stocking stitch item, it will be made with the use of my knitting machine unless this is impossible! (You can knit socks with a knitting machine but I have a sock knitting machine for that, much better and it is a lovely historical item too, more about it on a post here of 10 Jan 2017)
My sock knitting machIne
There were also other articles about knitting and Fair Isle, I follow Rachel at Barkland Croft on IG and it is always interesting to see what she is up to. I already have issues 1 and 2, so now do I need to search out issue 3 ?
Then, in my world I cannot go into Lerwick for the first time without going into the Shetland Times Bookshop and after a gap of two years this was even more essential. I like to chose a Christmas Present and then hand it over to Michael to put away. This day I was rather stumped, over the years I seem to have collected all the ones I am really interested in that are on the shelves. How can that be? ( I do have over 1000 textile books in my library! )
A small part of my Textile Library
I was interested in Susan Crawford’s Evolution, the book she has written with extra patterns from some of her other books. I particular liked one jacket pattern, but on looking it started at size 38” so that was going to swamp me! So my head decided I would be better using my jumper/ cardigan knitting block and working out a pattern myself like I usually do. However I knew this would not be my last trip to The Shetland Times Bookshop.
Then it was back to The Peerie Cafe as it was now nearly coffee time, there was a quick stop to take a photo of Jamieson’s window always such a delight.
Jamieson’s window
When we went up to Unst this was changed for wool week, so I got to see 2 delightful window displays but it appears I did not photograph the second.
The Peerie cafe had a new system, one ordered at the door and were then given a table, and the food was delivered. This seemed to work well but I did wonder how it would work in Wool Week and how big the queue might be outside. We both had Bakewell slice and decided we would be going back for more of this, it was very nice indeed.
We decided we would treat ourselves to a meal at the Dowry tonight, no cooking two nights in a row sounded good.
We had decided that we could visit the Crofthouse Museum in the afternoon and we booked this before we left Norfolk. In all our visits to Shetland we had never been to this one and were looking forward to it. We had checked exactly where it was at Tourist Information and been told which was the best of 3 roads to take off the main road.
We met the custodian who like us drove there, he unlocked the museum and we were the only two being shown around. This was great and we were able to concentrate on things we were interested in. We used to live in a thatched cottage, outside Diss, dated as built during the 1600s. This museum, a traditional 19th century Crofthouse reminded us very much of that, although it was newer than our cottage and had a roof of turf. There were lots of knitting bits in the Museum and all in all it was a great thing to do on our first day. I would recommend it as a visit.
From the Crofthouse museum
This shows the fireplace, peat was burning and was much appreciated for the smell and warmth
…and a close up of the boards
Good to see Shetland weaving, even if recreated as well as spinning and knitting items
The meal at the Dowry as always was a quality meal which we very much enjoyed. As we drove home we heard that the Queen had died at Balmoral aged 96 and after reigning for 70 years. It was so good that she had seen how much she was appreciated during the Platinum Jubilee, for so many these kind words are left for the funeral and are not heard by the one person who should hear them.
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