Blog
It's that time of year again
The wool season 2013 has finally kicked off after a pretty poor start to the year weather-wise. Stuart is back through in the wool store most of the time helping Derek and Oliver and even Ella has been having a go at hand-grading the wool and baling it up. Load 1 of 12 will be leaving us very shortly to head off to the scourers and then the fun begins as most of Shetland's wool pours into us from all over the islands. The Wool Store, waiting for the influx of this years wool clip The Middle - or Coloured Wool - Store We handle roughly 80% of Shetland's clip which is about 250 tonnes of new wool. After the wool is dropped off by one of our 700-800 suppliers and weighed in, each fleece has to be hand-graded and sorted into its various colours and one of 5 grades; from Superfine to Rough. This can include dividing up a single fleece into various grades, as Shetland wool can contain fine fibre for spinning lace and thicker fibre suitable for carpet all in one fleece. It is then all baled up and each bale labelled clearly, with the crofters who own the wool noted down, so that it can be traced from the scourers right back to the croft on which it was grown. All in all it is hard work but very worthwhile watching all the wool passing through, especially when you go next door to the shop and see all the beautiful products it is transformed in to. A fleece can provide wool suitable for fine lace to carpeting Shetland wool, like Shetland's climate, landscape and wildlife, is varied, untamed and often seems to have a life of its own; but once it has passed through the laborious process of hand-sorting at J&S, its rebellious and challenging nature that comes from its original, unprocessed form gives Shetland wool products the unique and beautiful handle and bounce; the natural, undyed colouring; and the distinctive 'Shetland halo' that it has become world famous for. If you're ever in Shetland make sure to pop in to the J&S wool store and shop for a look, where you can see the various grades of wool, how it is handled and the beautiful products Shetland wool creates.
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Kate Davies' Sixareen Patterns
Kate Davies' Sixareen Kep and Sixareen Cape are now available on our online shop as kits! The patterns arrived this morning so we couldn't wait to get them online. They're the first patterns that Kate has designed in our Shetland Heritage range, which makes us even more excited about them. As with all Kate's designs they have been very popular so far judging by the distinctive yarn combinations we have been posting out from J&S. These two new kits add to a number of Kate's other patterns that she has designed to suit the specific character - the unique softness, bounce and 'halo' - of our Real Shetland Wool yarns: the BMC in our 2ply Jumper Weight; the Sheep Heid, Rams & Yowes Blanket, Sheep Carousel and Toby's Coat in our Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight; and the Warriston in our Shetland Aran; and that is even before we mention those designs in her book Colours of Shetland. Also to make it easier to find all these beautiful designs in one place we have added a Kate Davies section to the kits part of the online shop. I'm sure there will be more to come in the future! You can find the Sixareen Kep here and the Sixareen Cape here on our online shop. You can also find out more on Kate's Blog about the Kep here and Cape here where you also get to see beautiful photography such as this. Amazing!
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Changing Trends
Fashions are always changing, especially in knitwear; one minute everyone is snapping up all the bright, bold colours and the next it's all about the naturals. We try to follow these changing trends to try and make sure knitters are able to get the shades they want for their designs. We frequently get asked about discontinued shades and recently decided to reintroduce a couple that were often requested by our customers: FC7 (orange) and FC11 (green). These are vital shades for blending in with others so have been a very popular addition to our 2ply Jumper Weight range already. We would love to be able to keep hundreds of shades but each one takes a lot of care and attention to make (not to mention a lot of space to store!) so we have managed to limit it to the beautiful shades we currently have, which are used in the creation of countless variations of knitwear. Besides there is only a limited amount of Real Shetland Wool available so we want to make sure we are using it wisely. We try to have a good relationship with our customers, as your views are so important in helping us continue to develop into the future. Re-continuing FC7 and FC11, which we are so glad to have back, is just one example of how we respond to your feedback. In the past few years our range has rapidly expanded with our Combed Tops, Cushion Filling, Shetland Supreme 1 and 2ply Lace, Shetland Chunky and Shetland Heritage being introduced meaning the shelves in our shop are now bursting with 10 yarn and fibre ranges in a huge variety of shades. These have all been developed through working with various organisations, with feedback from you, so please keep it coming and we will see what we can come up with next. Along with all our other 2ply Jumper Weight shades, you can find balls of FC7 and FC11 here and cones here. Happy Knitting!
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North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference - Shetland - 2013
It has been a busy few months at J&S and we are very excited to have played a small part in the initial organisation of the North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference 2013 which is coming to Shetland in October. Following on from the previous two conferences in Orkney (2011) and Bergen (2012) it is a must-see for anyone interested in Shetland Sheep and their cousins around the North Atlantic. It begins on the Friday of Shetland Wool Week - 11th October - and continues until the following Tuesday 15th October. The programme is packed with activities including: a look around Shetland Agricultural Centre, with wool grading and sorting, a visit to the abattoir and sheep and wool sales; a day trip up to Yell and Unst visiting Hermaness National Nature Reserve to discuss common grazings there, spinning and knitting demonstrations and talks on the use of wool in local arts and crafts; talks from experts on subjects ranging from the genetics of North Atlantic Native Sheep to their importance for the local economies of their places of origin; and a large conference dinner featuring Shetland's famous local produce and music. Not only will visiting delegates gain a valuable insight into North Atlantic Native Sheep and sheep farming in the region, but they will also get to experience a range of Shetland's landscapes, being immersed in its culture during their trip. For anyone who wishes to attend the conference, or if you are just interested to know more, you can have a look at the programme (which was created right here at J&S!) below. Note - if you want to print it off, the second link should work better for most systems. North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference 2013 North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference 2013 - printable If you want to know more contact conference organisers: Emma Miller: emma@shetlandamenity.org, +44 (0)1595 69468 or Pete Glanville: pete.glanville@shetlandorganics.com
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Weaving With J&S Yarns
Here at J&S we hear a lot about the knitting being done with our yarns but for a change we have some lovely weaving that was made using Jamieson & Smith. Amy Gair is a Shetlander who after studying at Shetland College (With Ella) has gone away to Galashiels in the Scottish Border, arguably the home of weaving in Scotland to finish her studies. detail of the Cape Amy has come home for the summer and brought in her cape she made for the Farlin Project, an exhibition of craft and poetry by partnerships between poets and craft-makers in Shetland and Fife, in the project Amy was paired with Poet Andy Jackson. Amys Cape, woven using our 2ply Jumper Weight In Amys own words: "The Storytellers cape was made using 100% Shetland Wool, and the theme behind it was the sea. During my first few months away from Shetland, it struck me just how lucky Shetlanders are that they get to see the sea from almost every angle.The idea of this being the story tellers cape came from the idea that the sea holds many memories and stories, good and bad, but not everyone know’s what they are. The cape is supposed to hold all these stories in one, evoke memories of the sea and places we call home to its viewers." This is the poem which was written to go in connection with Amys Cape: Rashiecoats Marriage Guidance Who wears a cloak of woven gold? Has no-one told you glam is out, that foxy royals favour shabby chic? These days it’s all about the bold rejection of convention, so shout it from the highest turret; weak is the woman who marries for wealth - a rich man would happily marry himself. Who would wear this feathered cloak? Do you think the birds would give the very things that make them free, without a fight? The kind of bloke who breaks a wing would have you live in batteries, clipped and flightless. He may lure you with his cooing words, but choosing to be caged is for the birds. Who would wear this cloak of reeds? Hope you had the sense to keep the gift receipt. You may start to plan your strategies of love, the seeds of passion germinating in the deep of your womb, disrobing for your man rush by rush, but girl, here’s the news; love is just lust in sensible shoes. Andy Jackson To read more about the Cape and about Amys weaving you can see her blog here, we've had the Cape in the shop for a couple of days and we've had so many comments on it. its beautiful!
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New Shetland Heritage Shades
From one launch on Friday to now another on Monday, its been an exciting weekend at J&S. The long-anticipated new Shetland Heritage shades have finally arrived and we are delighted to now be able to release them for you to begin creating beautiful knits with. These new shades have been created using feedback from our customers with the most requested colours being developed to blend with the original 6 shades. Coll Black and Snaa White provide the classic black and white combination, perfect for Sanquhar Gloves, and are much needed shades for colourwork or for creating simple, yet beautiful, white or black garments. Shetland Heritage also knits up well in lace if you want to experiment with thicker lace garments. Mussel Blue provides the much-requested dark-blue, and Moss Green gives a lovely, warm green that blends in beautfully with the other shades. Finally Silver Grey adds a nice neutral shade, similar to Shade 203 in our Jumper Weight yarns, that can be used as a background colour to tie together all the other shades in colour work. These new shades compliment the original 6 and open up a whole range of new options for working with this beautiful yarn, highly regarded for its softness and stitch definition. You can find all 11 shades here. The original 6 Shetland Heritage shades were inspired by traditional, hand spun and dyed yarns found in garments in the Shetland Museum and Archives textile collection. These were the first dyed yarns used in Fair Isle knitwear in Shetland and would have been made from whatever dyes were available to the people of the time, including madder root and indigo. You can find out more about the development of the Shetland Heritage range in the original 6 shades here. All in all a great start to the week!
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New Patterns for the Shetland Lambing Season 2013
The Shetland lambing season is in full swing at the moment so there are thousands of little lambs running around the somewhat chilly countryside just now. At home on my own croft we stared lambing 2 weeks ago tomorrow and almost all our breeding ewes have lambed already, so it has been a busy couple of weeks! To celebrate the coming of the next generation of wool providers, we at J&S are releasing 3 new woolly patterns dedicated to them. All these patterns have been designed by Sandra Manson, our knitter-designer extraordinaire here at J&S. They are fun little knits perfect for this time of year as you grab any knitting time you can in between all the little jobs that spring brings. They all use loop stitch and garter stitch and are good projects for a beginner or should only take a few days for the more experienced knitter to make. Monster Muff The Monster Muff came to Sandra around Halloween last year, inspired by the spooky holiday and a desire to create a nice little phone protector. Although it sounds scary it actually turned out quite cute with its pom-pom nose and button eyes. It was designed as a phone protector but can easily be adapted into a little bag, perfect for children, through simply adding on a strap made from leftover yarn. My mam tried this out for my niece; she loves it and has been taking it everywhere and putting all her things in it. You can find the Monster Muff here and can choose any shade you want to make it in here. Monster Mitts The Monster Mitts developed from the Monster Muff as we noticed how cosy this type of knitting is and how amazing looking a pair of gloves made in it would be! At first they just look like a rather woolly pair of gloves until you see the flap on the cuff which makes it look like a little monster has eaten your hand. They're great fun and also a pleasure to knit. You can find the Monster Mitts here and can choose any shade you want to make it in here. Sheep Cushion The Sheep Cushion is personally one of my favourite patterns that we've ever released! It was the idea of Derek Goudie, one of the 'wool men' here at J&S and was developed into this unique cushion by Sandra. Its loop-stitch body emphasises the warm, woolly nature of our Shetland Aran yarn and the garter stitch head, body and legs gives it a beautiful finish. It is also stuffed with our wool cushion filling, a perfect - and eco-friendly - way to finish off this little Shetland Sheep. We purposefully simply called the pattern 'Sheep Cushion' so that you can name your own one anything you wish. As with all our other patterns we would love to see pictures of them when you've finished, as well as hearing what you've named your own little sheep and where they are living now. My mam is currently working on one now in very special colours which I think we're going to call Jeemie Smith. More to come soon... You can find the Sheep Cushion here and can choose any shades you want to make it in here. For most crofters the Shetland lambing season begins a few months later than mainland Britain, at the end of April or start of May, when the weather has hopefully calmed down and is warm enough for the newborn lambs. This includes a mix of breeds including Suffolk, Cheviot, Texel and of course Shetland. Some yarns that claim to be Shetland wool are a mixture of breeds such as these, meaning you don't get the quality of Real Shetland Wool yarns. Most of the wool from Shetland's sheep comes in to us here at J&S where it is hand graded and sorted to make sure only the best Real Shetland Wool is made into our yarns, making sure they are soft, bouncy and beautiful to handle.
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New patterns in J&S yarn
It has been a crazy couple of weeks at J&S getting some exciting new projects up and running or to the final stages. More about that later. But now we finally have time to share a couple of new designs that are out there that use our yarns with you. Firstly is the Alcott slipover that is highlighted on the front page of The Knitter magazine, where it is featured, as a 'Fair Isle tank top in candy colours'. It is designed by Mary Henderson who is a designer and knitter from Somerset. Mary has a great skill in combining colours in Fair Isle designs. She will be here for Shetland Wool Week giving a class in our shop on using the steeking method, in which participants will be able to knit, finish and take away their very own mug hug in an afternoon. You can find out more about Wool Week classes and events here. Photo: Jesse Wild The following is from the lady herself on the inspiration for the Alcott and looking forward to her Wool Week class: Inspiration comes from many places and happens in unexpected ways. Since the age of 8 I have been in love with Fair Isle knitting - I saw a photograph of a jumper in the Lady's Home Journal (US publication) and wanted to learn how to knit it. It was the start of a lifelong journey. I have been knitting and learning ever since. In 2009 I realised a lifetime dream and travelled to Shetland for the In the Loop conference and finally visited Jamieson and Smith Woolbrokers (having ordered from them many times over the years). I was able to see all the colours and play around with colour combinations: traditional ones plus some unlikely ones. It is great to see how colours work together: how the colours 'in between' change and enhance the main colours and how a single, strong contrast in the horizon line can pull a colourway together and make it sing. Luckily the staff are very tolerant! I put together various colourways and organised for it to be posted home to Somerset. Roll on 18 months. I was very fortunate to be part of the commissioning process for The Knitter - one of the possible samples was entitled Fruit Salad. I worked on a traditional OXO pattern with the colourway based on cross sections of citrus fruit - oranges, strawberries, blueberries - it was based on a colourway I had played with on the counter of the Woolbrokers. I wanted a bright colourway- it is a summer take on the traditional blue, red, yellow, white colourway - pinks and orange with red, shades of blue (towards the green side) with natural white as the background to lift the other colours. I wanted the colours in the 1x1 rib to shimmer as well as mirror the colour sequence in the main body. A word about steeking: after decades of knitting Fair Isle designs - it was time to give steeking a go. It was a revelation! Placing the steeks at armholes and the neck made keeping track of decrease sequences really easy. As a knitting teacher I want to spread the word that it is a useful technique, easy to do with the right materials - Jumper Weight wool is perfect. I will be teaching how to steek during Wool Week in October - participants will be making a Mug Hug in a traditional OXO pattern. It should be great fun. You can order the Alcott kit in a variety of sizes from our website here. This will come with all the yarn required to knit the kit in your specified size but please note that we cannot supply the pattern. You can find that in Issue 56 of The Knitter magazine or purchase it from Ravelry here or The Making Spot here. Photo: Jesse Wild The second of these two new designs done with our yarns is the Damaress jumper by Liz Lovick. This beautiful contemporary garment is done in a classic design which lends itself well as an 'everyday favourite' jumper or one for showing off at a special occasions. Photo: Liz Lovick Liz is a knitter and designer who lives in North Ronaldsay in Orkney and has been a friend of J&S for many years. She has done a number of patterns for us in the past, some of which are being made ready to print to be released soon. Quoting from the Yarn Review in the feature on the Damaress jumper in Yarnwise, Issue 59, she states that "J&S's 2ply jumper weight has been the best yarn for Fair Isle work for generations! The shades blend well with each other, and the yarn is 'sticky' enough to make steeking easy", which is a great compliment for us! You can order the Damaress kit from our online shop here. This will come with all the yarn required to knit the kit to the size you select but please note that we cannot supply the pattern. You can find that in Issue 59 of Yarnwise magazine or purchase it from Ravelry here. Photo: Liz Lovick
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Shetland Knitwear's Future
A few weeks ago we had a special visit from a group that is very important to the future of Shetland Knitwear: some of Shetland's next generation of knitters. They came from the island of Whalsay to the east of Shetland's mainland to spend a few hours knitting in the shop with a little guidance and amazement from Sandra and Ella. Whalsay is the quintessential 'Shetland' community with a strong fishing industry, traditional crofting and an abundance of knitting talent. It is therefore not surprising that a knitting group was set up in the school there, allowing school age bairns the chance to learn how to knit. From what we saw they have been doing really well and will hopefully progress even after they leave school. Groups such as this are vital as knitting amongst young people in Shetland is far less common than it once was. Not too long ago every child in Shetland was taught to knit at primary school, but this was scrapped by the Shetland Islands Council in a round of funding cuts. This was a very unpopular move as knitwear is part of Shetland's culture and identity and has contributed towards its economy for centuries. Hopefully Whalsay's knitting group will inspire more around the islands and keep this tradition alive. They knit with the colours we selected for a competition at the Voe & District Agricultural Show in Shetland and can enter their finished pieces to that if they wish. They will be back at J&S knitting during Shetland Wool week; the programme for which is very close to being finalised so more information will become available soon. If you happen to be around you could see for yourselves how great they are. The future of Shetland Knitwear is in safe hands!
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