Blog
Waas Show
Hello! last Saturday dawned a bit damper as me (Ella) and Sandra headed out to Waas for the Walls Show. Spirits were not dampended however and we soon got to work (after a cup of tea and a bacon roll!) judging the colourbox. This is our first year having the colourbox at Walls so there wasn't too many entries but next year I'm sure there will be more! As with all shows in Shetland there were plenty of animals to be seen.. and lovely knitwear.. We weren't able to stay until everything was fully set up but I'm glad we got a few pictures! Thankfully it dried up and the rest of the day was much better than the morning. We were amazed on the way back to town how lovely the heather is at the moment in Shetland.. You can see why we have so many heathery shades in our Jumper Weight range (FC55, FC56. FC14, 87, 133 to name a few!) FC11 and FC12 are good matches for the grass too! There are a few more shows still to come (Yell and Unst) but we probably won't make it to those so I hope you've enjoyed our trip around the mainland Shetland Shows! Happy Knitting :) xx
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Heritage Hap Kits
You'll remember a few months ago I did a post about a pattern we had in the People's Friend Magazine, we couldn't believe the amount of orders we had for the yarn so we are very happy to say we now have the pattern available to buy as a kit! The pattern was developed by Sandra from a vintage pattern, and she decided to use our Shetland Heritage range as it so closely resembles the old Hap weight of Yarn. The pattern makes a brilliant first Hap, you begin with the centre panel then pick up each four sides individually and knit them. The edging is then knit and either sewed on or you can knit it on as you go. The slightly thicker (than traditional 1ply) yarn and bigger needles (it's knit on 5mm) makes a quick but warm and drapey hap. If you order the kit you will receive Snaa White heritage but feel free to choose any of the shades from the Dyed Heritage and our new Natural Heritage range, just leave a note in the delivery comments box! Happy Knitting! Save
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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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New Yarn Launch - Shetland Heritage Naturals
A few of you may have heard whisperings over the last few months about something exciting on the way from Jamieson & Smith. We are so happy to finally let you all in on the secret and launch our Shetland Heritage Naturals... These undyed shades are an extension to our Shetland Heritage range which is an incredibly smooth and strong worsted spun 100% Real Shetland yarn! The Shetland Heritage Naturals are a lovely variation to our woollen spun 2ply Jumper Weight for use in Fair Isle or other colourwork. Due to the worsted spinning process they are slightly lighter in weight meaning they are also suitable for lace knitting. Similar to our Supreme Lace yarns the Heritage Naturals show off beautifully the natural tones of our islands' native sheep. Technical info: 25g, 110m/120yds, 2.8nm worsted Tension: 30 sts and 32 rows = 10cm/4in over Fair Isle pattern using 3mm needles You can read more about our original Shetland Heritage range here and about the idea behind developing the Heritage yarn here. You can see it on our online shop here!
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Yokes
a shetland knitter working on a V-bed machine, photo by Tom Kidd Historically Shetlander's have always had to have a few things on the go, originally we were crofters and fishermen and this meant there was always quiet times, be it bad weather, dark nights or rough seas you had to find something to do. In the height of Shetland knitwear fame many homes were equipped with large v-bed knitting machines like the one you see in the picture above for people to combine machine and hand knitting and to earn a bit of extra money. Prior to the Oil Boom of the late 1970s/early 1980's many homes echoed to the sound of the knitting machine. 'by the mid 1960's, when the local press reported that knitting was beginning to become more profitable than crofting, many Shetland families were encouraged to purchase Passap or Knitmaster machines specifically to turn out sweater bodies, as well as yokes in their own home' An excerpt from Kate Davies 'Yokes' Working in one of the many Knitwear factories. Photo: Unknown With the introduction of oil and all its job opportunities and wealth it was no surprise that locals packed away their knitting machines and took advantage of the Oil Boom and all its rewards. The skills of these cottage industries saw a deep decline, luckily there were still people in Shetland who had these skills and we are lucky to be able to work with some of them. We have designed a range of traditional Yoke cardigans using both our 2 ply Jumper Weight and Shetland Heritage yarns, we have partnered up with a selection of Shetland knitters to help us produce them - The body and sleeves are hand frame knitted for us by a maker in Whalsay, one of the outlying Islands and then we have a number of local knitters who put in the yokes and finish the garments in their own homes. The continuation of the Shetland Textile industry is always very important to us, that's why we are ensuring to pay our knitters a good price for doing the work, we understand and appreciate the skills the knitters have and want to pay them rightly for these skills. We have the initial stock available on the website here but we will be adding to it as colours come back from the knitters. We are very excited about our new range of garments, and we hope you are too! If you don't fancy buying a ready made yoke the pattern is taken from Sandras' Hairst Yoke pattern which is available as a kit. Happy Knitting!
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out of season
At this time of year we are beginning to gear up to the busy wool season - all throughout the year we are continually hand sorting and grading the wool but it's also the perfect time for us to do a bit of maintenance to our buildings! We are based in Lerwick, Shetlands Capital so this means we are tight for space, wool takes up a lot of room and we are always looking for ways to streamline our operations. During the Wool Season the Wool store is absolutely jam packed with lovely wool, see this picture from the last year.... Anyone who has visited J&S will know we had two Wool Stores, well this off season we have combined the two to make one big wool store! This was quite a task and the floors were not at the same level as they were build at different times. Luckily Oliver, Derek, Scott and Jan are all handy with a hammer so once got the wall knocked down (by professionals!) they were able to do all the work in raising the floor. We also blocked up the two middle doors so there is more room for the bales we know are coming! The main reasons for this alteration are not just to improve the work flow and thus cut costs it is also to accommodate a more modern, larger baler replacing our current wool press, we received it second hand in 1970 so we are due an upgrade! This new press will cut costs and speed up wool handling meaning we can process crofters wool and payment's faster. There used to be one small door linking the two stores, now the forklift can easily go between them and stacking bales is a bit easier We also took the chance while we were working with concrete to install a better ramp and rail outside the shop, which makes outside the shop a lot safer and tidier. In a small place like J&S it's important that we can all turn our hand to different things, and we are very lucky we have members of staff able to do this work in house when things are a bit quieter on the Wool Side, it's a lot of hard work now but in the long term it will benefit how we are able to process the Wool we receive annually from over 600 of Shetlands Crofters and Farmers. I think head Wool man Oliver is pleased with the progress! Until next time, happy knitting!
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Natalia's Yoke
Today we have an exciting new pattern to share, we often get asked about childs yoke cardigan patterns, much like our adult Hairst Yoke. This is one of the many kinds of patterns Shetlanders pass down generation to generation which makes it difficult to find a traditional pattern to make, but now Sandra has designed one for us! The cardigan is called the Natalia Yoke, named after our very cute model and Kharis' niece. It is knit using 2ply Jumper Weight and comes in sizes 22 inches up to 28". It is knit traditionally in the round with a steek but it also includes instructions for if you wanted to knit it flat, the relatively small size makes it a great first steeking project, and as there are only 3 different contrast shades a great first Fair Isle project too. If you would like to order the kit for the Natalia yoke you can do so on our website here! happy knitting!
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Christmas Posting Dates
As things begin to cool down get a bit more wintry we always see the orders getting more and more, all our yarns are made from 100% Shetland Wool so they make the perfect projects for this cold weather! You might also be thinking about yarns for presents so I thought I would give you a breakdown of the Royal Mails recommended posting dates for Christmas: Friday 4th December: Africa, Middle East Monday 7th December: Asia, Far East, Cyprus, Japan, Eastern Europe Tuesday 8th December: Caribbean, Central and South America Thursday 10th December: Australia, Greece, New Zealand Monday 14th December: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland Tuesday 15th December: Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA Wednesday 16th December: Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain Thursday 17th December: France Friday 18th December: United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland As we are located approximately 200 miles off the coast of the Scottish Mainland (you'd be amazed how many people don't realise!) and we are susceptible to the wild weather there are delays with boats and planes that are outwith our control. We try our best to get everything out as soon as we can but its worth ordering a few days before the limit to be sure. For more information on how we send out our orders see here We have got our tree and lights up so its looking very Christmassy in the Shop, that goes along well with the wintry showers we've been having! Happy Knitting!
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Cunningsburgh Show 2015
On Wednesday Me (Ella) and Oliver headed down to Cunningsburgh in the South End of Shetland for the annual Show, Oliver was Judging the Wool, and I was judging the Colourbox Competition we hold each year with some of the shows. When we arrived we had a peerie look around and then headed into the tent where the Wool Judging was to take place and Oliver begin judging the wool people had entered into the show. Beginning in the late 1980's they developed a Judging sheet for the wool, there are 5 or 6 categories which Oliver Judges each fleece against and gives them a mark out of a set amount. This is beneficial as it gives the entrants some explanation as to where they placed and how it can be improved for another year. As well as the trophy fleece seen above, Oliver also judges a few other categories such a most commercially saleable fleece, which may be different to the best fleece! While Oliver was doing the most of his judging (I took these photos at the beginning and end of his part) I headed over to the shed where the knitwear and crafts were For the best few years we have done a competition with the rural shows where we chose a group of 8 shades of 2ply Jumper Weight to be used in Fair Isle knitting, the entrants then must knit an item using at least 5 of these shades. It has its own category and that's what I was there to Judge! The entries as ever were extremely strong and it's always great to see how people have put the colours together, some colour selections are more popular than other years but as always we like it to be a challenge! Unfortunately due to poor weather the Voe Show was cancelled this year, very kindly the Cunningsburgh Show committee decided along with the Voe Committee to show the Voe entries also so I Judged that too, there are always some extremely beautiful pieces of knitting in the Voe Show so I am really happy they were able to be in the Cunningsburgh Show! Of course alongside the Colourbox Challange there is a huge amount of knitwear entered into the showFrom Lace to Fair Isle there was a huge range of items to be seen The fineness and skill in knitting Shetland Lace never ceases to amaze me and I was happy to see a few of our patterns knitted up, I spotted a Sheelagh and a Gibbie Shawl. Understandably the knitwear was very busy with people coming to see how they and their friends had fared as well as just coming to see the skills on show. Of course as it was a rural show there were lots of animals there too, obviously we spent a fair amount of time looking at all the sheep! But as well as the sheep there were dogs, cattle, horses, ponies and poultry to name a few! It was a very busy but great morning, as judges we were also treated to a lovely dinner at the hall! Of course I always have my eye out for nice knitwear.. I hope you enjoyed this peek into the Cunningsburgh Show! Til next time, Happy Knitting! PS. remember there is still time to vote for Jamieson & Smith in the Best Brand for British Yarn category in the British Knitting Awards, if you like what we do at J&S you can vote for us here
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