Shetland Wool Week continues with Jaime's Sheep Heid

It's Shetland Wool Week right now in Shetland and we are celebrating here at Fancy Tiger Crafts! When we were in Shetland this summer, I knew one thing: I had to buy all the colors of Shetland wool and then knit with them. Thank goodness, Scottish designer Kate Davies already had this idea and made an awesome hat pattern called Sheep Heid that does just this. 

Shetland sheep come in 11 recognized colors and their wool is sorted by color and then milled into 9 different colors of naturally colored, un-dyed yarn. The colors range from white to black with shades of browns and grays in between. Kate Davies uses all 9 natural colors of Shetland yarn in her Sheep Heid pattern, which I knit on the plane ride back to the states. This hat is a fair isle pattern that features sheep across the brim and rams on the crown - brilliant. 

photo by Jess Eaton and Jesse Dawson of  www.jldawson.com

I purchased all the yarn at the Jamieson + Smith store in Lerwick, Shetland while visiting. I started knitting my hat right away, casting on somewhere in Skye, knitting straight through the 20 hours of travel time and two plane rides it took to get home. It was a bit cumbersome to bring a small hat project that required 9 balls of yarn onto a plane, but I managed.

This is what my face looks like when I get to buy all the colors of Shetland wool!

I finished my hat within a week of being back in the states - what a fantastic souvenir of our wool-filled travels to Scotland!

In case you can't make the trek to Shetland, we fell so in love with this yarn that we are now carrying it here at Fancy Tiger Crafts.

The fair-isle pattern of this hat was pretty slow going for me, but I am getting so much better at colorwork! The hat ended up being a bit big so I took Kate Davies' advice and lightly fulled it. Magic!! The yarn bloomed, the stitches settled in and my hat looks fantastic after some light agitation in hot water.

The design of this hat is superb - it captures the beauty of the natural colors of Shetland wool in a way that also acknowledges the traditional fair isle designs of the island. Also...SHEEP!

Just in time for Shetland Wool Week, Jamieson + Smith is Here!

It's Shetland Wool Week on the Shetland Islands and, as you may know, we are pretty big fans of Shetland wool. After our travels to Shetland this summer, we knew we wanted to carry this wonderfully classic yarn. Shetland Wool Week seemed like the perfect time to welcome Jamieson + Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight wool to Fancy Tiger Crafts!

J + S's Jumper Weight yarn is the traditional yarn used for Fair Isle, or stranded colorwork knitting. This is the yarn you see worked up into so many colorwork sweaters, mittens, hats and scarves across the UK. It comes in an abundance of beautiful heathered hues--muted to bright, dark to light--because knitting colorwork requires such a full palette of shades to work from. The balls are affordable and small (only 25 grams), so knitters can buy just what they need of each color.

J + S's yarns are all made from 100% Shetland wool--specifically Shetland breed sheep that are raised on the Shetland Isles. The breed is known for the range of colorful fleeces. There are 9 natural, undyed colors in J + S's Shetland Supreme 2-ply line of yarn, which work perfectly together with the dyed 2-ply Jumper Weight. Don't worry, we ordered them all!

While in Shetland, Jaime and I picked up some handmade knitted goodies from local designer, Wilma Malcolmson. We love seeing how a professional Fair Isle designer put together her color palettes--here is a peek at her beautiful combos.

Stay tuned to see what projects we've been working on with this yarn!

Scotland Journey Part 5: Shetland Museums

Shetland is known for its knitting traditions of fair isle and lace. This tiny island has developed some of today's most popular knitting styles and techniques. The best places to find examples of the history of these knitting traditions are at two of  Lerwick's great museums - the Shetland Museum and the Textile Museum. Of course we went to both!

Gunnister Man from the Peat Bogs of Shetland

The Shetland Museum details the history of the island since its formation which is fascinating. For textile lovers, there is a lot to take in. We loved this replica of the Gunnister man. He was a shepherd found in a peat bog in Shetland in the 1950's and was wonderfully preserved. He died in the late 1600s or early 1700s and was found wearing a woollen shirt, a suit of long coat and short wide breeches, and an outer jacket. He had two caps, a pair of gloves and knitted stockings as well as a purse knitted with two colors--the earliest found example of stranded or fair isle knitting, dating this technique to the early 18th century.

A prize-winning example of fair isle knitting!

This example of a fair isle vest was a prize winner at a local competition in the 1930's. We love the bright anchors and designs - it is so modern and would be so perfect to wear today!

Left - colorwork charts, right - 1930's yarn color card

Examples of 1930's Shetland wool yarn color cards show the importance of color selection and a wide palette for a long time on Shetland!

A knitting belt on left and whale bone double point needles on right

We love seeing examples of turn-of-the-century knitting tools! Above is a leather knitting belt and double pointed needles made from whale bone. These needles would be used two or three at a time, fitting one end of a needle into the holes on the knitting belt for stability and speedy knitting.

Textile Museum in Lerwick

The Textile Museum in Lerwick had on display even more fine examples of stranded and lace knitting. Shetland lace knitting required more concentration than colorwork and would have been an activity for winter months when women were not working outside so much. This plaque details the amazing feat of women's work on the croft: the most talented Shetland spinners could spin 9,000 yards of lace per 1 oz?! Knitting fair isle on your knitting belt while walking with a kishie of peat back to your croft house?! Unbelievable!

The finest Shetland wool gossamer lace yarn

A fine example of Shetland lace knitting

Shetland lace knitting was often a way for farming women to make money as the fine lace work would be sold directly to merchants who came to the island. Queen Victoria popularized Shetland lace knitting in the 1800's and it became a high-fashion item. Shetlander's developed the "wedding ring lace shawl" - a lace shawl, knit so fine that the entire shawl could be passed through a wedding ring. These shawls were usually 6' square and would be sold for £100 - £2,000.

Blocking boards for mittens

Examples of fair isle knitting in the Textile Museum

A color wheel of natural colors of Shetland wool - in rolag form!

A loom for making woolen fabrics

Ysolda picked up a modern new pink knitting belt and some long double point needles. Lunch at the museum was the perfect chance to try it out...

Ysolda practices knitting on a new Knitting Belt

Next up: We travel West for more woolly treasures on the Isle of Skye!

Scotland Journey Part 3: Jamieson's of Shetland, Beach Knitting + Shetland Sheep!

Next in Shetland, we trekked west to visit the Jamieson's of Shetland mill. Shetland is home to two producers of Shetland yarn: Jamieson's, and Jamieson + Smith (not confusing at all). Jamieson's is located in Sandness on Shetland's west coast. Jamieson's is a family owned mill that produces Shetland wool yarn as well as manufactures garments - all of this is done in their facility in Sandness which is open to the public. 

Ysolda looking cute in Jamieson cardigan on vest action

We had more fun trying on (and buying) knitwear. We also were able to shop for yarn! Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift is their fingering weight Shetland yarn and it comes in tons of great colors. Fair Isle colorwork demands having access to tons of colors (sometimes upwards of 10 colors will be used in one design) so both Shetland yarn companies cater to this type of knitting with extensive color palettes. They also sell their yarn in smaller put ups, because you usually just need a little of some colors, so this way you can use more colors in a project, without buying tons of yarn.

Malia and Amber in Christmas sweaters!

Malia is shopping for the perfect colors

Stephen is trying on more knitwear

After we tried on knitwear and purchased yarn, we toured the factory. All the Jamieson's yarn is made right there in Sandness. We were able to follow the yarn from fleecy fluff to finished product. On this particular day, a buttery yellow was in production.

On of the wool experts of Jamieson's shows us the milling process

Seeing the steps of milling wool into yarn was pretty amazing. Jamieson's also produces their own knitwear so we were able to see workers making garments on seaming machines from knit fabric that had been knit on knitting machines. Amazing!

After Jamieson's  we had to take a break for some beach knitting on the beautiful, rocky shores of Sandness. A lovely way to spend the afternoon on a rare sunny day in Shetland.

Beach knitting break on Sandness

Shetland is full of sheep. Throughout our time there, we were constantly surrounded by sheep. The sheep were in all the pastures, on the sides of the roads and sometimes in the roads.

Most of the sheep are Shetland sheep. Shetland sheep are a hardy, small breed of sheep who produce fine wool. All the yarns produced on Shetland are from these sheep. Shetland sheep come in 11 recognized colors ranging from white to grey to brown to black. Both yarn companies stock yarn in 9 un-dyed colors from the naturally colored sheep. We explored the island with sheep accompanying on all our adventures!

We traveled north, not really knowing where we were headed, and ended up at the epic cliffs of Eshaness.

Ysola, Malia, Amber and Jaime in Eshaness

Jaime and Amber at Eshaness

Ysolda on a cliff...she didn't fall.

One of the purposes of our trip was to photograph a new collection of patterns that Amber, Malia and Stephen designed for an upcoming collaboration. Ysolda did the photography in some beautiful spots on Shetland when the sun was going down. Stay tuned for the release of these awesome new patterns later this fall!

Ysolda, Jaime, Stephen with sheep

Ysolda fixes Stephen's hat during a photoshoot

Next up: Jamieson and Smith with Shetland ponies!

Scotland Journey Part 2: Shetland Designer + Puffins!

After a couple days in Edinburgh, we made the trek up to the Shetland Islands. Shetland can be reached by ferry or plane, we opted to take the 14 hour, overnight ferry ride from Aberdeen harbor. We arrived in Shetland early in the morning and were so excited to be there, we immediately hopped in our car and started driving. We didn't have a destination, but just wanted to get out onto the land and explore. We headed south from Lerwick (the main town) and it only took about 5 minutes before we saw a sign that said "Knitwear Designs" pointing to a small house. We couldn't resist--we turned the car around and drove in. It was early on a Sunday, so we didn't expect it to be open, but the owner just happened to be walking outside and let us in. Little did we know, we had arrived to the best and most amazing collection of Shetland knitwear of all time!

We lost Stephen.

Wilma Malcolmson is the proprietor and knitter extraordinaire behind Shetland Designer. She designs and knits sweaters (jumpers) cardigans, vests, hats, mittens, and scarves - all with beautiful fair isle designs. Most of these are knit on small machines in her studio, but some are still knit by hand. We lost our minds with happiness at all the beautiful handknits.

Wilma was kind enough to show us around in her studio which contained several knitting machines and lots of knit swatches of her designs. The knitting machines still take a lot of work to get set up with special pattern cards that Wilma designs herself. She even has a seaming machine to seam the sweaters together.

Scenes from Wilma's studio

Wilma's swatches using natural undyed colors. 

We spent quite a while there, taking in all of her amazing designs, trying on sweaters and mittens and buying lots of knitwear!

Beautiful stacks of berets and gloves

Happy knitters surrounded by knitting!

Wilma also demonstrated knitting on a knitting belt. A knitting belt is a very common way that Shetlanders knit fair isle. It is leather and has holes to insert your knitting needle into a padded part of the belt. The end of a very long (about 14") double point needle is inserted into the hole which stabilizes the needle so the knitter can knit very fast. Pieces are knit in the round on these on just 2 of the double point needles, with a 3rd used as a working needle. Wilma showed us how she uses it and we've never seen anyone knit so fast - and she was doing colorwork!! Ysolda picked up a knitting belt while on Shetland and gave it a try as well!

Wilma shows us her knitting belt

When we left Wilma, she told us we had to keep driving south to see puffins! Of course we went. We drove to the furthest southern tip of Shetland where there are high cliffs on the sea - home to thousands of nesting sea birds, including puffins! While we went to Shetland to soak up the knitting culture and love of wool, a lot of people make the trek there to watch rare birds which Shetland is also famous for.

After seeing Puffins and eating some delicious local seafood for lunch, we checked out a crofthouse. Shetland has a beautifully restored, 1850's crofthouse museum that shows what life would have been like for early families living on the island. Women and children would work the land, living in the crofthouse, while the husband was away fishing or whaling.

Even our lunch spot was decorated with fair isle knitting.

Restored 1850's crofthouse

Next up: we visit Jamieson mill, Sandness beach knitting and sheep!!