Dates for your diary
The long wait is nearly over – we will be announcing this year’s Shetland Wool Week patron and their hat pattern at a launch event on the evening of Friday 28th April. We can’t wait to share it with you – so keep an eye on your inboxes and our social media.
This year we have made the decision to charge a very small amount for the pattern which will help us secure the future of the event.
The digital download will be £1 and there will also be a printed copy available to buy for £2 + P&P.
The various Shetland wool shops will also take copies of the patterns so you can add the printed hat pattern to any orders.
As always, the hat is a beautiful knit and uses a variety of Shetland wool in different colourways. Whether you’re coming to Shetland Wool Week in person or would like to support the event from afar, you need to add the hat to your SWW collection! We know you’re going to love it.
Details on Shetland Wool Week membership, which will include advance access to this year’s Shetland Wool Week programme will be announced in mid-May.
This year we asked Shetland Amenity Trust CEO Hazel Sutherland who, as well as being passionate about Shetland’s heritage is also a talented knitter, to test knit the hat. We know she can keep a secret too! She explains the process:
“One of the most interesting parts of my job has been getting involved in Shetland Wool Week. It is not a normal skill requirement for a Chief Executive but the team know that I’m an avid knitter, and I’m happy to help out. When Victoria asked me to test knit this year’s Patron’s Hat Pattern, she looked me in the eye and said, ‘you have to knit precisely what’s on the pattern – are you sure you can do that?’. She knows my Shetland tendency to do my own thing, so it was right that she checked my credentials before allowing me loose on the test knit. I lied, just enough, to pass the test. I settled into the test knit task over a weekend, choosing near similar colours from my stash and adding to the pile of yarn already stacked on the knitting station (aka the living room couch). I followed the pattern determinedly, with Victoria’s mantra of ‘work to the pattern’ in my head. The pattern is a joy to knit. It is a striking design, capturing the essence of a part of Shetland’s heritage that we all know and love. It is technically interesting with some real ‘ahh, yes’ moments as you see how it comes together. I can’t wait for it to be launched to the world on the 28 April.”
Spring in Shetland
Sometimes it’s hard to know if Spring has arrived in Shetland with the weather often throwing all seasons at us in one day. But one thing that assures us that Spring is here is the beginning of the lambing season. It’s the focus of crofters’ minds – and their families – and you know not to bother those who have a few weeks of sleepless nights ahead.
Mary Macgregor from Bakka sent us these photos from her croft of her first lambs of the year – triplets – and they are absolutely gorgeous. We’ll no doubt be sharing more cute photos on our social media channels over the coming weeks – who can resist a lamb?
Another sign of Spring in Shetland is the return of the puffins – and right on cue they arrived at Sumburgh Head in time for their open day celebrations.
Sumburgh Head Lighthouse, Visitor Centre and Nature Reserve is now open for the 2023 season and is well worth a visit.
Tickets can be purchased on site and are valid all season and they provide access to the Engine Room, Smiddy, Marine Life Centre and the Radar Hut.
Online Knit Deckchair Challenge
Last month, SWW tutor Helen Robertson embarked on an ambitious 12-hour lace knitting challenge in Unst which took place from midday to midnight.
(L-R) Angela Fraser, Joan Robertson, Minnie Mouat, Cheryl Jamieson, Helen Robertson and Melanie Mouat.
Helen explained her vision for the project: “I have long held an image in my head of a deckchair sitting on a beach, the deckchair has a Shetland Lace knit seat that casts a shadow on the beach and the sea can be viewed through the lace. Although I have had this image for 20 years, it remained always just out of my grasp. I could never quite decide on the exact pattern, the material to use, what colour it should be and how fancy. As the years passed, the image grew clearer ‘til I knew it had to be knit in a ‘Print and the Wave’ pattern. I realised too that it had to be simple, rather than fussy and not look like it was trying too hard to communicate its message.
The message I wanted it to send was one of respect, memorial and hope. Respect for our ancestors who worked so hard at sea or on land, a memorial to those who perished in the process and hope for the future of Shetland and the preservation of our heritage. A tall order for a deckchair!”
The knitting marathon was part of a performance art project in association with Shetland Arts and was captured live on the Shetland webcams. Viewers from all over the world followed Helen as she completed the impressive task of knitting a lace deckchair using beautiful handspun Shetland yarn.
We’ll be sharing more on this amazing project in this year’s Shetland Wool Week Annual.
Taxcloth Exhibition
In other news we have a fantastic new exhibition in the Shetland Museum’s Gadderie space.
It’s called ‘Taxcloth: the Toevakoddi Project’ and is a collaboration between three Shetland artists, Hazel Hughson, Barbara Ridland and Joan Fraser. It’s an immersive art installation and the culmination of the artists’ exploration of the little-known subject of the Shetland toevakoddi and of Shetland woven cloth as currency.
From the Middle Ages until the 1700s Shetlanders in every community paid part of their rent and tax in quantities of wadmal, a plain wool cloth of handspun yarn, which they wove in their homes and fulled (cleaned and milled) in the sea. This was done in toevakoddies, clefts in the coastal rock with suitable wave action. The knowledge of their location was passed down through generations, and they are still found as named places on some maps.
The mixed media exhibition aims to bring into the gallery the atmosphere and essential function of the toevakoddi at the fulling time when natural energy transforms volumes of cloth. It also reflects on the domestic and communal experience of processing regular quantities of cloth as currency, the continual tensions between demand and delivery, and the precariousness of home and livelihood.
The exhibition runs until Sunday 7 May.
Inspired by the new exhibition, local wool producers Aister Oo have released a new colour of yarn. On the seashore below their Blosta Croft is a Toevakoddi, called ‘Tivacudda’. The yarn is available as a 2 ply jumper weight.
Thank you for all the support you’ve given our online shop in the past few months, we have received lovely feedback including the message below from Cathy in America – we were delighted to hear she was so happy with her order. Keep an eye out for new products as we’re adding new stock all the time.
We’re looking forward to sharing more with you over the next few weeks as the Shetland Wool Week programme is close to being finalised. Watch this space!
