Shetland Autumn 2023: Day 20 and 21: Wed 20th and Thurs 21st Sept: spinning and knitting; Scalloway Museum Knitwear and early history

It seemed milder today and up to 15C in the motorhome, but the forecast for further south in Britain was not good with high winds forecast. I wondered which way the weather was travelling, fearing the worst! 

I had targeted a good part of the day to spinning and knitting, which I rarely get a chance to do once we are in Shetland. I thought I had a clear run for these until late in the afternoon. 

I had bought some naturally dyed yarn with me for which I had used spinach! In the summer I read that spinach gave a green dye. I was extremely sceptical and could not get any evidence for this from any trusted written source I consulted. As I had set up a range of solar dyeing in the  greenhouse using cobweb Shetland yarn to see what different shades of yellow I could get I decided that I would try solar dyeing with spinach. 

I had no more ready mordanted fine yarn  available so I used some fleece that I had mordanted. This was a blue faced Leicester/swaledale cross which I knew was pre 2014. It gave a nice yarn but I was not sure how fine I could get it. I was wanting to know that too! So after taking a handful of fleece  about 10 g, the amount I was using for the other solar dyeing I set about ‘wetting’ this fleece using washing up liquid and added 200% spinach and set up the dye jar with the others in the greenhouse. 

Before we left home I rinsed and dried this and today I was hoping to spin some. 

I divided the fleece into two ( I carry a 2 dp balance with me for this!) and then combed the fleece. Once I had combed half of the fleece I used a 1mm sized diz (1)

And this is what it looked like prior to the spinning. Is it green, well on the green side of mustard I would say! If I do some more this year I will also try some  additives as it did dye nicely, but not quite what I would call ‘green’ ! 

Spinning that finely takes time, so I today I only managed to spin  one of the two plies using my Ashford E3. 

My ‘holiday’ knitting had to be simple (not a fine Shetland lace shawl) and I was knitting a pair of fingerless mitts, to match my  own pattern that I use for knitting fair isle yokes of jumpers or Shetland Wool Week beanies! This year I was using naturally dyed pinks to deep violets using cochineal and indigo from the left over yarn from my yoked jumper. 

J and S 2 ply jumper weight 

Time goes quickly when spinning or knitting and all too soon it was time to dress up a bit as we were going into town to have dinner with Janet at No88 in Lerwick. Although  the cruise ship was leaving we were disappointed not to be able to park yet on the pier. This meant a trickier journey walking down the hill for Michael. Then the table was not ready, so what was to be the third thing to ‘go wrong’. Answer nothing (yet!) we had a lovely table seat and the hospitality and food were both exceptional. 

By the time we left Lerwick it was very windy and it felt a long journey back to the campsite, even though it is just up the road! There was no ‘should we or should we not ‘ move the motorhome tonight! We drove straight down into a sheltered spot, so the strong south wind would not disturb us. We both slept well! 

The plan for Thursday was to visit Scalloway Museum. In all the years we have been coming we have not managed to get into the museum. The year prior to Covid we drove there on the Monday after wool week had ended only to be told the museum was now closed. So today that is where we were going. We got up and away early, so early in fact that when we got to Cornerstones for a coffee we both decided to choose a second savoury breakfast. We then walked to the Museum. 

This is not the only street in Scalloway with colourful houses. 

Initially a small museum was opened by the local history group in 1985 mainly concentrating on the activities of the ‘Shetland Bus’ which denotes the operations between Shetland and Norway during WW2. There is an excellent display pertaining to this currently. The new museum was opened in 2012 by the Prime Minister of Norway. It is a delightful museum, the staff are volunteers and are very helpful. The museum, to me, is a model of a local museum, it contains a wide ranging collection of exhibits. These are beautifully presented with very informative labels. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and look forward to visiting this again. 

Choosing these photos to give an idea of the breadth and quality of the exhibits has been difficult. 

Spherulitic felsite prized by stone age ancestor. 

Fair Isle knitwear gives an instant impression then there is the very rewarding bit of looking more closely. What a gem of detail this one is. knitted in Hamnavoe and called the Churchill pattern and yes there is a link! 

Good to see a display relating to lichens and natural dyeing

I love looking at the detail of lace Shawls, this one was knitted for Lady Grimond, the wife of a long standing and respected MP of the area. Such detailed planning needed to get a corner like this shows real understanding and skill. 

This is showing a button mould for horn buttons, yes they can be moulded.

I am drawn to Hanseatic  League information from Shetland as places in Norfolk had links with the Hanseatic Leagues and hence Shetland way back in our history. There was plenty of this in the museum. 

A reconstructed Neolithic plough, using an Ard point. I am finding small flint flakes and small axes in our garden going way back like this, near the current small stream which I suspect was a bigger river then. 

…and that was just the morning. We headed to Hay’s Dock and thought we might get a late lunch there. It is now run by the team at the Dowry and we were keen to try more than just coffee and a cake. It was a good choice. All library books were returned to the library and we headed down to the campsite. Tomorrow we were expecting it to be busier as people began arriving in numbers for Wool Week. 

Notes: 

1. Diz from fleecelovedproducts@gmail.com. I see lots of lovely Diz for sale but the holes are always far too big for my fine spinning!