Shetland Autumn 2023:Day 18+19: Mon 18 and Tues 19 Sept: Knitting and Pottering

 

Monday was misty, but that bode well I thought for the weather breaking out. It was certainly a lot warmer than yesterday with the thermometer in the motorhome telling us it was  13C outside, that was more than double what it was yesterday. 

Today was another day for meeting a good friend. We only live about 35 miles apart when back in England but for both of us life gets in the way and it is much easier to meet up in Shetland and do something related to wool! 

So today we had decided to meet for coffee in Hoswick. As I approached the visitor centre (which was a weaving shed) I could see the tables were prepared  for a group. I guessed there was a cruise ship in and stopping at the visitor’s centre for a coffee would be a great part of the tour. This  centre is run by volunteers I believe and organising the place for a tour stop with a limited time needs a lot of organising. 

It turned out that the first tour that was expected was called off at 8.00, but another was expected at 12.00 so wisely the settings were left for this. 

I could not see Janet but she had wisely taken a table upstairs, well about 4 steps up in another room. We spent some time looking at the digital photos I had from the fine spun yarn in Unst and from the raw Shetland fleece from England and Yell. 

We left before lunch, Janet aiming to drive over to Burra and we were thinking of going to park somewhere Near St Ninian’s and make some lunch. 

Both of us did that, we had some soup, with a super view of the St Ninian’s to view. However, it was not like the best photos being  somewhat dull but I wasn’t going to be bothered by shadows! We sat it out and I was able to get onto the beach and potter and take some what I would call ‘arty’ photos. The drive back to the camp site was in heavy rain and the wind was getting up, ominous! 

Some photos from the beach

The tombolo (1)

Seaweeds

This I believe is Saccharina latissima 

And this is Laminaria sp.

and Fucus vesiculosus

Having borrowed Sharon Miller’s Haps from the library I was able to order and downloaded a pdf. This will be good to go through carefully when we are back home. 

The rain was vicious on the way back and then the wonderful got up and it was a windy evening and night. So windy infact that we sat up late in case we needed  to move the Motorhome to a more sheltered spot on the campsite. We did not move the Motorhome! 

We had booked the Dowry for lunch on Tuesday and were looking forward to that. It did not disappoint! Such a great venue. Being in Lerwick gave us the opportunity for a potter in town. I had bought boots from Beggs before we went up to Shetland and Michael decided this was an opportunity for him to look for some. They always have a good choice. We noticed that the window was being prepared for wool week! 

Beggs wool week window 

I hadn’t managed to get into any of the charity shops yet, so today was the day! I bought some more useful fine double pointed knitting needles and some patterns, bordering on the vintage from the Cancer shop.

No charts in these, the first challenge will be to chart them and form the instruction’s into schematic diagrams ….all good for an ageing brain! 

Finally another trip to the library to swap my books from their fantastic knitting and Shetland selections. 

Notes

1. There seems to be a discrepancy/ alternative spelling. The Shetland spelling seems to end in o, but I know it ending in a !