Tortoise and Hare: A Vest Success!

I've been eyeing Kate Davies Tortoise & Hare sweater pattern for a few years--talk about adorable--and knew I had to knit this colorwork short sleeved sweater. The thing that finally pushed me over the Tortoise and Hare edge was when Jaime and I visited Shetland this fall. The natural colors of Shetland yarn at Jamieson + Smith's were irresistible and I knew it was time to make this.

You might notice that my Tortoise & Hare is not, in fact, a sweater, but an adorable vest! I love it as a vest, but here is the real story: that adaptation is mostly due to me rushing head over heels into this project and not doing a proper gauge swatch for my colorwork. Whoopsiedaisies. Apparently, I knit colorwork really loosely, which is weird, right? Here is how I turned a knitting disaster into a knitting success...

Check out the Vikkel braid action.

Knitting along, with just a tiny bit of unease about my gauge, I finished the body of the sweater and steeked open the neck and armholes (the pattern is knit entirely in the round and steeked in these three places). I tried it on and it was ridiculously huge in the shoulders. Like, you could fit a pair of football shoulder pads in it huge. After several months of knitting, this was pretty devastating.

I couldn't bear to rip out and reknit a single tortoise or a hare, so I decided to take my garment sewing and steeking skills to the next level. A beloved Shetland souvenir vest from my trip to Scotland became my pattern. I cut my oversized sweater shoulders down to size. After cutting away the excess fabric, I kitchenered the shoulder seams back together. From there I picked up stitches for the arm holes and neckline and finished them with a simple 2x2 rib.

It was a vest success! 

I love my new vest. I also maybe learned a little lesson about gauge....but also about owning my mistakes. Take that, knitting disaster!

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: Epic Scenery of Magicalness

Here are some of our favorite landscapes from Shetland and Skye for you to gaze at this weekend. To see even more photos, be sure to check out our Scotland set on Flickr!

Cliffs of Eshaness, Shetland

Eshaness, Shetland

Sea urchin remnants, Eshaness

Thistle in bloom, Sandness, Shetland

Fairy Bridge to Waternish, Isle of Skye

Hiking the Quiraing, Isle of Skye

The Quiraing

The Quiraing looking out to Staffin Island

At magical Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye

Misty hills near Uig, Isle of Skye

Neon green Seaweed near the haunted ruins of Duntulm Castle, Isle of Skye

Duntulm, Isle of Skye

Thanks, Scotland, for being so magical!

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 4: Jamieson + Smith and Shetland Ponies!

Part 4 of our Scotland journey finds us still on the Shetland islands soaking up more wool culture. Today we visited Jamieson and Smith! Jamieson and Smith is the other producer of Shetland yarn on Shetland. Jamieson and Smith has a facility in Lerwick (Shetland's largest town and port) where they sort all the wool that they purchase from local farmers.

Oliver explains how to feel the quality of a fleece

Oliver Henry has been sorting Shetland wool for Jamieson and Smith for 46 years. He knows a lot about wool. Oliver took a couple of hours out of his day to give us a tour of their facility and talk to us about wool. Jamieson and Smith purchases over 80% of the Shetland wool grown on the island from over 700 crofters. They are very committed to working with the farmers and improving the quality of the wool. Oliver almost single-handedly sorts all this wool himself.

The Jamieson and Smith sorting facility in Lerwick

Each fleece has to be sorted by color, quality and type. Some of the Shetland sheep on the island have bred with non-Shetland sheep - Oliver keeps a catalog of lineage records so he knows which fleece are 100% Shetland - these are the only fleeces used to make the Jamieson and Smith Shetland yarns. Within each fleece there are different grades of wool and these must be sorted as well - the wool on the back of the sheep is a different quality than the wool around the legs so these all get seperated into different bins.

Above left: fleeces have been sorted by color
Above right: tons of wool fleeces await sorting
Lower photo: Oliver has trained a crofter to help him in the sorting room

Jamieson and Smith have developed other products to make sure that they are using all the wool. If a fleece is not suitable for their yarns they can find a home for it in other products they have developed, therefore they're able to pay the farmers more for their fleeces. In addition to their hand knitting yarns (which get only the finest grades of wool) they also have a company that produces wool carpets as well as another company that makes wool mattresses. These products are extremely sustainable and ensure that sheep crofters on Shetland can have a future with their wool. Imagine carpeting your home in 100% naturally colored Shetland wool! Amazing!

An old photo of women in Shetland blocking their lace Hap Shawls

Ysolda, Oliver, Malia, Stephen, Amber and Jaime in the Jamieson and Smith sorting room

Shetland sheep come in many different colors - which is amazing when you are on the island and see the landscape covered in dots of all colors - not just white dots! Shetland wool yarn comes in 9 undyed natural colors - each with adorable names like Mooskit, Moorit, Katmollet, Yuglet and Shaela. These names are still used today and are from old Norn origins.

A wall of undyed, naturally colored Shetland wool yarn in Jamieson and Smith

Attached to the sorting facility is the Jamieson and Smith yarn shop (also know as heaven to yarnies). We were able to shop to our hearts content all 84 dyed colors and 9 undyed colors of jumper weight yarn! Jumpers are sweaters and since fair isle sweaters are all knit out of fingering weight yarn, the weight is referred to as "Jumper weight" in Shetland.

Malia and Amber pick out colors of Shetland Jumper weight yarn

We picked out projects (some of us picked a few projects...) and left with a lot of yarn. There was even a wool bed in the Jamieson and Smith shop if you tire yourself out looking at all that yarn.

We took a nap on a wool bed in a yarn shop!

Black Shetland sheep frolic on a hillside in Shetland

There are a lot of sheep on Shetland - they were everywhere as we drove around and explored the island. In addition to Shetland sheep though, there are also Shetland ponies.

Cuddling Shetland Ponies - a necessary stop

We made sure to stop and take some time to cuddle and gaze at these most adorable of all ponies!

Next up: Shetland museums - Fair Isle and lace knitting galore!