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Voe Show 2019
Hello everyone! this past weekend saw the first of this summers agricultural shows here in Shetland and it was the Voe Show, I (Ella) headed up to judge the Colourbox Competition - this is something we do every year with some of the shows, we choose a selection of 8 shades of 2ply jumper weight and then people make things using at least 5 of the 8 shades. This years shades were: 5, FC44, 16, FC46, 32, 23, 91 and FC47 As always the standard was extremely high and it was very hard to judge, its amazing how much the way the colours look changes depending on how they have been put together. I took lots of pictures at the show so here are some of the Colourbox entries: You have to choose a trophy winner from all the firsts and I chose this allover, I loved the corrugated rib collar and cuffs and thought the colour use and pattern were really excellent: The rest of the knitwear entries contained a huge variety of different styles from Fair Isle and Lace and everything in between - you always see amazing uses of colour, design and finishing. After I had finished in the hall with the knitwear I had a wander around the rest of the Show - the sun had come out and it was a lovely day. Apart from knitting, there is all the sheep, cows, horses and ponies, baking, plants, wool, hens, ducks etc etc.. there are also lots of places to get food, ice cream and stall selling things so it's easy to spend a lot of time (and some money!) I hope you've enjoyed this look at some of the things to be seen at this year's Voe Show, Sandra will be judging at Waas and Cunningsburgh in the next week so keep an eye on our Instagram for some pics from those shows, happy knitting!
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Another Batch of Patterns
Hello everyone, we have had a busy couple of weeks here in Shetland. The Wool Season is well underway and often we struggle to see the boys in the Woolstore under the mountain of Oo! We have been busy in the shop too with lots of visitors and groups, we also recently had the end of our Seasons of the Shetland Crofter competition so we are looking forward to showing you the results of that project - the photos which were entered were great! We have added another batch of 4 patterns to our Ravely and Lovecraft's pages, this week we have chosen the Sissal Mitts and Hat, Eva Shawl, Fair Isle Vneck Jumper and the Pam Shawl. The Pam Shawl is another Gladys Amedro pattern, its knit in 2ply lace and alongside the usual Hap motifs, it also features a cable border and twist motif. it was originally in the Shetland Lace book (now out of print) but we have always had it as a paper pattern so now its available as a PDF. As with many of Gladys' patterns, they follow her abbreviation style which may take a moment to get used to but once you do it makes sense, it is an entirely written out pattern and contains no charts. The Fair Isle Vneck Jumper is from our Shetland Heritage collection and is knit from a garment in the Shetland Museum and Archives, you can see that every lozenge is a different pattern - making it the perfect knit to keep you on your toes! knit in the Shetland Heritage yarn, a worsted spun light fingering weight it is a great layer for when it's not too cold (amazingly like Shetland at the moment!!) The Eva Shawl was originally sold as the Shoulder Shawl but for the Wool Week Collection in 2011 we redeveloped it as the Eva Shawl and it was knit in Shetland Supreme 1ply and the pattern had charts added. Its a beautiful and elegant shawl which has been used several times as a wedding veil due to the shape. The final pattern this week is the Sissal Mitts and Hat, these are the perfect project for Fair Isle beginners and enthusiasts alike, the background colours stay the same the whole way through throughout the project. Its knit with Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight as the main colour and 2ply Jumper Weight as the pattern colours - we are often asked if you can knit them together and you can! You can see how they work great together. So you can find these patterns and the others we have made available as PDF's on Ravelry and Lovecrafts, happy knitting!
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Seasons of A Shetland Crofter
hello everyone, just a quick reminder today about our Seasons of A Shetland Crofter competition which closes in a few weeks. We've had some great entries so far but we are still looking for more - To remind you we are looking for seasonal stories and photos taken in Shetland which show you the nature and agricultural aspect of our culture that crofting and farming have given us over the years.. We are hosting the competition together with Vispring, Shetland Amenity Trust and Shetland Wool Week and for some inspiration I thought I'd share some modern and historical photos we have shared on the blog before: Sheep at the Voe Show Wool just been clipped, Bressay Berry Farm Shetland Sheep and Lambs Suprise Lamb at the Cunningsburgh Show Clipping Sheep Caaing Sheep Rams at the Walls Show You do not have to be a crofter to enter (I took quite a few of these and I'm just a toonie with a crofter grandad!) but if you have historical or current photos that you feel show the crofting or nature of Shetland we would love to see them, the prizes include a Real Shetland Wool Vispring Bed (!) and a two night stay at Sumburgh Lighthouse so its definitely worth entering. The competition closes on the 21st of July and you can enter and find terms and conditions here.
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More Patterns..
Hello everyone, this week's patterns have been uploaded to Ravelry and Loveknitting (soon to be Lovecrafts) We've chosen a mix of Fair Isle and lace this week - and I know it is a heatwave in many places so it might seem a bit strange to be thinking about Gloves and Hats but we are sitting in a usual Shetland Summer day of 11 degrees..! The Fair Isle Cap was a design we published in 2012 at the launch of our Shetland Heritage yarns, worsted spun to match items in the Shetland Museums collection. This hat is knit fully lined with a plain inside and a traditional Fair Isle outer. Skerry Gloves is a design we recently commissioned from Lesley Smith as we felt we were missing a traditional Shetland Glove pattern, it features a traditional Norwegian Star and is perfect for using up your odds and ends of 2ply Jumper Weight. We decided to also make available one of our all-time best selling patterns - the Gibbie Shawl, named after our former manager Gibbie Johnston and designed by Gladys Amedro. Knit in 1ply cobweb the pattern is written out line by line and not charted and the abbreviations used are those Gladys Amedro coined so although different to modern abbreviations once you get them, you get them! The Shetland Bound stole was designed for our Lace Collection in 2012 by Monqiue Boonstra, knit in our 1ply Shetland Supreme yarn, it is a beautiful and impactful lace project. Perfect for when you want more than a scarf but not a wedding ring shawl! We hope you are enjoying being able to get some of our patterns as downloads and we thank you for the feedback we've had, remember if there are specific patterns you would like to see please leave a comment. Happy Knitting!
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Pattern PDF's
Hello everyone, its the beginning of another busy summer here in Shetland. We have lots of tours during the summer and gearing up for another Wool Season but as always we are working behind the scenes on lots of things - for a while now we have wanted to make available our single patterns as PDF's as well as in kits we sell. To begin with we have chosen to make the patterns available on Loveknitting. (also now available on Ravelry!) We decided to start with a selection of our Fair Isle patterns knit using 2ply Jumper Weight: The Roadside Allover, Antarctica Jumper, Antarctica Set and one of our most popular patterns the Hairst Yoke. These are all great examples of Shetland designs by a Shetland designer - Sandra Manson who you will have met if you've ever been in J&S is the designer of all 4 patterns and I think her expert colour sense can be seen in them all. The Antarctica Set was released in 2012 and you may remember they were released after being made for Dr Alexander Kumar on his research trip to Antarctica, the set includes a Double layer hat, neckwarmer/cowl and mittens. The Antarctica Jumper is knit using the same motifs and colours and is knit from the bottom up with steeks for the armholes and neckline, this is a traditional Shetland technique where extra stitches are cast on and then cut open later so you can continue knitting in the round. The Roadside Allover features the same construction, it was knit for Oliver to wear at Edinburgh Yarn Festival as his Wool Week Patronage was announced in March. it features a softer but equally striking colour scheme. The Hairst Yoke is our version of a traditional Shetland Fair Isle yoke, it is one of the most well-known Shetland styles and we released this pattern in 2013, it has been one of our best sellers ever since. A Fair Isle yoke is a great way to use up your odds and ends and if you use a cone for the main shade it can be a very economical project. So you can find these patterns on our designer page on loveknitting here and on Ravelry. We will be adding more over the next while so let us know of any of our self published patterns you would like to see as an individual PDF. Happy knitting!
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Shetland College Project 2019
Every year for the last few years we have taken part in a Professional Practise module with the Textile Students and now also featuring the Fine Art students of the Shetland College. Last week me (Ella) and Oliver went over to the college to see this year's final projects, there were six students work in total and as always we were impressed with the results. Rebecca was inspired by the history of J&S and our former managers Eva and Jim Smith - she read into the history of the family and they're interests from our book, Jamieson & Smith: A Shetland Story. She took inspiration from the photos of Jim with his plane and Evas jacket to adorn a Jacket featuring embroidery, crochet patches and felted applique which she also dyed and altered. Tomas took his inspiration from the lines and textures of the Woolstore to create a range of knitwear to appeal to different and perhaps younger market. From his home country of Slovakia, he took colour and use inspiration forward in his hat, balaclava and headbands which can be worn in a mix and match way. Rachel was inspired by elements in the Woolstore - the story, materials and abbreviations we use on Wool bags were some things she took forward into her art piece. There is a use of mixed media, screenprinting, felting and embroidery onto Hessian and use of the raw wool too. Rosalynd took inspiration from the colour and texture of raw fleece into her garment, the panelling of different weights of yarn together with fringing which is reminiscent of the raw fleece. The large stitches also reminded us of the way bales are sewn together. Kirsty was inspired by the lightness of the 1ply Shetland Supreme and with the idea of using the wool as a drawing tool. Knotting, tieing and draping the wool into words reminded her of fish nets - another strong shetland pastime, combined with photography of the croft she was interested in the journey of the wool and the process from croft to wool. Sue took her inspiration from the Global reach of Shetland Wool week and how the history and culture of Shetland textiles bring so many people to us. This led her to look into Navajo weaving and this is where she took her colour inspiration from along with the linear aspect and block patterns. Her final scarf included a textured weave with triangular and wavy motifs in the Shetland Heritage yarns. Me and Oliver enjoyed our visit as always and it was inspiring to see the way the Students used our yarns in different and unusual ways. To see more work from the Shetland College you can follow both the Fine Art programme and Textiles course on Instagram.
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Harriets Hat
Hello everyone, Happy Friday! Just a quick post today to tell you about a local charity pattern which has just been released. Harriets Hat has been designed by Harriet Middleton to raise money for the Shetland MRI Scanner Appeal. Annually over 600 people have to travel to the Scottish Mainland for an MRI scan as we don't have one here in Shetland - this places a big impact on people as there can be many issues with travel disruptions, weather and the general stress on having to make the trip and what it could be for. An MRI scan can be used to diagnose and monitor such conditions as: Cancer Heart conditions Multiple sclerosis Arthritis bone and joint damage Stroke Dementia Fertility issues Heart defects Liver problems Infection Internal bleeding So you can see it would really benefit the Shetland community for us to have access to one. To raise money Harriet (who had to have MRI scans herself over a two year period) has designed a traditional Fair Isle hat in the appeal colours. The pattern is available to download as a PDF here and we are offering yarn packs of the J&S colourway with all the yarn needed here. (If you purchase a yarn pack it will not include the pattern - make sure to download it) We have paper copies of the pattern available to purchase in the shop and we will also be donating all the cost of the yarn purchased in the shop here in Shetland. For more information about the appeal and to donate you can see the website here. Many people all over the world have already purchased the pattern and we know Harriet is very proud of how well the hat is being received so if you have benefitted from the skills of Shetlanders, our knitting and our wool it would mean a lot if you either downloaded the pattern, bought the wool to knit one or donated to the appeal. Thanks and happy knitting xx
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Roadside Allover
Hello everyone! We have been delighted with the feedback on the Roadside Beanie, both here in Shetland and at Edinburgh Yarn Festival over the weekend. If you were there you may have seen Oliver in a very striking Fair Isle Jumper - which is what we are sharing today! When Oliver was thinking about going to EYF he asked Sandra if she would make a jumper for her, so in a couple of weeks (!) she knitted up the Roadside Allover for him to wear when he got to Edinburgh. It was a design she had made before and we all agreed he would really suit the colours. It features a mix of blues with some surprising shades thrown in and a lovely all over OXO pattern. Its knit in the traditional Shetland way - in the round with steeks added in for the armholes and neck. Me and Oliver headed down the new pier in in front of J&S a few weeks ago to get some photos and it fitted in perfectly with the fishing boats So if you would like to knit yourself a Roadside Allover you can find the kits on our website here, we are running out of a few shades which feature in both the Roadside Beanie and Allover but we are expecting a stock delivery in the next week or so so if you see anything sold out dont panic, Happy Knitting!
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Roadside Beanie
Hello everyone, today is the first day of the Edinburgh Yarn Festival marketplace, Derek and Sandra are there (if you are going we can be found at stand K8) but Oliver is also down because he has been announced at this year's Shetland Wool Week Patron! We are very excited of course as Oliver was instrumental in organising the first Shetland Wool Week 10 years ago as J&S founded the event. It has gone from strength to strength every year so for the 10th anniversary, it's great to see such an important figure in the Shetland Wool Industry as the patron. Oliver's design - the Roadside Beanie has been launched today and you can find kits here on the website and the pattern here on the Wool Week website. The design features common motifs for a Shetlander, sheep and fishing boats! To learn more about the Roadside Beanie have a read of the pattern. We are extremely proud of Oliver and look forward to seeing all the Roadside Beanies this year. Happy Knitting!
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