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Lerwick Up Helly Aa 2014
Up Helly Aa day dawned wet and windy, I could hear the Jarls Squad cheering from my bed so I got up and headed to the Street.. One of the main parts of the day is The Bill on the Street, it was surrounded by tourists having a look. A Up Helly Aa flag flying on the Lodberrie. Me and my Sister and her bairns battled our way back to the street to see the Jarl squad at the Market Cross, I even caught a glimpse of Oliver among the beards! It was a very damp morning but my head was especially cosy with my Up Helly Aa hat Sandra made for me, it depicts the torchlight procession which takes place at night Due to the strong winds the Galley was moved to the Hillhead, I was able to get some nice photos once it had calmed down and the Jarl Squad had headed into the Town Hall In the afternoon I headed to the Shetland Museum and Archives to see the Jarl Squad in a drier environment! This gave me a chance to see the suit a bit more up close and see some of the details Stuart mentioned in his post on Tuesday After a bit of a rest I wander down to watch the Junior Procession, which takes place at 5.30pm Although the rain had stopped the wind had picked up and by the time for the senior procession at 7.30 it was very windy! But everything went to plan and the warmth from the torches made the wind not seem so bad! Oh and of course my hat was still keeping me warm! After the procession its time to get ready for the night of revellry, all the squads (and there are 50 or so!!) go around all the halls and do an act and a bit of dancing. I was at the Gilbertson Park Games Hall and it was great night, the Jarl Squad was last at the Gibbie so it was 8.30am before I went home.. luckily just a short walk across the Park! I cant believe its over for another year! there are still lots of Fire Festivals that go on in different parks of the Islands until March so there's plenty of fun still to be had! If you would like to see any more photos from the day, have a look here and here. xx
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Viking visits J&S!
Up Helly Aa arrived at J&S today in the form of a viking named Oliver, who most of you will be familiar with. We are currently in the middle of the worst weather in over 20 years but in true Shetland spirit no one has let that put a dampner on the day. So after a hectic day of touring the town and performing all the Jarl Squad duties Oliver popped in for a quick visit to show off the Jarl Squad suit, which was stunning! Every part of the suit was beautifully designed to the last detail: the intricate metal inlay on the shields; the ornate helmet an axe; cow-skin cloak complete with dragon brooch; heavy scale armour; and most exciting of all, for us, the kirtle and pouch woven using J&S yarn. The kirtle was made from our Coll Black Shetland Heritage yarn. It was knitted in a way to make it look woven, giving a beautiful, smooth fabric that ties in perfectly with the Jarl Squad's Viking-themed suit. Since this is a day we have all been looking forward to for years, especially Oliver, we thought we would need to get a group photo of him in full costume with the J&S staff (minus Ella who was out getting plenty of photos for a blog post later in the week). All of us here at J&S hope Jarl Ivor Cluness and his squad, the 900+ guizers and everyone attending this years Up Helly Aa have had a fantastic day and enjoy the long night ahead!
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The Knitter Issue 66
We recently received our copy of the December issue of The Knitter which has three patterns in it using Jamieson & Smith Yarns! the first is a lovely stole by Judy Furlong which uses Cobweb Yarn alongside 2ply Jumper Weight for a 3D effect photo copyright: The Knitter/Jesse Wild This ethereal stole, which is named Eirwen, has textured 'boxes' which are knit in the Jumper Weight alongside a Cobweb stocking stitch and a Shetland Lace Edging. The next pattern is a beautiful pair of beaded arm warmers by Barb Brown photo copyright: The Knitter/ Jesse Wild The Samarkand arm warmers extend almost up to the elbow has peerie Fair Isle patterns with subtle beading to bring out the colours of the Heritage worsted spun yarn, they are knit in Berry Wine and Auld Gold, I think the colours are perfect for this time of year! photo copyright: The Knitter/ Jesse Wild The last pattern is a sampler cushion by Judy Furlong which uses both Shetland Aran and 2ply Jumper Weight together photo copyright: The Knitter/Jesse Wild This Cushion features Scottish themed sampler panels in Fair Isle and Sanquhar designs with a beautiful cabled Aran pleat joining them together. The Scottish Mood Cushion is part of a Knitalong in the Magazine, which had the Aran sections in Issue 65. its very inspiring to see the different things designers can do with our wool! Happy Knitting x
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Sandra's 2013 Collection for J&S
They're finally here! After many months of designing, knitting, writing, editing, test knitting, checking, checking and checking again then printing, our shiny new patterns have arrived back to J&S and are available on our online shop as kits. Sandra constantly has new knitting ideas popping into her head that she tries out on new designs in all different shapes and sizes such as her last patterns the Sheep Cushion, Monster Mitts and Monster Muff. The following four new designs reflect a broad range of her designs; featuring Fair Isle, lace and cable knitting techniques and various weights of yarn. Noughts & Crosses Cushion Sandras Noughts and Crosses Cushion uses the worsted spun Cushion Yarn used in the Shetland Flag Cushion, this unique cabled design which is inspired by the OXO Fair Isle patterns has holes in the cablesfor you to pull through Shetland Comb Tops which gives the cushion texture and a bit extra squash. You could use any colour of Comb Tops to co-ordinate with any colour scheme or leave the holes empty on one side for a more subtle effect. There are lots of possibilities! You can find the Noughts & Crosses Cushion here. Lace Ella The Lace Ella can be made using two of our newest yarns, Shetland Heritage and Shetland Supreme Lace Weight, this warm but surprisingly lightweight jumper features lots of different lace patterns on the front and back, with a beautiful lace patterned V on the back, and the sleeves have a classic lace motif all over. Sandra was inspired by a popular lace pattern from the 1970s and 80s in Shetland in which a signature lace V on the back was knitted by a particular knitter and any cardigan or jumper was known to be knitted by this one knitter, this is Sandra's interpretation of this classic style. You can find the Lace Ella here. Aran Star The Aran Star Jumper has a retro feel, Sandra was inspired by Vintage patterns to create a modern version of the jumpers you used to see all the time in Shetland. It is quite a simple design but with the bold Norwegian star its very effective, using the Shetland Aran it makes a very warm and cozy jumper for this time of year. The simple Fair Isle motif and thicker wool makes this pattern a good choice for beginners. You can find the Aran Star here. Hairst Cardigan Fair Isle Yoke cardigans are a classic in Shetlands knitwear history, and now we have a J&S version, Sandra used a beautiful palette of subtle but bright shades of Jumper Weight, we called it Hairst which means Autumn in Shetland Dialect, the classic Norwegian star and tree motif has always been passed down from family to family and with the resurgance of the popularity of Fair Isle Yokes Sandra finally wrote down her technique to pass on to you. The pattern is written with both working flat and in the round as options so you can make the Cardigan in your favourite way. You can find the Hairst Cardigan here. As an extra little gift all orders up until and including Friday 20th December for these new kits come with a free J&S Big Project Bag to keep your knitting tucked up in. Happy knitting!
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Coming soon...
...four new patterns by Sandra Manson for J&S. These include a cosy jumper made from Shetland Aran, a much sought after yoke cardigan made from our 2ply Jumper Weight, a lace jumper made in your choice of 2ply Shetland Supreme Lace or Shetland Heritage and a beautiful cushion made from yarn developed especially for our Shetland Flag Cushion pattern. The proofs are in and have been checked so they are all ready to be printed just down the road here in Lerwick. These are the result of months of work so we are so excited to get them out to you! More to come very soon...
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Christmas Delivery Dates
With it now being less than a month until Christmas we're excited to be able to give you a guide to help you prepare for any Christmas gifts you get from J&S. You should order by the following dates at the very latest: Australasia & Asia - Tuesday 3rd December Africa & South America - Thursday 5th December Europe - Sunday 8th December North America - Monday 9th December UK - Tuesday 17th Dec These dates are taken from a guide by the Royal Mail and are not a guarantee of delivery by the specified dates. Please order early to ensure delivery of your order. Thank you!
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Winter Project #1 - additions to the online shop
Now that the 2013 wool season has died down and Shetland Wool Week has passed for another year we have time to gather our thoughts in what is a slightly quieter time of the year at J&S. This also means we can work on a variety of exciting projects to bring you new products and patterns that use our lovely Real Shetland Wool. The first of these has been sorting through our cones of yarn and getting our Shetland Aran and Shetland Heritage cones on our online shop.The Shetland Aran comes in either 500g or 1kg cones which are equivalent to either 10 or 20 balls and the Shetland Heritage comes in 1kg cones which are equivalent to 40 balls. Buying cones gives you a huge saving of 40% for Shetland Aran and 61% for Shetland Heritage to the equivalent weight of balls of yarn. So for larger projects or if you are a regular knitter this is a great option for you. We only take in a limited amount of cones with each batch of yarn produced so to prevent disappointment get yours early before they run out. You can find Shetland Aran cones here, Shetland Heritage cones here and an updated Jumper Weight cones page here, scrolling down each page to get the full range.
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Wool Week 2013 at J&S in pictures
Monday The calm before the storm... ...and we're off! Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
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Wool Week Day 5 - Friday!
Wool Week day 5 has come and gone, today was so busy in the shop i didnt get as many photos as i liked but in the morning we had an advanced lace class with Mary Kay. Mary is a brilliant hand spinner and knitter and she brought lots of examples to show the ladies in the class. She quickly got everybody knitting and the concentration quietness set in.. All day the shop was very busy, we had visits from lots of people in their fancy Fair Isle! I love Felicity's face in this picture! These two ladies arrived in their lovely jumpers. We also met Felipe from Brazil who handknitted his jumper. He used an all-over from the Shetland Museum photo collection as inspiration. We were all very interested in his oxter (armpit) gussets! While all this was going on we had a darning masterclass with the brilliant Tom van Deijnen aka Tom Of Holland. He brought so much great stuff with him, I kept trying to go over and take some pictures but customers come first! You can read more about the kind of things Tom teaches and his passions on his blog here. Tom had lots of darning mushrooms and knitted fabric for people to practice on. Since we sell and are passionate about handmade woollen products Toms vision is definitely in line with our own and it was really interesting to see how he is bringing back the older techniques. Tomorrow there are still lots of things going on, including the Shetland Flock Book Fine Fleece Prize Giving which will be happening up at the Marts in Lerwick and the Makers Market in the Town Hall. I will be holding the fort at the shop until lunchtime then I'm hoping to get out and see some things so there might be another blog post tomorrow. Until then, happy knitting! Ella x
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