Shetland Wool Week Day 12: Wonderful Haps and the Opening Ceremony

Wind was a dominant feature of today, it had been very windy in the night and unusually the van rocked a bit. We were very glad we were in a sheltered spot. It looked  as though it might be a weather dominating week. 

The plan had initially been to have a restful day after a full day yesterday, with just the opening ceremony. However, the restful part of the day was to be confined to the morning. 

The Ollaberry Haps Exhibition was closing on Wednesday so the only possible time for me to see it again was this afternoon when I could fit in a brief visit. I also found out I had to call at the Hub to get my membership bag so I had entry to the Opening Ceremony tonight. Then we needed to get to Cunnisburgh and get our campsite place sorted all before 6.30 when the opening ceremony started. It would work but I would need to limit how much chatting I did!

We decided to have lunch as the Ollaberry exhibition opened and as long as we spent no more than an hour there it would be fine. As before the spread was wonderful and we were easily able to chose some lunch. As soon as I sat down to eat I noticed a jumper board for sale that would fold up quite small. Well this was too good an opportunity to miss.  What was really nice  about this was the lady sitting at the stall was the wife of the maker, who himself turned up later so I was able to chat to him about it. It is very nice to envisage the maker of things like this that I buy. I did get chatting to the lady selling, who told me that she spent a few happy years in Norfolk as her husband had postings there in the RAF. So we chatted about Thetford, what a small world. 

Although I had seen Haps at Ollaberry last year, it was still an immense pleasure to see them. What was particularly good was seeing those made in Hap classes that had been held in the time since the last exhibition, what a great idea. Again it was lovely that there was such a good description and story available for the majority of these. I bought some other small things and chatted to people who have become friends. 

This one won a prize at Voe Show, had 3 rosettes  and noted it took 100 hours to complete. It was superb and priced at £500, underpriced in my mind. 

This is the jumper board when constructed. Apologies for the quality of the photo. This was taken in the evening back in the kitchen where we were staying.

I was really pleased that I had managed to get there but only sorry I could not have spent days examining them.... the skill and work that had gone into each demanded that really. So two days, two great exhibitions, what a treat. 

Then on to the Hub  to pick up my membership bag, a nice design again this year. 

I did chat a bit - this time to Alyssa Malcolmson who was wearing a magnificent cardigan that she had knitted. She is Wilma Malcolmson’s (1) niece  and a designer to watch. She is on Ravelry (LissyLooLoo) with at least one of her designs there. https://www.ravelry.com/designers/alyssa-maggie

The visit to the Shetland Museum visit was tinged with some disappointment as the shop still did not have Elizabeth and Hazel’s DVD. I made a new appointment for tomorrow- I would be at the Shetland Times Bookshop as early as possible, they MUST have a copy as they were publishing it (I hoped). 

A short drive down to Cuningsborough, where I met a machine knitting friend and her husband who were visiting Wool Week for the first time. Then a quick turnaround and off to Clickimin where the opening ceremony would be held in the Sports Hall again. 

We sat at a table near the front in the huge hall and had a lovely group for the evening. It was so lovely that Wilma Malcolmson came to sit with us, as well as Sarah and Jo (2) and Silvina  (3). As always the event was enjoyable. I felt it was too long last year but rather rushed this year. It was great to see items from New Designers in the Fashion Show but I was disappointed that established Designers were not represented. I wore my Ground Elder Dyed cardigan for the first time - there will be a separate blog post about this after the Shetland 2017 Journal series is completed. 

There were too many people to catch up with but I did have a brief chat with Hazel (3) Ruth(5) and Oliver (6) as the undyed wool for the cardigan was a cone of Jamieson and Smith Jumper weight and I know he likes to see products made from their yarn. 

Ground Elder Dyed cardigan. 

This was marked on the plan as a rest day! It had been another great ‘wool’ day but a rest day -not really. 

Notes: 

If you are into Wool you will know many of the people I refer too, but just in case I am giving more details. 

(1) Wilma runs www.shetlanddesigner.co.uk - her use of colour in Fair Isle is legendary

(2) Sarah Moran - we met in Cheshire when I was organising the first Maker’s Market for Alsager Music and Arts and have become ‘wool week’ friends since... and her impeccably dressed friend and  ‘all things needlework’ Jo

(3) Hazel Tindall, who changed my knitting life last year after the classes on using the knitting belt and knitting a yoke. Hazel has a great dvd on Fair Isle knitting - and also the one with Elizabeth (see later) which I  recommend. (www.hazeltindall.com)

(4)Silvina - from Brazil,  who I sat next to at the workshop in Whalsay the day before  -a keen knitter who is VERY keen to learn all she can about lace knitting and more

(5) Ruth Gough of www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk - Ruth and I go back a lot of years. She is great for spinning tuition, teaching the how and the why; great for equipment; great for courses. I have been to both Wingham and Borrowdale where I see they are doing residential courses again. 

(6) Oliver Henry of Jamieson and  Smith www.shetlandwoolbrokers.co.uk - this  website has to be on any serious knitters ‘favourites’ list in my opinion 

Shetland Wool Week day 11 :Fair Isle Workshop, Whalsay: Sat 23 Sept

No need for any alarm today, I was awake early as today was my first workshop of Wool Week in Whalsay. Having not had the best ferry experiences getting to see the Whalsay Fair Isle Exhibition last year I vowed that was to be my only visit to Whalsay. 

However, never say never. 

When I was making a mental list of what I would like to learn in Wool Week ‘knitting in the round using 3 rather  than 4 needles’ was high on the list and that just happened to be In Whalsay. We drove to Laxo and there were one or two cars and several foot passengers who looked like workshop attendees. Amanda (Pottinger) who was running the workshop at the Heritage Centre was going to pick up anyone who needed it but  we were taking the motor home over so Michael could explore the island. It was a bit choppy on the ferry but nothing compared to last year- however I did move to sit in the middle j(rather than the front) of the ferry. 

Prior to the workshop we had been asked what colours  we would like to work with and these yarns  and the instructions were named and so we sat with our name. This was a lovely  touch and ever thoughtful  if anyone was not happy with their choice there was the opportunity to swap colours. 

There were 11 of us taking the workshop; I was from Norfolk, a lady from the Isle of Man, another from Northern Ireland and the other eight from much further afield. I noted USA, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Brazil and Germany so a truly international group with a shared love of knitting. We  got started  right away completing  ribbing  for either a headband, tablet case or cushion cover. I opted for the tablet case and was in fact going to adapt the pattern to make a new cover for my Filofax. I left my woven Filofax cover on a shop counter whilst living in Cheshire, so a new cover would be really useful.

Not only were the tutors (Amanda and Janet)  great at pre planning  and teaching they were also great bakers. As soon as we started on our knitting, we were offered tea or real coffee and a cake stand with scones, butter, raspberry jam and clotted cream and drop scones appeared. Later on we were offered delicious chocolate squares with mint aero in them.

Two shots of the group, notice the mini kitchen with the goodies in the background.

            

The tutors constantly checked our progress, for many this was the first time they weee using a knitting belt and for all of us the first time knitting in the round with less than 4 needles. It was so good to watch Amanda and Janet (as experts)demonstrating  knitting and they were tireless in their help and encouragement to enable us to do the same. They even arranged for a special delivery of knitting belts made in Whalsay to be brought  to the Heritage Centre so workshop  members who wanted them could buy one and take it away with them. I think everyone bought one. (I had my own bought in Shetland a few years ago now and well used since Hazel’s class last year, where I really learnt how to use it.) 

All too soon it was 14.00 and  the class was officially over. We finished off this great class with a group photo and we all began to notice the bigger waves in the sea - anticipating a fairly rough return back to mainland. 

We were all on our way with our knitting at the end - notice the knitting pattern as dots as traditionally used and also the colourful knitting belts

I also took the opportunity to look at the exhibition, there had been some changes since last year. This cardigan took my eye and I have not cropped the photo so you can see some of the variety of Fair Isle Knitting on display. 

After the workshop, Amanda offered to drive to Shoard, the popular ‘charity’ shop and we were keen to follow. It is a big and impressive shop. I bought a 40cm length set of 5 dpns, steel and probably size 16- very fine indeed and some more lopi Wool so I could continue making repairs to my slippers that I knitted and felted some years ago. I then limited myself to 2 buttons and Michael bought a book. 

After what seemed like a very long drive we found the pop up cafe, lovely to see junior age  children helping the community provide this during Wool Week. I did have a small piece of cake but was mindful that the ferry crossing might be choppy, we were going to Vidlin so that indicated it wasn’t going to be calm! However, we were told it was because of the ‘tides’... mmm I thought ‘I wonder’. 

On the ferry we sat int he middle and I decided to spin, with my portable tiny drop spindle,  some Norfolk Horn.  I was spinning very fine - this distracted me and was also helpful in doing that for other members from the Fair Isle Class. The boat was choppy but nothing like a year ago. 

I felt much better when I was off the boat and we went back to the campsite briefly to sort ourselves out, tonight’s treat would be fish and chips from  the award winning Brae fish and chip shop, which we could just about see from our campsite. The fish and chips were amazing. 

This had been a very good start indeed to Wool Week- in fact it was brilliant. 

Shetland Wool Week: Day 10: Last Day in Unst: Fri 22 Sept

 

We woke to a stunning sky, spectacular bands of light moved over the sea to the shore and then there was the most glorious sunrise, so lovely to see today which was tinged with leaving sadness. I tried to capture it.

We left as soon as we could pack up and headed for Norwick beach where Michael walked up the road to a favourite bird watching spot and I took the camera and pottered on the beach - sheer bliss. It is ungrateful to complain but it was really too bright for photography. However, I did take lots of pictures and its difficult to choose a few for here.

 I can already visualise some textured weaving with some of my naturally dyed yarn

I spent some time knitting, can there be a better place for knitting? (Prep for my grafting class later in the week) 

I rarely take a selfie, but this was tempting. I know I am only supposed to include what is the frame, but what is outside is better!

We had treated ourselves to Victoria’s tea rooms for lunch as it was our last day here for a while. It did not disappoint and we treated ourselves to a porcelain dish to put the spoons in from the breakfast cup of tea so we can see it each day. Then Michael was back to Norwick and I went into the Heritage Centre to sit and spin and chat to the lovely knowledgeable knitters and spinners who meet there on Friday afternoon’s for much of the year. I so enjoy this as I like to see what they are doing and they are interested in what I have been doing too. This year I took my Ground Elder cardigan (more about that later), some fine lace spinning and gifted them some Norfolk Horn fleece. One of the ladies had fallen and broken a bone in her hand. Currently her spinning was halted but she was still able to knit- a fair isle tam at that. Some more visitors arrived including a lady from Melbourne who was a spinner of mainly merino and a knitter also from England. (I noticed this year that more people were coming up to wool week earlier and using the time to visit beyond Mainland which is good) I have knitted the Ground Elder cardigan, naturally dyed and using the knitting machine and am very proud of that. Being told ‘machine knitting is cheating’ was embarrassing for me to hear from a visitor. Everyone who knits using a knitting machine - and this includes a lot of people in Shetland - appreciates the skill that goes into that.

All too soon for me it was time to clear my things away for another year and catch the ferry back to Yell and then Mainland. I just had a short time to chat to Minnie who had come in to see my medieval spindles and chat about historical sheep breeds. More envy (and delight) that she was planning to go to the North Atlantic Sheep Conference in the Isle of Man after wool week.

I had eaten my delicious lemon tart from Victoria’s tea rooms on one of the ferries, but we did stop to make a cup of tea once we made Mainland. Another treat was in store - fish and chips from Brae, an award winning place. Before we collected these we drove round the corner to book in to Delting Marina where we would be spending a couple of nights. It had been a great day and tomorrow I had my first Wool Week class in Walsay. However, I did have uncomfortable memories of the ferry journeys last year and I noticed the wind was getting up a bit.......

Shetland Wool Week: Day 9: Mainly a technology day - Frustrations and learning new things: Thurs 21 Sept

It had rained hard in the night but it seemed amazingly warm when we woke up and the wind had dropped substantially. Even when dull, Uyeasound is still beautiful and we pottered and just enjoyed it. My plan this year was to publish my blog about our trip slightly retrospectively  but while we were still away. This day reminded me why that does not happen. Download speed is reasonable but upload speed is too slow. I had several attempts and then realised there were far better things to do when in Shetland. Leaving it until I got back home meant I could relive the experience again. However, I did not know I was to encounter a real technology bonus in the hostel. 

One of the cyclists, Laura of the yellow bike and I got chatting. She had been travelling with a tent and her bike since Sept 2015 and visited many countries, she wasn’t planning to get back home (Switzerland) until the spring 2018. She takes amazing photos and introduced me to Lightroom! It is now on my Christmas list- but that might have to be Christmas 2018 as  I intend to pack this years list with Shetland and Textile related goodies. If you know any German or even if you don’t but love great  photos take a look at Laura’s blog - www.la2rad.com 

I have been asked about the actual Viking longhouse in Unst, so here is a bit more information.  It is thought that Unst was the first place the Vikings landed in the North Atlantic and remains of 60, yes 60, longhouses have been found, which gives the highest rural density known including in Scandinavia. Three of these longhouses have been excavated in Unst and the replica longship in Haroldswick has made use of the knowledge and skills developed due to these. 

The roof is sealed with turf and the interior of the roof has all wood joints, the pattern at the end took my eye. 

I was particularly interested in the door, no metal was used, the hinge was very clever! 

The longhouse is a large building and events are staged there in the summer and sometime I hope to partake in some of these. It is a glorious building and I wonder what the Viking buildings in Norfolk were like. 

This site is well worth a visit and it is in sight of Victoria’s tea rooms and a very short distance from the Heritage Centre and that wonderful lace knitting. 

*** I didn’t mention in the last post the size of the Viking ship- 24m in length and 5m wide and made of oak. It is called the Skidbladner and is a full size replica.

Shetland Wool Week :day 8: wonderful people, Wool and archeology : Wed 20 Sept

This was going to be another restful day where we played at being tourists. It ended up packed full of things that form wonderful memories. One of the great things about coming to Shetland Wool Week over the years is that you meet 'spin off' craftspeople. This morning we were off to meet Cheryl from Glansin Glass (www.glansinglass.co.uk) which is in Uyeasound where we are staying - her products are beautiful. We had a hard job choosing what to bring back - delightful pieces for the newly decorated lounge that we will enjoy each day. 

We hadn't previously stopped at the Viking Ship and Longhouse but made time this morning. 

 It was a real treat, I loved this detail from the ship. 

The rope was integral to the ship, it felt wrong to ‘remove it’ and just look at the colours in it! 

We decided we would not have liked to row the ship, for one thing the oar was very heavy but it was lovely to sense what it might have been like. 

Lunch was in Victoria's tea room where we had  trouble choosing, the food was all so tempting- we booked to return for lunch on Friday. Then it was on to the Heritage Centre for me, to get a fill of the glorious lace again. It doesn't matter how many times I look at this lace, it is never enough. But today I was in for a treat, I started talking to a lady ( obviously up for SWW by her cardigan). We got chatting and introduced ourselves, she was Hadewych van der Werf ( look her up she does wonderful colourwork knitting) and we noted we had a common friend Monique Boonstra  (such a wonderful lace designer and knitter, look her up too) both  from The Netherlands. I guess Monique’s  ears might have been burning. Another treat was managing to buy the Whalsay Fair Isle book, beautiful pictures of the knitwear in the exhibition - which I will see again on Saturday. The book is worth getting (try Whalsay Heritage and Community Centre). It is a sheer delight with fair isle knitwear from the 1920’s to 2010’s from the island. Every page is worthy of detailed study. 

Having bought a few other items we went   to Lund Church where it is always atmospheric ( windy) but is a place like no other. I decided it was a great place to catch up on my knitting, I am still trying to do my prep  for Friday and Tuesday classes. I couldn't not walk there, so I rugged up and was delighted that I managed to find the Viking crosses in the Church yard. There are another couple behind this and one was in front of the one you see here. 

Back 'home' ( I wish - I mean the hostel where we park the motorhome) there are 3 ladies each on their own- 2 cyclists and a lady in a small tent but with a car  lots of interesting conversation for all as we prepare and cook dinner. 3 more people now know about Shetland Wool Week! 

Another night when I will have no trouble sleeping. 

Shetland Wool Week day 7: An idyllic day in Unst: Tuesday 19 September

We got up to a brilliant sunny but windy day. I decided that some washing was in order. Pegging this on the line was challenging, needing 3 pegs forced down on each item and as I left the line it was all horizontal. It would be a good drying day.

I had received emails from two local people, Cheryl who I had met in a photography workshop last year and Minnie whom I had known from spinning etc for several years. We hoped to meet both during our time in Unst. 

We managed to get to Victoria’s Vintage Tea Rooms for coffee. The cakes as always were delicious, do fit in a trip there if you are ever that far north and below is just a quick snap as we arrived. As a treat we bought an Unst Calendar for next year, the added bonus being that I will not make our own and they are all pictures of Unst - that will be a real delight for 2018.

We were, of course, off to Norwick beach - one of our favourite beaches in Unst. Michael walked up the road to look for birds and I went on the beach to take pictures of seaweed. After a break for lunch, made in the camper van there was time for more of the same! 

I did tear myself away to finish a little textile project, lacing my boots with their new inkle woven laces in black and gold cotton to match the original stitching on the boots.  I am very pleased with them and in fact they got many favourable comments later in the holiday. It was a surprise to be stopped in the street and someone pointing to my feet and then after some more pointing and attempt at speaking a common language the lady and I managed to have a conversation about the laces. She knows they are woven but the ‘inkle weaving’ might have been a step too far!

The day got better, we stopped in Skiboull Stores for some provisions - pear tart, 2 delightful fair isles mugs for morning coffee when we get home etc and who should come in too, but Minnie. We missed each other in Shetland last year so we had a bit of catching up to do but things soon turned to spinning and natural dyeing. We hoped to meet up on Friday at the Heritage Centre when I would go along in the afternoon to meet local spinners and knitters who meet there in the summer at that time. 

What a super day it had been, great scenery, great seaweed, great cake and catching up with friends. We slept well. 

Shetland Wool Week day 6: A rest day in Unst : Monday 18 September

We had been travelling for 5 days so deemed today a rest day. We were not tempted to do otherwise as it was a bit wet outside first thing. We did not move the van all day. 

I decided that complete rest could well result in a migraine so set to on getting to the final draft stage with a month's long online textile workshop  ( on getting a professional finish to garments) that I am working on to be delivered in November. 

Image of section of workshop 

This is my first venture into this sort of thing, although in the past I have written stand alone teach yourself units - but that was in A level Chemistry and not a textile based subject. It will be interesting to see how this goes. 

By lunchtime it has stopped raining and brightened up. However, I was determined to get the new laptop talking to the wi fi in the hostel. Eventually  it worked, failure at first was operator failure and lack of familiarity with the newish laptop. 

It was very nice to walk round the sound to the north east and surprised to see a loch behind the shore. I just stretched my legs and took photos of sea based things, seaweed and fishermen's bits for the colour and texture- part of today's textile interest. I took a couple of other photos unique to Uyeasound, more on one in a later post. Michael walked much further looking at birds and was surprised and delighted by an otter that ran across the road from the sea to the loch. When he looked it obviously has a well worn track from the beach. He watched it for a couple of minutes while it swam away into the loch. 

We can fully understand how important this area was in the past due to the long area of sheltered sea. It is good to see there is still fish based industry of a sizeable nature still here.(1) 

In the previous post this can be seen  towards the right of the photo showing the sound. In the past herring were a big catch in this part of Unst and herring girls followed the shoals, some going down to Gt Yarmouth and Lowestoft - what a small world it is. 

I couldn't resist this photo of the bus stop - how useful to have a pair of wellies to use! 

Uyeasound bus stop

(1) It seems that in 2007 when a new pier was built, 30 people were employed by two fish farms in Uyeasound.  More recently one of the farms has been sold by the family that have been running it 24/7 for 47 years! They were raising about 275,000 fish which equated to approx 1000 tons of salmon a year. Today, business seems mainly to be raising the salmon and the area is good for this as the farms seem to avoid the detrimental 'sea lice'. I will wonder when I next buy my Shetland salmon whether it was alive and well when we were looking out at the sound. Scotland is the third biggest world producer of salmon and quite a lot of this comes from Shetland and the other islands.