Blog
Tirval's Toorie
Hello everyone, you may have seen our post on instagram with our new pattern earlier today, Sandra has designed this lovely hat in Shetland Heritage in two different colourways and lengths -Tirval's Toorie! The pattern is written for a longer Kep style and a shorter Beanie, both use the Shetland Heritage yarn - the shorter style in the Dyed Heritage and the longer one in the Natural: The Shetland Heritage is a great option for a hat as we move into Spring, its Worsted Spun (meaning its been combed before spinning) which creates a drapier, softer yarn and its slightly thinner than Jumper Weight making for an overall lighter weight hat. The pattern uses traditional Shetland motifs and corrugated ribbing and is finished off with a plain crown and a tassel. So if you have a stash of Shetland Heritage the pattern is available to download on ravelry here, payhip here or the kit is available on our online shop here, Happy Knitting!
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Da Crofters Kep Kit Pre-Orders
Hello everyone, you may have seen that today the new Shetland Wool Week hat pattern - Da Crofters Kep was launched!! Sadly again this year Shetland Wool Week will be online (keep an eye out later in the year for more on that!) but this means that Wilma Malcomson has continued her reign as Patron for another year and designed another beautiful hat, Da Crofters Kep. Unfortunately, even with planning and ordering ahead, we are out of stock of one of the shades (FC38) in the J&S colourway :( Lockdown, coronavirus etc etc has really impacted our production chain as it has for many people and businesses but we are offering a pre-order option for our colourway. If you order it you will pay for it now but it will not be posted until we have the full kit in stock - we are hoping it will be less than a month but we cannot guarantee this, we are asking for your understanding and patience with this and you can be sure AS SOON as that missing shade appears we will be getting those kits out! 2021 Shetland Wool Week Hat J&S Colourway: 2ply Jumper Weight FC46, 82, FC38, 122, 32 and Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight 2005 Shetland Black. As always with the Wool Week Hat patterns we love to see the variety in everyone's finished hats and for this design you need two balls of your main shade (one if you use Shetland Supreme Jumper weight) and one ball each of 5 contrast shades of 2ply Jumper Weight. We cant wait to see everyones Crofter Keps! Happy Knitting! UPDATE 30/4 We now have kits available and have fulfilled all the pre-orders. You can order kits here
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More Wirsit Inspo
Hello everyone, As promised on our last Wirsit Inspo blog here are all the inspiration pictures we have posted on our Instagram and Facebook. Every week I (Ella) scour my photo archives for pictures from all seasons and match them up with 2ply Jumper Weight (mainly due to the shade range but I am always looking to use other ranges too!) So here they are and as long as you keep enjoying them we will keep posting them: Puffin in Fair Isle: FC21, 54, 91, 125, 1, 77 and FC12. Wintery Walks, Lerwick. Shades 1, 75, FC34, FC38 and FC44. Laburnum and Aliums, Lerwick Flower Park, Summer 2020. Shades 23, 123, FC24, FC11 and FC12. 2020 Lerwick Up Helly Aa Galley, shades 1, 121, 1403, 132 and FC41. Stenness Haaf Station, Eshaness. Shades 1A, 90, 142, 78 and 54. Sandy banks of a Shetland Beach, Yell. Shades FC15, FC12, 121, FC43 and 202. Wild and Windy Seas, Lerwick. Shades 1280, FC61, FC35, FC41 and 81. Sea Pinks on the Rocks, Fair Isle. Shades 1, 54, 81, FC11, 52 and 1284. Ronas Hill on Boxing Day, shades 1A, 14, 121, FC55 and FC44. Kegord Trees in the Summer, shades 1, FC11, FC12, 82 and 4. A wintery day on the Westside, shades 14, FC61, 1281, 122 and FC44. Wintery Shetland Pony Foal, shades 122, FC44, 5, FC24, 14 and 1. I hope you enjoyed that, happy knitting!
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New Rugs!
Hello everyone! today we have some exciting news to share! we just received more of our Skye Weaver Rugs - we've replenished our original grey colourway and added two new colourways: All the rugs are woven in our undyed Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight, 100% Real Shetland Wool in its beautiful natural colours. So our new colourways are: 2007 and 2006 - Sholmit and Shetland Black, 2004 and 2006 - Gaulmogot and Moorit and our original 2003 and 2009 - Sholmit and Yuglet. These woollen spun yarns make for a truly cosy blanket (ideal for the snowy weather we've been having here in Shetland) and are perfect for the back of a couch or on your bed. They measure approx 140cm wide and 190cm long. They are woven by pedal for us by Skye Weavers, we are so excited for them to have arrived! You can find them on our website here.
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Wirsit Inspo
Hello everyone, If you follow our Instagram or Facebook page you will have seen over the past few months we have started doing weekly 'Wirsit Inspo' posts. basically, its where we take an image of something in Shetland and put a palette together inspired by the picture. I have mainly done them in 2ply Jumper Weight but have done one in 2ply Lace and I'm going to try and use more ranges too. When we post them they always get really good feedback so I thought we would share them here too: Seaweed at the Shetland Museum Slipway. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 2. 1281, FC38, FC44, FC11 Seapinks and Sea, Northmavine. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: FC61, 203, 121, 1283, FC12, 4 Wool Bales. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 81, 54, 1281, 2, 202 Peerie Boat, Shetland Museum. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 202, 66, 125, 16, 122, FC14 Scalloway Haa. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 3, 27, 1, 16, 101 Stratsraad Lehmkuhkl, Lerwick Harbour. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 36, 21, FC47, 91, 66, 1 Fading Heather, Nesting. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: FC12, 80, FC38, 1284, FC21, 16 Sunset. 2ply Lace Weight top to bottom: L63, L15, L53, L96, L95 Wintery Beach. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 203, FC39, FC47, FC21, 2 The Lodberrie and Bains Beach. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 77, 54, FC61, 1281, 32 Seapinks, Sumburgh Head. 2ply Jumper Weight top to bottom: 81, FC41, FC11, FC6 and 1A As we head into winter here (the sun set at 3.22pm yesterday..) it's great to look back at pictures from seasons past, I will post them here every couple of months but you can follow the #wirsitinspo hashtag on Instagram to keep up with them as we post them, hope this has given you some inspiration, happy knitting! Ella
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Gift Ideas 2020
Hello everyone, the season of gifting is nearly upon us and although it seems unthinkable Christmas will be here before we know it! This year we expect there to be delays in delivery times as we get closer so we would encourage you to order as soon as you can for presents - we have organised our most common knitterly and knit appreciative gifts on one page on the website which you can see here RUGS - we have a limited number (don't worry, more are coming!) of our beautiful rugs woven for us using our Supreme Jumper weight by Skye Weavers, they are so cosy! YOKES - We have a range of Jumper Weight and Heritage Yokes Cardigans available (and some Jumpers) these are completely made in Shetland. The body and sleeves are machine-knitted on a domestic machine then the yokes are hand knit. Each one is different! CREW - we also have a selection of plain crew neck jumpers knit in 2ply Jumper Weight, these are classic and timeless garments that will last a lifetime! GIFT KIT/BOXES - we have also put together a selection of our patterns into gift boxes which contain the yarn and pattern, we have chosen a mix of patterns but if you have anything specific in mind we can always put something together for you - just email us! COASTERS KEYRING MUGS - perfect peerie presents, our range of mugs, coasters and keyrings are made in Shetland and depict a range of our patterns. SOCKS - we also have a selection of Toonie and Crofter socks which are knit in Shetland Heritage Naturals, these are some of the warmest socks ever and the two thicknesses are perfect for either in normal shoes (toonie) or in wellie/walking boots (crofter) HATS MITTS - we also still have stock of our hand-knit mitts and hats, these are all totally unique and knitted by expert Shetland knitters. We have just restocked our hand-knit Olivers hats too which are made by the designer - our own Sandra Manson and finished with an exclusive J&S tag. NATURAL CUSHIONS/RUGS We still have a small stock of these undyed Cushions and Rugs which make great presents and keep you warm! SELECTION BOXES If you want to buy someone Wool but are not sure what to get our Selection Boxes make a great gift! You can also buy any yarn and add a kit box to make your own gift box. KNITTING BELTS We have two styles of Knitting Belts, both made in Shetland so we have lots of colour options - Whalsay Belts and Tomas more muted colours BOOKS and as always we have lots of books, including our own publications and some newer ones which have come out this year like the 2020 Wool Week Annual and the Wool Adventures Journal Volume 1 ACCESSORIES We have lots of good accessories too for gifts, many a knitter love an accessory! Phew, if you've reached here Well Done and hopefully that has given you some ideas, you can find all the products mentioned here on our gift page. Happy Knitting xx
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Keep Making KAL 2020
Spockies Heylor Gloves Hello everyone, you may remember earlier in the year (somehow this year has been extremely long yet short at the same time!) we announced our Keep Making Knit-A-Long. Our aim for this KAL was to inspire people to just keep making - we are lucky that knitting, crochet, spinning etc is a great help to us all at this time! We wanted to create a place in our Ravelry group that people could share progress, encourage each other and then post their finished objects - we are delighted with how many people posted a finished object, here is a small selection (see here for them all) : trevsters Shetland Heritage Vest ladywulfs Shetland Homespun Hap ginni's Davern Mittens and Tam griseldis's Lockdown Project Bealavenders Porty Pullover We have chosen a winner at random and I can reveal it is Melissa aka silvershoes on Ravelry (I've sent you a message!), thank you to everyone who took part - it has been a great KAL. We try to have one or two knit-a-longs a year so if you would like to take part keep an eye on our Ravelry group* Silvershoes Northumberland Pheasant Happy Knitting! *in the middle of this KAL Ravelry did their site design update which is why we didn't post too much about it for those of you who could no longer use the site, we are hopeful that it will/has become more accessible for those with issues or if you have ideas of other places we could host a KAL please post below.
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Sandra's Supreme Shoormal
Hello everyone, today we thought we'd share something inspiring that Sandra worked on during lockdown - A Shoormal Hap knit in Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight! We launched our Shoormal Hap a couple of years ago, its a classic and timeless Shetland Hap, which is a square shawl that usually has a middle, borders and an edging. These have been made in Shetland for hundreds of years and used for babies, as outerwear and just as a blanket - its a surprisingly versatile item! In the pattern version, Sandra used Shetland Heritage Naturals which worked beautifully - the yarn has an excellent drape and handle but for this version, she decided to use our undyed woollen spun Jumper Weight, Shetland Supreme for a cushier version and I think you will agree it is beautiful! My (Ella's) boyfriend Peter also made me this Hap Board during Lockdown, following the excellent Tutorial on Kate Davies blog but he is a joiner so it came out perfect, so we thought the new Shoormal was a great opportunity to try it out - Nothing looks better than a Hap on Hap board! If you want to make your own Shoormal in Supreme Jumper weight you can find the pattern here or here and you will need: Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight - 50g balls 2005 (Shetland Black) x 6 2008 (Katmollet) x 1 2007 (Sholmit) x 1 2004 (Moorit) x 1 She used the same size needles throughout (5mm) so although the yarn is a bit thicker it came out the same size (45 inches square) perfect for the back of the couch or on your bed. Truly a timeless piece of knitting!
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Hand Knits
Hello everyone, happy weekend! Today is just a quick post to show you some of the hand-knit accessories we have in stock just now, first off we have a limited amount of hand-knit versions of Olivers Hat from 'Jamieson & Smith A Shetland Story' These have been hand-knit by the designer, our very own Sandra Manson so this a special opportunity to get your hands on one! We have added a J&S star tag to mark its authenticity: We also have a selection of hats which are knit by a lovely lady here in Shetland, they are all made using vintage and new shades of Jumper Weight and each one is different, so you will never see another the same! And we have some Fingerless Gloves (although that sounds wrong - they do have fingers, just small ones!) and also Fingerless Mitts (no fingers at all, just ribbing at the top) again knit by a selection of ladies in Shetland using vintage and new wool in a range of one-off patterns. Now as most of these are one-offs you need to get in quick if you see ones you fancy! If they have sold out before we get to your order we will be in touch but I thought we would mention them for (ahem ahem) Christmas gifts as due to the ongoing COVID related delays Royal Mail has put in extremely early last recommended posting dates for international Christmas Delivery - we have already passed one of them!! : Monday 5 October All non-European destinations (except South Africa, Canada, Middle and Far East, USA) Monday 12 October Middle and Far East, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa Monday 2 November Canada, Cyprus, Eastern Europe, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Turkey, USA Monday 16 November Western Europe So that's some of the accessories we have in stock, they are selling fast already! Happy knitting!
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