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. 

Shetland Autumn 2023: Day 14 Friday 15 Sept: A morning in Unst and arriving back on mainland Shetland

This was our last day for 2023 in Unst and we wanted to make the most of the time there. We had just over half a day and had booked lunch at Victoria’s Tea Rooms and then an early afternoon ferry. We would then drive down to our campsite, south of Lerwick, a distance of about 60 miles driving. 

We decided to start at Lund, we often go there when we are in Unst but it seems I don’t usually take any photos, well none of the 4 Viking crosses. I have some on my very old iPod, but the pixel count is so low they are virtually useless. So my first task was to take some photos so I can show my friends here in Norfolk what I am talking about! Lund churchyard always seems a beautiful but desolate spot. Many of the graves are kept beautifully and the air is so pure as shown by the amazing lichen growing on many of the gravestones. (I have since bought the Field Studies Council Guides to ‘Common churchyard lichens’ and ‘Lichens of heaths and moors’ so next time we are there I  am hopeful of identifying some of them’.) Cladonia spp is as far as I got without a guide. 

The Viking  crosses - all 4 

One showing more detail

How many types of lichens are here? 

The church is a 12th century or earlier roofless  ruin, although the churchyard is still in use. The church is thought to have belonged to a nearby Viking settlement, where evidence of 3 (or 4) longhouses, 2 with side rooms has been found. The walls of the church are noted as being up to 4 1/2 feet thick, I must look more closely at this next time. There is a trail, trail 4, a 2 page guide that can be downloaded and provide a walk from Underhoull to Lund, to experience this Viking World. 

It was damp  but no wind today and when I got down onto the beach, the sun came out. 

The church and beautifully kept graveyard 

A view of the beach and seaweed on the beach 

So to find a coffee spot, today we managed to get into The Final Checkout and buy some essentials to take onto mainland with us. 

Still time, so we went to Baltasound Pier, despite numerous visits to Unst we can’t remember being here before. Baltasound has one of the piers, the other being Uyeasound, where we stay. Baltasound still occasionally has cruise ships anchoring off it and passengers being transported to land by smaller boats in a shuttle service. I have read that this was the most important Herring Port of Shetland for some time (1902 ish) more important than Lerwick. Hence it was (and might be so today) the most important settlement in Unst. I feel, I have some links with this as Gt Yarmouth, about the nearest seaside to us in Norfolk was also a herring port. I have talked to at least one fine lace knitter who used to travel down to Gt. Yarmouth as a herring girl ….that would have seemed a very long way and hard work too. 

Lunch beckoned, I had a cheese scone and soup followed by delightful cake, and we tried not to be too sad. After all, once at Cunningsburgh and the campsite  we still had well over a week of Shetland to experience and friends to meet. 

What a sunset we were presented with that evening at the campsite.