We’re dropping in to your inbox to say hello and give you all an update on some things here at Shetland Wool Week.
By now we would usually have launched our new SWW hat pattern but this year it’s a little later. However, we’re thrilled to announce that the date to keep in your diaries is Thursday 2 June, when we’ll be announcing the SWW patron for 2022 together with their hat design.
So, keep an eye on your emails and SWW social media to be sure to receive a link to the free hat pattern download. This year there will be five suggested colourways – so plenty of options – and another chance to delve into your Shetland wool stash.
Katie’s Kep and Da Crofter’s Kep by Wilma Malcolmson have been so popular over the last two years and we have loved seeing all your completed hats from around the world. Please do keep sharing them with us on social media. Thanks also to those who have joined and shared on the KAL social media pages. If you are still to download Da Crofter’s Kep hat pattern, you can do so here for another few days.
On their way to Shetland from Sweden | @kicki.bohman
Casting on Shetland Wool Week 2022 Newsletter Sign Up
We’re busy working behind the scenes pulling together the ‘Casting on Shetland Wool Week’ event programme which we hope to share in July.
To help us with our planning and get a better idea of numbers, it would be really useful if those of you who are intending to join us for the physical event this year could let us know by updating your profile. All you need to do is select ‘yes’ when asked ‘Are you planning to attend the 2022 SWW?’ You will then be added to a new 2022 mailing list where we will keep you up-to-date with our plans.
We’ll only send you information that is relevant to this year’s event – so it may be information overload to those who are not coming. Any broader, more general news we will of course share through our usual SWW newsletter.
As we build up to the hat pattern and patron announcement, we would like to offer everyone a special £5.00 off last year’s Shetland Wool Week Annual. For two weeks it will be available at the special price of £17.
We’re also selling the last few SWW hat postcard sets for £5.20 – they feature all the SWW hats from over the years and are equally lovely pinned to the wall or sent as a card. Be quick because once they’re gone, they’re gone!
Thanks for sharing all your photos on social media of some of your finished projects and works from the SWW Annual. Here’s a few of them, from top:
@duckysauce Fairag Cardigan by Elizabeth Johnston
@sanfridsson_knits Roosty Tank Top by Ella Gordon
@KnitSarah Gotland Lace Yoke by Wilma Malcomson
@mary_catharine Harbour Cowl by Andrea Williamson
@mostevilsnail Seaswell Snood by Nicole Coutts
Signs of Summer
We’re beginning to see the early signs of summer here as well as more visitors arriving in Shetland. Various museums and visitor centres have thrown open their doors for the season and plan to stay open until the last weekend of Shetland Wool Week.
Full listings can be found here but some highlights include:
• Shetland Museum and Archives is open throughout the year – if you’re visiting make sure you look at the new extended lace display in the permanent galleries. There is a fantastic write up by Promote Shetland here
• Shetland Crofthouse Museum – we’re thrilled to see this open again. Step back in time and soak up the atmospheric traditional 19th century thatched crofthouse.
• Shetland Textiles Museum has a wonderful textile display from the Shetland College UHI students.
• Scalloway Museum – as well as their usual displays they are selling various Foula Wool products including yarn and knitting kits.
• Old Haa Museum, Yell – with a museum, award-winning garden and newly extended tearoom. They also have Shetland knitwear on sale.
• Unst Heritage Centre with displays on lace, crofting and fishing.
• Whalsay Heritage and Community Centre have a special lace knitting exhibition for 2022.
Creativity in Shetland
In other news, we thought you’d like to hear about two very creative individuals in Shetland who have recently been working on some interesting projects.
Barbour Jacket
Firstly, we caught up with Rachel Challoner. For those who follow her on social media @barkland_croft you’ll know that she recently entered a design competition with well-known British outdoor brand Barbour. She created a very special design for a wax jacket featuring Shetland wool and made it through to the final stages of the competition. She updates us here:
In 2021 I entered a competition run by Barbour and British Vogue as part of their ‘Barbour Wax for Life’ campaign, to design my dream Barbour jacket. My entry featured a Fair Isle knitted lining and storm cuffs, along with an embroidered outline of Fair Isle on the back. I was knocked for six when, in September, I was invited down with the four other finalists (out of 500 entries) to an appointment at Barbour HQ where we got to tour the Barbour factory, try our hands at re-waxing jackets and pitch our ideas to their team. My favourite part was the talk from Gary about the history and development of the Barbour brand as we also got to look at lots of jackets from their archive, which was fascinating!
I came home with the paper patterns for the jacket lining and cuffs and then had about a week to knit my panels to those exact measurements. At the end of November all the finalists were invited to Browns Hotel in London where we got to see our jackets ‘made up’ for the very first time and then gave a presentation to the judging panel, consisting of VIPs from Barbour, Vogue, Selfridges and The Prince’s Foundation. The judges were incredibly encouraging and really interested in the knitting. Dame Margaret Barbour really enjoyed the parallels between Barbour being a multi-generational, family-owned company, the same as Jamieson’s of Shetland, whose wool I used to knit the lining and cuffs for the jacket. They also said that they thought it would make a very marketable design for Barbour but felt that what made it special was that the knitting was produced here in Fair Isle and that trying to mass-produce it in a factory wouldn’t do it justice. All of our designs were then featured in the April edition of British Vogue magazine and, if that weren’t enough, spent a month on display in Selfridges in London where they were on sale, with the proceeds going to The Prince’s Foundation, a charitable organisation that supports traditional and heritage crafts.
Congratulations to Rachel! What a dream project and her success is richly deserved.
Photo by Nigel John
NORDWIND – Model yacht schooner heirloom art
Another talent from Shetland is Angela Irvine, who is a great Shetland lace knitwear designer. She creates unique, handmade art pieces, and she told us about a 10-year restoration project of a model Nordwind schooner heirloom with a Whalsay connection.
The Nordwind model yacht was built by my grandfather Tammie Bruce (Thomas Bruce) merchant seaman of Skaw, Whalsay before the Second World War.
He built around 6 models. The Nordwind was built in the shape of the schooners he sailed on in the Merchant Navy. She had 22 bands of mahogany on each side. The original Nordwind was a sailing ship which went ashore on the rocks at Skaw, Whalsay in the distant past with severe loss of life. Stone marked graves from some of the crew can be found between Isbister and Skaw to this day. It’s strongly believed Tammie’s model was built from the wood washed ashore from her wreckage.
The Skaw men were the first to build model yachts and sail them in the North Loch of Skaw. Thomas Bruce put her up for raffle to raise funds for the start-up of the Whalsay Houll Loch Model Yacht Club. She was won by Jamie Williamson of Brough.
In 1972 Willie Hutchison (Knowe Brough) went to get her from the Williamson family to sail at Houll. He had to make her watertight and Davie Bruce of Skaw (boat builder) made a wind vain steering mechanism for her.
Willie and Alan Anderson won the first race she ever sailed in. There was an estimated 20 – 30 boats sailing in those days. As Willie carried her back after the race and passed Davie Bruce he just winked and gave a peerie grin, Willie thought it the first time he had ever seen him smile! Willie altered her with a new keel (like for like) he sailed her for a short while but the other boats kept damaging her rudder. He built his own model after that and stored her in an auld Lambie Hoose until I got her back to be restored as a family heirloom.
I took her to Norman Poleson from Whalsay, a skilled craftsman, to fix her up. She was not in very good shape as the rudder was broken and rotten but the body and deck looked pretty good. He had a model in his shed that he was restoring to another client, a model with six sails. I just thought she was a beauty.
I wondered if the Nordwind could be restored in a similar fashion? Norman measured her and confirmed she could as she was a long model which had been built in the shape of a schooner. I was delighted. All I could see in my head was this magical elegant, sophisticated ship with Shetland Fine Lace Sails, tying me to the ship along with my grandmother Gracie who knitted fine lace scarves. They would be my favourite sea themed auld Shetland Fine lace patterns. Norman wondered how I would make the lace sails. I did not know yet, but I would figure it out somehow.
Norman scraped her to the bone, filled the cracks with west system glue, sandpapered, then added more glue and more sandpapering. He made two new masts, a keel (like for like) a boom, riggings and fittings, three coats of undercoat, decks waxed and relined. Restored in three weeks! When I went to pick her up, I was just blown away, she looked amazing a real beauty – brand new, I was delighted.
The process
Firstly I made paper sail templates to get the exact size to use as a sewing pattern. Strung them on, they fitted perfectly. She looked beautiful already rigged with the white paper sails. I knitted all six fine lace panels, choosing the big patterns for the main sails and smaller lace patterns for jibs and top sails. I used Jamieson and Smiths Shetland Supreme fine lace wool in white for the sails – all traditional Shetland wave patterns inspired by the sea and the Birds Eye jib design to link the sea birds. The lace panels were then all washed and dressed.
I chose white organic cotton canvas doubled to hold the sail structure firm, canvas being used in schooners sails in the past fitted the story. It took me a while to figure out my process on how to put it all together. I made a prototype with bubble wrap in the sail window for the lace to see how it worked out – and was pleased with the result. I took my time, measured, pencilled, cut, pinned, tacked and finally sewed it together with my machine.
Once the sails were pressed I asked a local sail maker, Gibbie Irvine, to put in the sail eyelets.
Myself, Norman and my husband strung on the sails, which took a while but they all fitted like a glove! She looked magnificent, so elegant, sophisticated and romantic.
I was just delighted, I wish all my forbearers could have seen her, what would they have thought of a Schooner with knitted fine lace sails….
Make sure you’re signed up to the SWW newsletter, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram or our SWW blog to hear all the latest updates.
We hope we’ve filled you in on some snippets of woolly news from Shetland and look forward to sharing more with you over the coming weeks,
Here’s to a busy summer,
With best wishes,
The Shetland Wool Week team.
