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Roadside Beanie
Hello everyone, today is the first day of the Edinburgh Yarn Festival marketplace, Derek and Sandra are there (if you are going we can be found at stand K8) but Oliver is also down because he has been announced at this year's Shetland Wool Week Patron! We are very excited of course as Oliver was instrumental in organising the first Shetland Wool Week 10 years ago as J&S founded the event. It has gone from strength to strength every year so for the 10th anniversary, it's great to see such an important figure in the Shetland Wool Industry as the patron. Oliver's design - the Roadside Beanie has been launched today and you can find kits here on the website and the pattern here on the Wool Week website. The design features common motifs for a Shetlander, sheep and fishing boats! To learn more about the Roadside Beanie have a read of the pattern. We are extremely proud of Oliver and look forward to seeing all the Roadside Beanies this year. Happy Knitting!
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Post Shetland Wool Week
Hello everyone! Things are getting back to normal after another great Shetland Wool Week, we were extremely busy which meant we couldn't do our usual blog update so I'm very sorry about that but I would highly recommend looking through the Shetland Wool Week 2018 hashtag on instagram - it gives you a great insight into what everyone was up to! As our bags say - Wool Week never ends for us but we have just put some copies of this years Annual on to the online shop which contains lots of great patterns by visiting but mainly Shetland designers as well as interesting articles including one on the Herring industry which features some great pictures of where we are in the North Road including this one below on the right which shows our 'Tin Kirk' shop in the background. There are lots of great patterns in the Annual and 5 use J&S 2ply Jumper Weight in them - You could make yourself a perfect winter wardrobe using just these 5 patterns! l: Antidote Mittens by Outi Kater m: Kliek Cardigan by Marjolein Reichert r: Foula Snood by Donna Smith l: Skalavag Mittens by Tori Seierstad r: Einar Hat by Ella Gordon We also have some 2017 Annuals so if you missed out last year I would snap it up, they are definitely collectors items and very worth having in your knitting library. Of course the Annuals also contain the official Wool Week pattern for that year - so last years has the Bousta Beanie and this year the Merrie Dancers Toorie. That leads us onto another fun Wool Week themed kit we put up just before Wool Week but didnt get a chance to post about: Patron Packs! We asked all the patrons there have been for Shetland Wool Week so far to choose their favourite 8 shades of 2ply Jumper Weight. We've put them together for you and you can find them on the online shop here. Its a great way to build up your jumper weight stash with colours you maybe wouldnt have chosen! If you came to Shetland Wool Week we would like to thank you for visiting and supporting this event, it is an extremly important week for us and we appreciate all of you that came to see us. If you didnt visit us thank you for being patient with us while we try to get back to normal!
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Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2018
Hello everyone, happy Friday! Just a peerie post today reminding you that we will be at Edinburgh Yarn Festival next weekend, the marketplace takes place on the 15th-17th and is located at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh. We have been busy organising all our stuff to bring and we will be heading on the boat on Monday night. Of course we will have our entire range of 2ply Jumper Weight, as well as a selection of all our other ranges from cobweb up to chunky. We are also taking lots of books, knitting belts, patterns etc etc.. basically everything a lover of Shetland Wool would need! We will have samples of all the projects from Jamieson & Smith: A Shetland Story which we released at Wool Week last year so this is the perfect time to see the samples and choose your project. If there is something we don't have with us at the show we can take orders there and we will post it to you for free when we get back to Shetland. Also EYF is where this years Shetland Wool Week patron and pattern will be announced so once you have picked up your pattern you can come over to us and pick up your yarn! I (Ella) have been to EYF the past two years but this is our first time exhibiting so me and Kharis are really looking forward to it, so if you are going come and see us at stand K8 (you can download a map here) So wish us a calm sailing on the boat on Monday night and we will see any of you who are coming in Edinburgh! Happy knitting :)
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Shetland Wool Week at J&S 2017
Yippee! Shetland Wool Week 2017 has begun! We have been a bit quiet here over the last peerie while but we have been busy getting organised for this week. The shop has been so busy and we are so excited to see everyone! We have classes on at J&S this week but we also have a few free events which we have just finalised this past couple of weeks so if you are in Shetland this week please come along.. A Year of Techniques Trunk Show The first event is with our friends Jen and Jim Arnall Culliford and it is a trunk show of their Year of Techniques book, this book has just been released in paperback and features 12 projects all using different techniques to improve your knitting. There are a number of the designs which are worked in J&S yarns and Jen and Jim will be in the shop with all the samples and ready and willing to chat about the book. We will have copies for sale and the event is: Tuesday 26th September: 6pm - 8pm J&S Trunk Show You may have seen this week on Instagram and Ravelry that we have been sharing pictures from our newest book. Jamieson & Smith: A Shetland Story gives you the history of J&S and a collection of hand knitting patterns by a group of some of our favourite designers(and a couple of J&S staff members!). We will be hosting an event in the shop where you can see all the items from the book and plan which to knit first.. This event is on: Thursday 28th September PS.. on the online shop there is a page for the book and as soon as it is available you can purchase it from there! Felicity Ford Trunk Show Another event is with Felicity Ford who has just announced her next book and to celebrate is also hosting a trunk show at J&S with samples from her new book The Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Playbook. Felix's first book is one of our favourites and we cannot wait to see the new work all knit using 2ply Jumper Weight. This event is: Friday 29th September 2.30pm-4.30pm Wool and Grading Demonstration Not forgetting one of our busiest events - Olivers sorting and grading demonstrations have become a must-see event at wool week and this free drop-in event takes place on: Monday 25th, Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th Septmeber at 2pm Phewf! Its set to be a busy old week so I don't think I will get blogged every day but we will be back after Wool Week with a roundup of Shetland Wool Week. If you are here for it we hope you enjoy it, happy knitting! PS. we will be trying our best to keep up with online orders and emails but there may be a delay in us responding and getting out parcels, please accept our apologies! xx
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Bousta Beanie KAL
Hello everyone, I cant believe we are now into August! For us that means one thing - next month is Shetland Wool Week! So we thought this is the perfect time to think about a KAL for this years hat - the Bousta Beanie.. This pattern is a great introduction to Fair Isle but also an interesting knit for those wint with it as we would say in Shetland. It is a simple motif which moves in an even repeat as you go up the hat so it makes a great knit. The most exciting thing of course about knitting Fair Isle is choosing colours!! I love looking on Ravelry and seeing what colours people have put together - you can see all the hats knit using 2ply Jumper Weight here. You only need three shades (two balls of your main colour and one each of your contrast colours) so the possibilities are endless and of course with this kind of repeat you can use multiple colours for your contrast shades. So the KAL will begin on the 14th of August, I have made ravelry thread so until the KAL kicks off I thought we could use it to chat about colour choices, to enter our KAL you will need to use J&S yarns and it will run until the 20th of September, just before Wool Week starts on the 22nd. We will also use the hashtag #boustabeaniekal on instagram, ill be back next week with some ideas about choosing colours so until then.. happy knitting! PS this next week we have the Voe Show, Cunningsburgh Show and the Waas Show which all have our Colourbox Competition so keep and eye out for posts about that! Save
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Bousta Beanie kits
This past weekend it was the Edinburgh Yarn Festival which has become the time when the new Shetland Wool Week hat and patron are announced, this year is it Shetland born designer Gudrun Johnston and her beautiful Bousta Beanie design! You can download the pattern here and find our kits for the given colourways here, if you want to choose your own colours simply buy two balls of your main colour and one ball each of your two contrasts, with such a graphic motif its hard to go wrong and this makes the pattern an excellent choice for Fair Isle newbies and experts alike! How about greys? 203, 81 and 54 Or grellow? 54, 91 and 23 or these? FC47. FC7 and 125 29, 1281 and 122 FC56, FC50 and FC9 The possibilities are endless! Remember to tag your projects on instagram and Ravelry with #boustabeanie and #Shetlandwoolweek2017 so others can see your Bousta Beanie and spread the story of Shetland Wool Week, happy knitting! Save
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Shetland Wool Week 2016
Can you believe it? Shetland Wool Week 2016 began today!!! Shelves have been filled and the shops as tidy as it will be for the next week! We are hoping orders and email disruptions will be kept to a minimum but we might be a bit delayed in getting back to you, just know we are working as hard as we can to keep getting orders out as fast as we can. This is our busiest week of the year and we love seeing all the people who have come to Shetland for the event. We have classes every day and three tours on so lots to do! We will be blogging throughout the week so keep an eye out for out posts about Shetland Wool Week at J&S.
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Shetland Wool Week Mitts-a-Long
Hello everybody, specifically those of you who can't make it to Shetland Wool Week but would like to be involved... The wonderful Felicity Ford AKA Knitsonik has been busy working away on an idea just for you: Introducing the Knitsonik Mitts-a-Long for Shetland Wool Week! 'Yay' I hear you cry, well Yay indeed, read on for the details. The idea is to design your own stranded colourwork using 'Fingerless Mitts' as the base for your explorations. There are two kit options for you to choose from, each one has been carefully thought out by Felicity and includes the pattern along with the corresponding 8 balls of our lovely 2ply Jumper Weight (a 4ply weight yarn). The first theme is the Crofthouse Museum, situated in Dunrossness in the South Mainland of Shetland. It is set up as it would have been in the 1870s so you can get a real feel of what it was like to live in a typical Shetland home at that time. The second theme is taken from knitting sheaths in the Shetland Museum & Archives. These were in use before knitting belts and were made with feathers to grip and hold a needle in place while working. The Knitsonik Mitts-A-Long 2016 coincides with Shetland Wool Week 2016 starting on the 24th September. It will continue until the 24th October with lots of places to share and discuss your progress online - you can find other participants by following the hashtag #knitsonikmittsalong on Instagram and Twitter, and on the Knitsonik Ravelry forum. We have a limited amount of kits in stock so if you would like to knit your Shetland inspired mitts with wool all packed up by us in Shetland, this is your chance!
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J&S Staff Profile: Ella Gordon
Welcome to the first post in a new series about the people behind Jamieson & Smith (Ella Gordon) We'll start by introducing Ella Gordon, who I'm sure many of you will already know as she is the 2016 Shetland Wool Week patron! From her early days at J&S as a Saturday 'shop girl' in 2012, while studying textile design at Shetland College, Ella has continued to develop her creative skills and passion for knitting. We are so lucky to have her working with us as our main blog writer, as well as the everyday busy shop duties of making up orders and assisting customers with their projects. Ella is also great at the graphic design side of things and coming up with ideas for KALs and other fun woolly stuff! What's the best thing about working at J&S? "My favourite thing about working at J&S is meeting so many people from all over the world passionate about Shetland Wool and Knitting. Through things like Wool Week, Ravelry, tours and our blog I feel like I've met lots of people with the same interests as me. I also really enjoy being in the shop and helping people choose colours and patterns. I'm very thankful for being able to have a job in the industry I am interested in which not everyone can say." Do you have a favourite place in Shetland? "I love lots of places up north like Uyea and Fethaland and I recently walked to Lang Ayre but it was such a trek I don't know if I'd do it again! I like walking around the Town as well and I love the south end of Lerwick where the Lodberries are." Uyea (Ella Gordon) South End of Lerwick (Ella Gordon) How do you like to spend your time when you're not at work? "Knitting.. haha! I do spend most my time either thinking about knitting, looking at Ravelry about knitting, reading about knitting and a little bit of time actually knitting! I also like all the usual things like spending time with my boyfriend and family, reading and walking." What's your favourite J&S yarn? "I would say my favourite yarn is probably 2ply Jumper Weight, the longer I work at J&S the more different colours I like. I love greys so 203, 54 and 81 are up there in my faves but I really love FC11 and FC58 - two of the shades I decided to use in my Crofthoose hat!" (Jamieson & Smith) You can follow Ella on: Instagram Ravelry Wordpress Pinterest Save Save Save
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