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Waas Show 2018
Hello everyone, so bright and early on Saturday morning me and Sandra headed out to Waas to have a look at the Show and judge the Colourbox competition. This is only the 3rd year we have had the colourbox at the Walls Show so it is a bit smaller but still has beautiful entries: We've had a few questions about the Colourbox Shades so for a reminder the 2018 colours were: 3, 53, 66, 72, 87, 366, fc37 and fc56. Once we had done our bit we enjoyed wandering around looking at the animals and other entries. While we were driving out it was pretty rainy but luckily it was dry and sunny on the Westside (which is quite often the way!) so we had a great time. Like all shows in Shetland the knitwear is to an extremly high standard, there was quite alot of lace but also Fair Isle. The judges had a tough job! There are still a couple of shows still to be but thats the last with the Colourbox for this year, next years colours have been chosen so we are looking forward to 2019 already! Happy Knitting!
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Brora Black Cobweb Shawl
hello everyone, a quick post today about a new version we have of one of our classic patterns, the Brora Black Cobweb Shawl is another one of Gladys Amedro many Shetland 1ply Shawls which Jamieson & Smith released in the late 1980's and early 1990's. This pattern was released in 1991 and like all of Gladys patterns was written rather than charted - but recently we had a customer, Heather, who had re charted the pattern for herself and allowed us to use her charts for a charted version of the pattern. It features lots of tree motif's - you see a lot of trees in Shetland knitting considering we don't have very many..! They are often seen in Fair Isle in yokes as you can decrease incredibly successfully around them as you can see here in the Hairst Yoke: For the type of shawls that this one is the tree motif is quite apt as it is often known as the Tree of Life. There are a number of similar motif's in Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller and they are described as such, a 1ply shawl is also used as a christening shawl and they were/are given to a new baby as a present or to be wrapped around them at their Christening. This shawl is quite unusual as it was knit in Black, most are made in white but this was also seen to be able to be used as an evening shawl. Regarding the construction you first knit the border to create the scallops then pick up the stitches and work each triangle 4 times at the same time gradually decreasing as you get towards the centre. This means at the end there is no sewing to be done except your ends! If you would like to knit your own Brora Black we have added the charted pattern kit to the online shop - you can choose to knit it in Cobweb 1 ply available in White and Black or Shetland Supreme 1 ply Available in 5 natural shades and Optic White (Optic is currently out of stock but we are hoping to have it mid August) if you want to know more about the merits of choosing a woollen spun yarn versus a worsted have a look at this post. 1ply supreme optic, white, fawn and moorit 1ply grey, 1ply shetland black, cobweb white and cobweb black We are planning to work our way through many of our written patterns and translate them to also be available as a charted one too, so we hope you like it! PS.. we recently got some new peerie project bags you can see them here
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Sletts Shawl L252 Re-imagined
As our yarn range grows and changes sometimes its fun to take a look back at one of our older patterns and try it in a newer range. This is what Sandra did recently with the catchily named 'My Weekly Baby Knits Shawl L252' - originally released in the 1980's and designed by Gladys Amedro. Originally knit in the Woollen Spun 2ply Lace Sandra remade this version in the undyed White shade of Shetland Supreme 2ply Lace - worsted spun and somewhat finer this has resulted in a very soft and drapey shawl. I was surprised how modern and wearable it seemed when we were rephotographing it, it would still make a perfect Hap for a baby or a christening but wrapped around your neck and shoulders its lovely and quite stylish! The Shetland Supreme 2ply is quite lightweight but also substantial due to the two plys, the worsted yarn of course is fine for next to skin and I can imagine it would look lovely in all the natural 2ply Shades. Construction wise the shawl is made as indicated by my quick drawing above - you initially knit the edging first, the stitches are all picked up and the four borders worked at the same time in the round. The centre is then knitted from one of these borders and knit whilst attaching to the other two sides and grafted onto the last border. We decided to rename this pattern the Sletts Shawl, which is where we took the photographs, its a bay in the town and made the perfect backdrop for the shawl. We have also updated the pattern with charts and updated all the abbreviations to the modern ones, so you can see on the product page there are now two choices for the kit - one is the original patttern and knit in L1 Woollen Spun Lace and the new pattern which is both written and charted in the Shetland Supreme. We hope this means there is something for everyone depending on how you like your lace patterns! We hope your enjoying your summer, we have been been having some nice summery weather in Shetland so long may it continue, Happy Knitting!
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Fire Festival KAL finished objects
Hello! We had our last Up Helly Aa of 2017 on Friday so that marks the end of our Fire Festival Knit a Long, we have been so pleased with the amount of people who have knit something with the colours we chose, due to the number of entries I decided to try something different and have you guys vote for your favourite, I have broken it down into Garments and Accessories/Others. I couldn't do a poll with the images in it so you might have to make a note of your favourite piece and then put it in the poll for the two categories. For more information have a look here which list all the entries and you can go into each project to find out more from the knitter. Garments Ready For Lerwick by Claudiajano Fire Festival KAL by DottyBev Up Helly Aa by Auchnagaoith Peat Hill Wasitcoat by Braemberi Little Winter Star Fire Festival by Torirot Fire Festival KAL by Rubin Accessory/Other Fire Festival KAL by alysmith American Fire by bdegar Fire Festival KAL by EvaL8 Up Helly Aa scarf by Hadewychs Fire Festival Bousta Beanie by JaneKAL Up Helly Aa by JConklin Ragnorok by Jelibet Up Helly Aa by Jensknits Up Helly Aa Hat by jn1982 Fire Scatness by KnitMomWi Up Helly Aa hat by KTMaine Fire Wind Water Cowl by kyspinner Up Helly Aa Mitts by Laknits Fair Isle Mitts by lav 2017 J&S Fire Festival KAL by LKLawsonknits Fire KAL mitts by MaureeninFargo Fire Festival KAL by meigsview Fire Festival KAL by merelide Shetland KAL by namihn Spritely SMUHA by socksprite Norse Fire Socks by tinygiraffe Fire Festival KAL by tjitshere Fire Festival KAL by torirtot Saudade by woolyeyes The poll will be open until next week when we will reveal the winners in the two categories, good luck to everyone and thank you so much for taking part in the Knit A Long - we love doing them and seeing all the different things people make from the same selection of colours! Happy Choosing! Save Save Save Save
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Selection Boxes
Hello! it can be quite hard sometimes to choose colours, especially if you are looking to try out a yarn range with no particular project in mind, we have been thinking of ways you can pick up a one stop box full of Shetland Wool so in that vein we have put together a selection of... Selection Boxes! In a few of the smaller ranges you will receive each of the available shades (1ply Supreme, Shetland Heritage Naturals and Supreme Jumper Weight) but for the rest we have picked a range of shades which we feel will work well together in a project or just round out your stash! You will get your selection box in a sturdy, naturally finished box stamped with the J&S logo which is included in the price. It makes a great gift for knitters but also makes a nice treat for yourself, we have started with a smaller range of choices but if you think there is something else you'd love to see - let us know! You can see the boxes on the website here. Happy Knitting! PS - remember there is still time to take part in the Fire Festival Kal, there have been some really beautiful projects appearing in our Ravelry group!
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Deepdale Shawl Colourways
Every now and again we come into work at the shop and find there are a lots of orders for the same thing without knowing what its for! a few months ago that happened and we noticed there were a number of orders for 2ply Lace in shades L54, L203, L3 and L202. I thought they looked lovely together and then when I went on Ravelry later on I realised Gudrun Johnston had chosen to use those shades for one of her colourways in her MKAL pattern. For the past couple of years Gudrun has run a mystery knit along where each week new clues are revealed and you don't know what the final project will look like! this shawl was this years effort and the final pattern is now available itself: Deepdale It gave me an idea to put together a few colourways using the 2ply Lace, it's a sometimes overlooked yarn but it makes for lovely lightweight but warm projects. the original colourway: L54, L203, L202 and L3 warm browns: L5, L4, L78 and L202 greys: L77, L54, L27 and L203 blues: L21, L63, L15 and L16 pinks: L43, L68, L136 and L101 A number of people also ordered the Shetland Heritage Naturals for this project and they would work beautifully, the Heritage is a little bit thicker than the two ply lace but that only makes for an even more snuggly finished shawl! grey, light grey, moorit and fawn The above colourways is very similar to the original, but the two below will give you more of a brown finished shawl or a grey one - I love the greys! shetland black, moorit, fawn and white shetland black, grey, light grey and white I hope this has given you some ideas for colours for a Deepdale Shawl, if you make one using J&S yarns remember to tag us on Instagram, our username is thewoolbrokers and we love to see in progress pictures. :) Happy Knitting!
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Heritage Natural Cones
Hello, thank you all for the kind comments on the last blog! We have been so pleased with how well the new Natural Heritage yarn has been going and now you can get it on cone!! We get the cones for machine knitting but you can hand knit with them of course, the Heritage yarn is slightly waxed on the cone so it goes easier through a knitting machine. So we would always suggest washing your finished item and even your swatch if you are using coned yarn to get the accurate measure of your gauge. We have a lot of 500g cones is all the shades and a number of 1kg cones in most shades so if you are planning a project using a lot of one of the shades it works out to be a great deal! The 500g cones are £27.00 which is equivalent to about 20 balls and 1kg are £54.00 which is like 50 balls. You can see them on the website here. Happy Knitting! PS. you can now pre-order a copy of the 2016 Shetland Wool Week Annual! see here if you would like one.
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Shetland Heritage Naturals - a closer look
hello! Today I thought we take a closer look at the new addition to our Heritage Range - Shetland Heritage Naturals! Its only been available for a few weeks but its been flying off the shelves.. When we got our sample cones I (Ella) rushed some home to do some swatches on my machine to see how the yarn would knit up, its spun to the same thickness as our Shetland Heritage but the natural yarns always behave a little bit differently than the dyed ones and I wasn't disappointed! The yarn smells lovely and sheepy in the ball so the yarn feels a bit thinner until its washed, it fluff's up and fills the gaps between the stitches beautifully. The heritage range has a beautiful soft handle thanks to being worsted spun, (see more info here) I knitted it on my machine at tension 9 for a quite drapey fabric but you can knit it with lots of needles sizes to get a different finish. Heritage yarn bridges the gap perfectly between 2ply Lace and 2ply Jumper weight and most resembles the traditional Hap weight yarn we used to produce, its a versatile yarn as it works for lace knitting but also is perfect for colourwork. You can see more about the story of the Shetland Heritage yarn from our yarn series post last year. Here is a side to side with the yarn and swatch of each of the six shades: White Fawn Light Grey (a first in our undyed worsted ranges) Grey Moorit Black The Shetland Heritage Naturals are available here and cost £3.20 per 25g ball, we will shortly be getting in some cones so keep an eye on the website for that, we are so pleased with our newest yarn and hope you are too! The coloured Shetland Wool was at one time such a unwanted fibre (people used to dump it rather than sell it as it was worth so little) that we are so proud to give it value and we now have a 1ply/2ply lace weight worsted spun, light 4ply worsted spun and a woollen spun 4ply yarn all using this precious fibre. By using it in yarns and products it makes it worthwhile for crofters and farmers to keep coloured Sheep and that's always a good thing!
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woollen and worsted
You may notice when looking at our website we have quite a variety of different yarns in much the same weights but available in Worsted and Woollen spun variations. I thought today we'd go through and look at the differences of both and why you may choose one over the other depending on your project. l-2ply Lace r-Shetland Supreme 2ply Lace In relation to the fibre preparation before spinning - Woollen spun fibre is carded and this means the fibres are still overlapping having been carded back and forth over each other, this creates a very airy fibre which when spun is warm and springy. Worsted spun however is combed so all the fibres are lying relatively parallel to each other which creates a smoother and stronger yarn, the combing process also removes many of the shorter fibres, one aspect which can be found itchy by the wearer. our new Shetland Heritage Naturals are Worsted Spun I've made this very rudimentary illustration to show what I mean when these two methods are used in a finished yarn: (ignore the similarity to a hairy leg!) The image above also illustrates what it is people sometimes find itchy about wool, those fibres poking out are what irritates the skin and this is why worsted spun can be less itchy than woollen, although worsted spun can still have a visible 'halo' the location of the fibres are not actually poking out in the same way as woollen spun. The reason we have similar weights available in both woollen and worsted is because both approach have pro's and con's and depending on your intended final finish it is always good to have a choice! Woollen Spun Worsted Spun Equivalent 1ply Cobweb 1ply Shetland Supreme 2ply Lace 2ply Shetland Supreme Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight Shetland Heritage Naturals (slightly thinner) 2ply Jumper Weight Shetland Heritage (slightly thinner) Shetland Aran (discontinued) Shetland Aran Worsted In relation to the thinner 1ply yarns Woollen Spun has a crisper feel, whereas the Worsted Spun has more drape and softness. In this photo below you can see the 1ply Supreme (worsted) on the left has more of a halo whereas the 1ply Cobweb (woollen) on the right has better stitch definition - it almost feels like cotton although it is 100% wool. For projects using 1ply you need to think what the finished item will be used for - a baby's christening shawl which wont be used often may benefit from being knitted in the crisper 1ply Cobweb but a stole that will be worn close to the skin and often may be better in Shetland Supreme.The loftiness in the fibre of Woollen Spun yarn means air is trapped within the yarn making it warm to wear, it also is known all over the world for its use in Fair Isle knitting because of the way the fibres interact with each other. In the below image you can see the effect of the two different spinning processes in Fair Isle, worsted spun on the left and woollen on the right. Both successful and traditional in there own right, its only down to your preference. You can see the Shetland Heritage garment has a sheen and flatness whereas the Supreme Jumper Weight garment has a slightly fuzzy look due to the fibre preparation we mentioned earlier.At the top of this post you can see an image of 2ply Lace and Shetland Supreme 2ply Lace next to each other, the loftiness of the Woollen Spun 2ply is evident to see in the thickness of the yarn and the smoothness of the 2ply Supreme Worsted spun is also clear to see. In finished garments these two aspects can still be seen, In the 2ply Lace the crispness works extremely well in traditional Lace patterns and similarly the drape of the Shetland Supreme 2ply also works well in Shetland Lace patterning.Due to the fibres being combed and all the fibres aligning Worsted Spun yarns are very strong and quite hard to break, Woollen spun has the short and long fibres jumbled together so it is easier to pull apart, this is another thing to think about for your finished garment - Shetland Lace can need quite aggressive blocking so it may be worth looking into the Worsted Spun ranges if this is something that concerns you. I hope this quick look into our worsted and woollen spun yarns has been informative and it might make a bit more sense why we have similar weights in both Woollen and Worsted spun! Happy Knitting!
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