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Oliver's Ewan Sweater
Hello everyone! Just a quick post today to show you the jumper Sandra has made for Oliver using our Croft - Shetland Tweed yarn which we launched last year together with West Yorkshire Spinners.. Sandra made Ollie the Ewan Sweater from the Croft - Shetland Tweed pattern book, it contains 14 designs by Sarah Hatton all to be made using the Croft Yarn. The Ewan Sweater is one of two patterns for Mens jumpers in the book and there is a nice selection of other jumpers and cardigans for Women as well as some accessories. Oliver decided on the Boddam colourway for his jumper and I think it looks great! Sometimes with a very flecked or speckled yarn its hard to imagine how the wool will knit up but this shows how the speckles really work well with the texture and cables in the pattern. Sandra likes to knit in the round as much as she can but she chose to follow the pattern and knit Oliver's jumper in pieces, the Croft yarn has a good drape and can grow a bit when its washed so a big project like this is best worked in pieces for stabilitly. I think Oliver is pleased with his Jumper! You can see the Croft Shetland Tweed yarn on our website here and the pattern book here, you can also see more of the patterns in the book here. I would suggest looking through the projects made with the yarn on Ravelry too, there are some great ones! Happy Knitting!
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EYF and Merrie Dancers
Hello everyone! We are back from a very successful and busy weekend away at Edinburgh Yarn Festival. Me (Ella) and Kharis headed down to the capital last week and spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday selling all the Shetland wool to all the knitters! I didnt get many photos because we we so busy - A great problem to have of course but it means not many pictures for you, we are so pleased with how it went so we hope any of you who bought from us enjoyed yourselves too! We have posted all the orders we took at the show today so if you placed an order its on its way to you now, EYF is now also the place where the Shetland Wool Week hat and patron is announced so this year Elizabeth Johnston of Shetland Handspun is this years patron and her Merrie Dancers pattern is this years hat, we have already seen lots of projects popping up on Ravelry and lots of people were buying the yarn for it at the show. photo pinched from shetlandwooladventures So if you would like to pick up a kit for the hat you can do so here, we will try and include a copy of the pattern if we can but you can download it here. I put together a little video of our trip away, so you can see our journey to Edinburgh and get an idea of how busy it was on the J&S stand, we had a great time away :) happy knitting!
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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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New Colours KAL 2018
Hello everyone! things have been very busy here over January as we get back into the way of things but today we announce our KAL for the next few months - the New Colours Kal! from left to right: 90, 16, FC21, 32 and 1282 We are constantly updating and changing the colours we have in 2ply Jumper Weight and we are lucky that we have a huge back catalogue of shades which if we need to we can take from and bring back. In recent years we did that with FC11 and FC7 which has really added to the palette and although this means saying goodbye to some shades its proof that it doesn't always mean forever! This KAL is a bit different than others we've done before in that you can use as many shades of 2ply Jumper Weight as you want but you must use at least 3 of the new shades. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun! As in the Fire Festival Kal at the end we will have a public vote so its always worth putting something in - you might win! So the KAL: what we want you to do is - Knit a garment or accessory using J&S 2ply jumper weight only. at least 3 shades must be from our newly brought back colours: 90, 16, FC21, 32 and 1282. As many other shades can be used as you want. the item must use Fair Isle knitting/ stranded colourwork. That's it! The KAL begins on February the 2nd and runs until until the 2nd of May. Now the new/old colours: 16 is a lovely bright blue 32 is a bright bronze 90 is a peachy orange FC21 is a lovely marled lavender And 1282 is a marled mid green. All the new colours are now on the online shop and if you would like to take part there will be chat and discussion in our Ravelry group, if you share any progress photos on instagram use the #nckal We'll be back with some colour combo inspirations soon but until then happy knitting and planning!
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2017 Knitting & Stitching Show - Harrogate
We're just about to start Day 3 at The Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. (We're on Stand B270) We've had a great first half of the show, it's been really lovely to meet and chat with both first-time purchasers as well as familiar faces and J&S devotees. Last year I wrote a little round up of a few of the other stands at the show which myself (Kharis) and Sandra particularly liked so I thought I'd do a bit of the same again today. When we have a lull in the crowds then we take turns to go for a look around the show for ourselves. A stand we both love is Judith Mansfield Books (stand TG250) As well as books they have an amazing selection of vintage notions! I seem to have gone with a bit of a sewing theme with pattern and fabric buys from The Avid Seamstress at CoolCrafting (stand C130), and Sew Me Something (stand C125). Both have really beautiful selections and helpful staff. Also, I couldn't resist 'Knit the Rainbow' by Joy of The Knitting Goddess! (stand B620) Directly opposite us is The Makerss (stand B170) who specialise in needle felt supplies and kits. They also offer workshops and Monthly Makerss Project Boxes which are such a great idea! Sandra chose a couple of their kits as they'll make great Christmas gifts. So, we need to head off to the show now. Hope to see some of you there. We still have plenty of wool left, quite a few kits and a special show offer on our books - Knit Real Shetland for only £5 when you buy our recently launched book, J&S A Shetland Story. See you soon! (Stand B270)
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Christmas Gift Additions and Posting Dates
Hello everyone, happy Monday! I cant believe we are just over a month until Christmas! I thought I better pop in here and remind you of the last posting dates for Royal Mail, obviously these are just a guide and we cant guarantee if you order after these dates that you will receive your order in time: UK Delivery Wed 20 Dec 2nd Class Europe and Rest of the World Sat 16 Dec Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg Fri 15 Dec Austria, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland Thur 14 Dec Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA Wed 13 Dec Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland Sat 9 Dec Greece, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand Thur 7 Dec Caribbean, Central and South America Wed 6 Dec Cyprus, Malta, Asia, Far East, Eastern Europe (except Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) Sat 2 Dec Africa, Middle East I just added our cardboard kit boxes to the Online Shop which are perfect for adding to kits, they come in two depths and are stamped with the J&S logo - I'm always keen on anything which turns a present into something easier to wrap! We also added a small range of our hand knitted items to the online shop over the weekend too, if you are looking for something a bit smaller but still says Shetland you can go wrong with some hand knit gloves/mitts - we couldn't be without ours here and they really keep your hands warm. We have a number of Ladies who knit these for us and we pay them so you are supporting traditional skills too. You can see them here. So if you want your order in time for Christmas remember to check the above dates, there is still a bit of time but the earlier you get it in the better! Happy Knitting x
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Come Visit Us in Harrogate!
It's that time of year again! The Knitting & Stitching Show takes place from 23rd-26th November at The Harrogate International Centre on Kings Road. At stand B270, Sandra and I (Kharis) will be there along with Adam, from our parent company Curtis Wool who are based in the area. Last year we focused on kits but this year we will be bringing all of our yarn ranges, with a few select kits and accessories. 2ply Jumper Weight - stand B270 We'll have our recently released book, Jamieson & Smith A Shetland Story! Which includes 10 brand new patterns by designers from Shetland and further afield. Keep a look out on our social media over the next week for more snippets of what we'll be bringing to the show all the way from Shetland! The Knitting & Stitching Show - Harrogate - stand B270
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British Craft Awards 2018
Hello everyone, happy Friday! Just a quick post today to tell you about something quite exciting! We have been nominated in The British Craft Awards 2018 in the Knitting Brand of the Year category!! isn't that amazing?? According to the website 'Celebrating the crème de la crème of the crafting world, the British Craft Awards 2018 are the most highly prized awards for excellence, so make sure you have your say and put your favourites in the spotlight! Whether it’s an amazing designer or blogger who gets your creative juices flowing, or a retailer or product that’s transformed your crafting in the last 12 months, this is your chance to tell us who you think deserves extra special recognition for what they do! So if you think we deserve it we would really appreciate your vote which you can do here, Happy Knitting!
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North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference
Hello everyone! So while we were getting over Shetland Wool Week Oliver and his wife Catherine headed off to the Isle of Man to attend the Native Sheep and Wool Conference which was held there from the 12th-15th of October. The aim of the conference is to promote the fleece of the Native Viking breeds, and the event features a series of lectures, farm visits, croft workshops and fairs. Oliver was there to give a talk about Shetland Sheep, its wool and their uses (something he knows a little bit about..!) - this year was celebrating the Isle of Man Loghtan Sheep of course! Loghtan Sheep share some of the characteristics of Shetland Sheep - which you can certainly see from the pictures! Both are thought to be of Scandinaivian origin, perhaps brought over by Vikings who settled in Shetland and also the Isle of Man. The Loghtan Sheep are mostly the same colour - the call it 'Mouse Brown' and it is very similar to our Moorit shade. The ewes are mostly two horned and rams four horned, four horned sheep used to be quite common in Shetland up until about 60 years ago although they were mostly white. You can see from these pictures of a Loghton fleece it is similar to Moorit, in colour it is a bit lighter and the staple is mostly quite short and blunt however throughout the fleece one can find guard hair staple similar to ours. There was also a fashion show which took place at the University College of Isle of Man, it included student work and delegates designs, you can see our Fair Isle V-Neck Jumper in the picture above. J&S had 3 designs included and all were very well received! Heres Oliver at the delegates Craft Fair which was a chance for each area to show and discuss their regions products. Elizabeth from the Guild who presented Oliver with a lovely Loghton fleece and farmer Peter at Church Farm Cregneash, a small Manx Crofting community which was beautifully preserved. There they saw a Manx Cat, famous for there lack of tails which is a genetic mutation within the breed. Oliver and Catherine did get a bit caught out and delayed with Storm Opheilia but they have made it back safe and sound to Shetland. It was an excellent event held in beautiful surrounding and Oliver enjoyed meeting and sharing ideas with delegates from around the northern hemisphere and it was an ideal location and audience to share our products. Oliver would like to thank the organisers and people of the Isle of Man for their Kindness and warm hospitality, it was much appreciated!
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