My hat for Shetland Wool Week 2018

This is the official Shetland Wool Week hat for 2018, the Merrie Dancers Toorie by Elizabeth Johnston, this year's patron.  

I did some small modifications - details on Ravelry. 

The story of "Vårkløver" - my next sweater pattern

In 2015, Ella Gordon and Kate Davies did a talk on collecting vintage knitwear during Shetland Wool Week. A video can be seen here, and a blogpost by Donna Smith here. I fell in love with one of Ella's sweaters. 

In 2016, Ella Gordon was the patron of the wool week, and in her lecture, she talked about her designs, but also about her vintage collection, and we got to see some of it, among them my favourite. I could have a close look, and I asked Ella about the construction. She told me the sweater sould have been machine knitted, the body bottom up, and then stitches were picked up and the sleeves were knitted top down. 

I liked the vintage feel of the seed stitch edging. From the chart book that had just come out, I found a beautiful hand coloured chart, and here's the first swatch. 

The idea to add some texture to the plain body came from this gorgeous sweater seen at an exhibition at Islesburgh community centre. (I also have a hard time knitting a lot of plain stocking stitch...)

The yarn? Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight

The main colour? 202, of course!

Cones of yarn are great value for money, if you can fit it in your luggage!

The pattern? Coming in 2018!

Wool Week Memories - knitting and eating

Exhibition at Bressay Lighthouse

Fisherman's sweater class with Julia (Woollenflower)

Lanb shank and Eton mess at Grand Hotel

       

Can't leave without having had tea and scones!

- at Bonhoga Gallery

I didn't knit these!

Shetland Textile Museum

Knitting, East Burra

Photographing new mittens, at Bannamin Beach

Mittens for good neighbours #3

Life line thumb

Wool Week Memories - Lerwick

Who hasn't taken this photo from outside the museum?

And here's from the Guesthouse window.

A park we passed on our way to and from the classess....

... which took place at Isleburgh Community Centre

Wool Week Memories - Bressay

Exhibition at Bressay Lighthouse

My classes at Shetland Wool Week 2017

I am teaching two classes at Shetland Wool Week this year. The first is Knitting the thumb gusset . 

There are still a few places available for this class, where I'll be teaching different ways to work the thumb gusset, and you'll be working the gusset on one of these mittens.

 

For this class you need to bring your own yarn and needles. The mittens are worked in fingering yarn, like Spindrift from Jamieson or the 2ply jumper weight from Jamieson & Smith. For the mitten body, the gauge is 28-30 sts in 10 cm in stranded pattern, so participants must bring needles to give gauge. You'll need two contrasting colours and a couple of stitch markers.

I ask participants to work the mitten cuff before class starts. Then they'll be all set for the thumb gusset. The cuff is plain ribbing: Cast on 48 sts and work ribbing k2, p2 for 7-8 cm.

The mittens were designed for this class, that I taught for the first time at SWW last year. They're called Mittens for good neighbours. The pattern is written for one main colour and one contrasting colour, but as you see from my photos, I have played with using differend shades for the main colour and different contrasting colours.

I'm sure everyone is looking as much forwards to going to Shetland as I do. It's not long now!

The other class I teach is Design your own mitten  For this class no yarn is needed, unless people want to bring some for colour inspiration. We'll be working  with pencil and paper, so participants should bring coloured pencils and eraser. A handout will be provided. I ask participants to work a gauge swatch before class starts. Then they'll be all set for the design planning.

This class is full. 

For an additional price of £15 payable on the day of the class the book “Eventyrvotter” is included.

The book is in Norwegian, but you get a download link to get 14 of the 20 patterns in English as well (as two Ravelry e-books). You can see the patterns from the book on Ravelry.

See you soon!

Mitten news

I am teaching two mitten classes at Shetland Wool Week this year. 

Knitting the thumb gusset (places avaiable)  

and Design your own mitten (sold out)

In July, there will be a Mystery Mitten Knitalong on Ravelry, in the "I make mittens" group. I have designed the mysterious pattern, and it is test knitted as we speek. Stay tuned for more information!

Bousta Beanie for Shetland Wool Week

Gudrun Johnston er årets "patron"  (høye beskytter) for Shetland Wool Week. Og de siste årene har det blitt en tradisjon at beskytteren designer ei lue som deltakerne kan strikke og ha på seg. Det er morsomt å se alle de forskjellige versjonene som man treffer når man er der. Årets lue heter Bousta Beanie, og mønsteret er gratis på hjemmesida til Shetland Wool Week.

Nå falt det seg sånn at rett etter at årets høye beskytter ble annonsert, og mønsteret publisert, skulle besøke til min gode venninne og medshetlandsfarer Gro. Så da var det å plukke fram litt garn (jeg har et lite lager av garn fra Shetland, foråsiresånn...) og ta med til en koselig strikkekveld. Og så langt kom jeg første kvelden:

Noen dager etter fikk jeg en overraskelse i posten, en annen god strikkevenninne, nærmere bestemt Annepålandet, hadde vært på Edinburgh Yarn Festival og hadde tenkt på meg og tatt med et ekstra mønster. Veldig hyggelig! Og lua vokste. 

Dusken er "optional", som det heter, men jeg var ikke i tvil om at denne lua trengte en dusk, og den måtte være gul. Jeg husker ikke hvor eller nå jeg kjøpte denne dingsen, men den fungerte som den skulle og blei innvia med denne knallgule dusken. Fargen er Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight 091 - "eggeplomme", kan vi kanskje kalle den. 

Og den passer perfekt. Jeg strikka vrangborden på 2 mm og resten av lua på 3 mm, har ikke sjekka strikkefastheten, men lua sitter som den skal, uten å stramme eller skli ned. Og om et halvt år er den på vei til Shetland!