Shetland Autumn 2023: Day 16 : Saturday 16 Sept: The day I got to visit the Bod

Several people ‘on social media’ had indicated they were coming to Shetland before wool week, so it was difficult to judge how busy Lerwick would be from now on. Hat watching would tell us the answer to that but Lerwick, and the rest of mainland were pretty good at absorbing visitors). When we see  people disembarking from a large cruise ship it seems amazing what little difference this makes, except for a few obvious spots. We also had a couple of sets of friends arriving  from England this weekend and it would be good to meet up here in Shetland. 

However, we decided to book lunch, it was Saturday after all and today we chose Fjara. Today we were going to try Skipidock Cafe and Bar (1) for cake and coffee, in all our years we had not been here. Good coffee and delightful brownie. As a bonus there was a stall, like a car boot sale but just one stall. I got a couple more books, which were too good to leave there. 

Fjara(2)  was very busy all the time we were there. The food was great and the staff kept cheerful despite being seriously overworked. Such a great place to eat, looking out to sea. 

After lunch I was going to the Bod. I had hoped I might meet Janet from Suffolk. She was there with her knitting. It was great to see this as she had done some indigo dyeing following us doing some together at mine, the year before I think! 

The Bod is the building where Arthur Anderson  was born in 1792. He went on to be one of the founding directors of P and O and championed the fine lace knitting of Shetland. He gave lace knitted items to Queen Victoria, a clever marketing ploy (3). The Bod is now officially called Shetland Textile Musuem and describes itself as a community museum. That is such a good name for this and many smaller museums. To me they are real joy to visit and this one is extra special focusing on knitting. I had not realised   but it is described as unique focusing….

I have never been to the museum when there is no one demonstrating. There are usually people downstairs in the room you enter, which is very welcoming and then a couple upstairs. They are very knowledgeable and it is great to talk to them. Today was no exception. There was a lady from Whalsay, who ‘grabbed some colours’ before she left snd was making up the pattern for some gloves as she went along. Needless to say this is very understanding her skills. Another lady was spinning fleece from her own sheep. She was going to use this as singles, which is, to my mind, unusual. I always ply mine unless I am doing a fancy very thick and thin singles, which I then slightly felt. However, I usually spin very fine and do ply this. So it was interesting to talk to these enthusiastic and talented ladies. 

There would be displays of good knitwear, lace and fair isle, lots of locally made items for sale and I expected local ladies demonstrating spinning and knitting. I was particularly looking forward to going this year as the museum had some knitting machines on show and some knitwear made using a knitting machine. So being an avid knitting machine user this was a real treat. Knitting machines had an important  part to play in the knitting history of the islands.  The knitting machines included a Knitmaster, a similar model to a couple I own and a Passap which I have never used or owned. It was built as a ‘double bed’ machine original and main building knitting machines were traded as Brother, more similar to the knitmaster. 

I appear not to have taken any photos of the items made by machine! There was a good variety and if you are a hand knitter of yoked jumpers / cardigans or fair isle garments in general you might be tempted to have a look at how a knitting machine could do the less exciting bits for you! 

Another opportunity to look at a mitre and notice the knitting belt

Plenty of knitting eye candy here: 

A really nice hap with a a good choice of colours, so ‘Shetland’ 

There was also the bonus of the exhibition based on the knitting life of Bella Tait from Bigton. 

These are from the Bella Tait special exhibition

Bella and some of her work 

An example of part of a pattern for machine knitting - the reference to Harrison and Dubied shows it is for machine knitting

The pattern for hand knitting was no more detailed. These knitters whether engaged in machine ‘hitting or hand knitting had still and great understanding of what they were doing, just as Shetland knitters do now. 

The Bod also has a loom and some weaving. I was taken by this great weaving and sewing! 

Another great day. 

Notes 

1. This is in the Toll Clock shopping complex, walking distance from the co-op, Jamieson and Smith, and just along from Scoop, a great wholefood shop in Lerwick. 
2. Fjara is opposite to Tesco and when looking out of their windows you feel as if you are over the water. Combine this with great food and it’s a winner! 
3. The ‘Bod’ has a good website, look up Shetland Textile Museum. It contains a detailed and interesting history of Arthur Anderson.