Shetland Autumn 2023 Day 22 Friday 22 Sept: Fair Isle Knitting and meeting Shetland Knitting ‘Royalty’

It was colder again this morning, and I heard on the radio that nowhere in the country would make 20C today. That says something about the amazing summer we have had overall. However, today in Shetland it was 11C outside! 

We are now very  much thinking of what we wanted to fit in today, it being the last day  for that as we were 100% committed to Wool Week events in the following remaining two days. 

We decided we would make our own coffee today. We carry a small  Nespresso machine, we  make Cappacino every day we are at home and like to repeat this when away. The drawback to this is that when we are travelling we do not have electric hookup so it has not solved the problem of having good coffee without paying exorbitant service station prices. (1)

We were graced by one  or two or three rainbows over coffee! 

Rainbow at Aith’s Voe

After this we decided we would go to Hoswich for lunch, this meant I could take in visiting two knitters that I much admired. First stop was to see Wilma my ‘queen of colour’.  I decided I would wear my 2023 yoked jumper of naturally dyed colours.(2) It was great to talk to Wilma, each year Michael buys a new jumper from Wilma but this year he had decided he had enough. However, as soon as he reached her studio he homed in on a red one. I think the pattern is, even by Wilma’s standards, exceptional in terms of the actual motifs but particularly in the colour placement. 

Part of the pattern of the fair isle jumper Michael bought

We were even more pleased that we managed to  see Wilma as this year she has decided to retire and close the studio although there are some designs online.(2)

She was interested in my yoked jumper and approved of my colours, but as I told her it was her teaching in a fair isle workshop in the earlier years  of wool week that has left such an impression on me. (3).She was very complimentary  and we discussed the extra challenge I gave myself by naturally dyeing the yarns and making the gradient. We were pleased that Irene arrived so we were also able to catch up with her.

The next stop was Hoswick where we had lunch. 

I had hoped to see Neila in her fantastic studio. She had also been influential to my overall knitwear design work, as I had attended a design workshop with her again some time ago. (4) That was way out of my comfort zone  but good for me! Unfortunately she was not in the shop that day but that gave me the opportunity to meet Estelle from Midwinter Yarns and have a chat to her. 

We decided we had been short on bird spotting time since being back on mainland so drove back via Weisdale. Michael managed to see the flock of rooks there, ie the only flock of rooks in Shetland I understand.  It was by that time late afternoon and the heavens opened, it was very very wet and remained so for some time. 

I had volunteered to help set up the Shetland SKWD exhibition. The start of the set up was 5.30 and I hoped I could help for about an hour or so. The Guild were using Tingwall  Hall again and as last year visitors were going to book for one of the four sessions, when there would be a ‘tea’ and ability to see the exhibition and talk to members of the Guild. I was very aware that I could not help out much, living about 500 miles away! Having been a Chair of a Guild in Cheshire for several years until we moved back to East Anglia and now in my local guild I know how much an extra pair of hands can help with moving tables, chairs etc and helping to get the exhibition ‘just so ‘. It was also nice to put more faces to names, some I had not seen since Covid Days when it was good to ‘meet’ by zoom. At home we don’t often get rain like we did that evening in Shetland! It was also cold. As the time moved on more people arrived to help, the tables got put out, and covered with the cloths and the exhibition took shape. I added a small exhibition of mainly my natural dyeing and then needed to leave. It was nice to have a word in passing with Hazel Tindall and then Kathleen Anderson as I left. I would be back on Sunday afternoon and was very much looking forward to seeing the full exhibition. 

So it was back to a wet and windy campsite for curry and wine! 

Notes 

1. When we got back  home I set myself on this challenge. After much thinking I bought a very inexpensive espresso machine that will work very nicely on our motorhome gas hob. I think it’s called a Moka pot. It uses fine ground coffee, so I can decide on the origin of the coffee. I also heat milk, again I can use my lactofree milk which I prefer,  in a small milk pan and while the espresso machine is working I can use a handheld milk frother. We now take this machine away with us to use all the time. Enjoyable coffee, I know exactly what has gone into the mug and it avoids the exorbitant prices as an increasing number service stations! 
2. Wilma trades under Shetland Designer  here
3. This is described in the post of 8 October 2023. The photos vanished in some malfunction. I have replaced them and hope they stay there! 
4. If you haven’t seen Neila’s work do take a look at her website