Day 4

Plan: Considering it’s the last full day in Shetland, visit any sites near Lerwick that were previously missed before driving North. Stay at Westayre B & B in Muckle Roe and visit Eshaness area. If there’s enough time visit Tangwick Haa Museum in the afternoon.

It was our last day in Lerwick so we packed up the car and headed over to Jamieson & Smith (Wool Brokers) Ltd. (know as “the wool brokers” to locals). It was one more place I was itching to see but hadn’t managed to visit earlier since it’s not within the easily reach of the main part of town.

As you can see it’s a very unassuming place from the outside but once inside  I knew was in the right place. The shop isn’t huge but they’ve somehow managed fit three floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with yarn, wool and knitting accoutrements along the walls. All are easily accessible by customers as well as staff. I had no problem dashing from one bin to the next pulling out skeins to compare one with the other. My purchases quickly piled up on one of the counters in the middle of the shop. The two women working that day were very pleasant and eager to help. It was a delight to chat with both women. Both were avid knitters and/or spinners.

Like a kid in a candy store, it was difficult to limit my purchases to the space left in my luggage. After about an hour of fondling yarn and chatting I settled on some lace weight wool, a few skeins of jumper weight wool, a knitting belt with needles, four 100gm bags of combed Shetland wool and a poster illustrating Shetland sheep markings. Needless to say, I could have spent hours there talking with those women but needed to get going. Before heading north I wanted to stop by Wilma Malcolmson’s studio which about 10 miles south of Lerwick.

A fellow Feral Knitter who had been to Shetland a few years ago mentioned that Wilma’s studio wasn’t to be missed. I was planning on stopping by there the previous Sunday but somehow missed it. When someone else from the island mentioned that I must drop by there to see her work I knew we had to go down there again, even if it was out of the way.

The studio was not far off the main road and not hard to find.  We just had to follow the sign that pointed to  Shetland Designer. I suppose we had missed it the last time because I hadn’t connected Shetland Designer with Wilma Malcolmson. As promised her studio was a feast for a Fair Isle knitter. Not only did she have a large range of knitwear for sale but her studio was right next to the shop within easy view of customers. In the studio she had several color stories prominently displayed with each displaying several carefully arranged  knitwear pieces next to an inspiring photo or illustration. All were quite different from the others. As a knitter I knew her work was exceptional but my husband, who wasn’t impressed with Fair Isle sweaters, surprised me by holding up several and asking my opinion on which to buy. As we drove off he commented on how distinctive the colorways of her knitwear is in comparison to what we had previously seen. Unfortunately Mrs. Malcolmson was not there when we stopped by.

With my two “must sees” out of the way we headed north to check in at Westayre B & B before heading farther up to Eshaness. I’ll leave that part of the day for my next post (hopefully tomorrow).

I’m sorry to keep drawing this whole trip out over many posts but you’d be surprised at how long it takes me to sort through photos, load them and then write about my experiences. I write about as fast as I knit – average to slow – but, I hope that this info will be of use to other knitters considering a trip to Shetland. It’s a wonderful place to visit, especially if you’re a knitter interested in learning about traditional knitting.

Day 3 (continued)

We left the Jamieson’s Mill around noon so by the time we arrived back in town it was time to eat lunch but before we did that, I headed over to Jamieson’s to pick up that pack of yarn.

It’s really hard to describe this shop. I popped in there briefly on Saturday afternoon but didn’t stay long because I knew I would be going out to the mill on Monday. Besides, I could always come back to the shop later if I didn’t find all I needed at the mill.

This shop wasn’t at all how I had imagined it to be. Unlike the mill shop, all of the spindrift yarn is behind the counter. To see the yarn you’ve got to  point to the colors on the color card and the clerk pulls the yarn from the bins. I always find this type of setup awkward, especially since that’s not how most yarn stores in North America operate. I like taking my time pulling out yarns and putting them together, just as I had done earlier that morning at the mill.

Not only does this shop have yarn but towards the back half of the shop there are racks and bins full of machine knit sweaters and woven blankets. None of which seemed as attractive as what I’d seen else where. To be honest, visiting this store was underwhelming.  I guess I had some how envisioned a quaint shop but instead found an old stodgy place that’s much different from my impression formed through thumbing over the pattern books put out by the US distributor. Apparently merchandising isn’t their forte but creating a quality line of Shetland yarns is.

After my task was finished it was time to find a place to eat before heading off to the museum. I happened to remember the guide book (The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands & Islands) mentioning the Peerie Cafe “…with imaginative cakes, soup, and sandwiches, and what is probably  Britain’s northernmost latte”. That sounded like the right place to go since our last espresso drink was the one we had in the Edinburgh airport just before boarding the plane for Sumburgh. Sure enough they had cakes, soup, sandwiches and decent espresso. Over the next few days we stopped by there frequently to get our caffeine fix.

After lunch it was off to the new Shetland Museum. It had only opened a few weeks earlier after being closed for several years for an extensive renovation. Like most museums in Britain entry is free, although donations are gladly accepted.

Paul and I have different museum wondering paces and interests so we set a time to meet up later. Of course I headed straight up the stairs to the textiles. There was a small section (a few floor cases) of that floor devoted solely to knitting, weaving, dyeing and spinning. It was so exciting to see Shetland textile history laid out before me. There was an example of just about every kind of knitted and woven garment. The exhibit also featured an interactive computer program that let children design their own Fair Isle jumper. I gave it a go but didn’t come up with anything as interesting as what was on display.

The one thing that struck me as I walked through the other exhibits was how often knitted goods were shown along with other artifacts. Here’s a  jumper that was owned by a prisoner of war. He had managed to hang on to this throughout his imprisonment and was his connection to home.

Here’s a link to some of the items on display. Keep in mind all the items are behind Plexiglas so that’s why the photos are not very clear.

All the exhibits in the museum were interesting and well done. I’m so glad that we timed our visit  after the opening. It was well worth it. I was just looking at their “What’s On” guide for the summer. It’s too bad I missed the talk on Shetland knitting heritage by Margaret Stuart.

The museum shop also has lots of interesting books, cards and crafts by local artisans. Here are some Fair Isle socks knitted by a woman that works at Jamieson & Smith Shetland Wool Brokers. I wanted to buy the purple ones but couldn’t quite justify the price – 45 GBP. I purchased a few note cards with knitting related photos on the front.

After the trip to the museum we walked back to town as I was keen on getting back to The Spider’s Web. It was another shop that we had briefly visited on Sunday. Luckily it wasn’t quite so busy this time so we were able to chat with the shop’s proprietor about knitwear and designers. It’s a lovely shop packed with all sorts of garments of every imaginable design. Some are very traditional while others come in updated color schemes  and designs. She even had a small display of garments made with hand spun wool. Paul purchase a jumper similar to the one displayed on the board outside the shop and I got these gloves. I can’t quite explain why I like these gloves because I’d never put these colors together myself nor chose to wear such a design. I guess I like them because the craftsmanship is good – especially the cuff – and I like how the colors morph from one shade to the next. Perhaps some day I’ll duplicate the affect in a different color scheme.

After shopping we went back to our room to relax before heading off to the Isleburgh Exhibition. Paul flipped on the TV and we were both surprised to find out that Shaun from Wallace and Gromit has his own show. The few episodes that we were able to catch were hilarious. My favorite was when the sheep tried to sabotage the electric shears after seeing how bad the farmer did with the first sheep. While the farmer was bumbling around trying all sorts of things to get the shears working the sheep managed to sneak out and find a beauty parlor. When the farmer did find them they all had very stylish cuts.

Although it had been a full day of sight seeing we felt refreshed enough to walk up to the Islesburgh Community center to see their summer exhibition. Every Monday and Wednesday a group of  locals put together an evening of  demonstrations and sell local crafts. The exhibition is spread over 3 – 4 rooms.

The first room we entered had a few elderly ladies showing how they knit with belts and an elderly man who made fiddles. Unfortunately I didn’t stay and chat with these folks and never got a chance to go back.

The next room was set up as a replica of the inside of a croft house. Inside we found two women spinning. One was spinning on a Saxony wheel teaching a little girl and the other woman (in the picture) was spinning on a much smaller castle wheel. I commented on how small it was and she said that it’s a typical wheel found on Shetland. She said the wheels were small because the houses were small, although I’m not quite sure about that. The museum mentioned that flax wheels were imported to Shetland in hopes of stimulating a linen industry. Perhaps these wheels are based on those flax wheels. Whatever the story, they work well with Shetland wool and fit into a small house.

The third room was a mixture of displays and handcrafted items for sale. There was so much to look at in this room. I wanted to buy so many things. In the end I got a few post cards and a knitting belt. I was only in the room for about a half hour when I was prompted to go to the next room to hear a recital by local school children who were learning to play the fiddle. After the recital a projector was set up and we watched silent films of Shetland from the 30’s.

The exhibition was an excellent chance to learn more about Shetland culture and crafts directly from locals. Every one there was so friendly and more than happy to share their culture. Today I checked the Islesburgh website for the link to the exhibition but it apparently has disappeared. I hate to think it’s no longer being held because it was truly one of the highlights of my trip.

Day 3

Plan: Since it’s the first business day of the week, head straight over to Jamieson’s Spinning Mill in Sandness on the Westside of Mainland. In the afternoon return to Lerwick and check out the new museum. Time permitting do some shopping on Commercial street. In the evening head over to Isleburgh Exhibition.

Jamieson’s is the only mill on the island that spins and sells Shetland wool so of course I had to go check it out first thing Monday morning.

Although I knew from various sources that it was about 30 miles from Lerwick I wasn’t too sure how long it would take to get there. It’s on the Westside of Mainland, well off the beaten tourist track but probably on every Fair Isle hand knitter’s radar. To get there one first goes north on the main highway until the turn off to Weisdale Mill. Until last fall this mill housed the Shetland Textile Working Museum. Sadly, the textile collection is currently without a home. I hope the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers & Dyers can find a new home soon. I’d love to see their collection some day. After Weisdale the road veers west and eventually gets narrower the closer one gets to the mill. The landscape is quite different from the south. It’s a remote rock strewn landscape with very few houses but sheep everywhere. An odd place to find a spinning mill.

We arrived around 9:30 and poked our heads in the door. The place looked and sounded deserted. Nobody was in the office and we didn’t see any one near the door to the mill. I was too shy to wander around the place looking for someone so we waited for several minutes before someone eventually appeared. A woman guided us to the “start” of the mill near the weaving looms and then promptly left. We stayed at the looms for about 10 minutes but the woman didn’t reappear. Besides one guy attending the weaving looms the place seemed to be void of workers. When it didn’t seem like the woman would return we moved along stopping at each machine and guessing its purpose. Having read a bit about spinning mills and previously visiting a Mission Mill Museum, I had a good idea of what each machine did. So I guide us through the process. If you are interested in seeing most of the machines here’s a link to my photo album. I can’t promise that the descriptions are totally accurate.

After being there an hour or so we happened to come across the break room and could hear people on the other side. When a man, whom I think was Peter Jamieson, came out the door I commented on how it looked like things were kind of slow this morning. He said that they wrap up production on Friday and start over again every Monday. So from that comment, I  guess he’s saying that it takes a while to ramp up on Monday. Perhaps we caught them between dye lots. He also commented that some machines in another part of the mill were running.

After passing by all the wool processing machines we came across a room where several knitting machines were spitting out jumper (sweater) pieces. Most of the colorways really didn’t appeal to my sense of color. But as the saying goes, to each his own. I suspect these jumpers end up in Japan.

Eventually we wound up at shop door and found someone to let us in. I easily by passed the stacks of blankets and jumpers for the huge wall of yarn – floor to ceiling of cubby holes filled with yarn. I started pulling out yarns looking for enough to make Arabesque from A Collector’s Item. Again we were left alone, which I didn’t really mind. I was stunned by this cathedral of yarn.

After sorting through yarn for a half hour and having a hard time finding several that I needed, Paul went off to find someone to help out. The woman who we saw at the beginning of our visit appeared. She said she wasn’t surprised that several colors were not out because  a bunch of knitters had been in on Friday (maybe from the Skeins and Skerries tour?) and the shelfs hadn’t been restocked. She gladly took down the colors I needed and went off to fetch them from the mill. She couldn’t find one color so I asked if she could check with the shop in Lerwick to see if they had it. I was in luck. They had one bag that I could pick up when I got back to town.

Around noon I finally settled my yarn purchases and was ready to head back to town. I wanted to pick up that last remaining pack of yarn before the clerk at the shop forgot about the call. She didn’t seem all that helpful the last time I was there.

So that’s only the first half of the day. More to come later.