Category Archives: knitting and yarn

vintage shetland blog tour

If you are a knitter (or are in any way interested in the history of fashion and knitwear), you really need to know about the Vintage Shetland Project, the culmination of several years of research by knitting anthropologist Susan Crawford, who, with the help and support of Carol Christiansen, textile curator at the Shetland Museum, has been researching hand-knitted garments and accessories made in Shetland in the 20^th century.

For the past four years, Susan has made the trip to Shetland twice a year to take a selection of knits from the museum’s archives through a rigorous process of analysis, with the goal of writing up and publishing them as a beautiful hardcover book on vintage Shetland knitting- what a labour of love!

Susan Crawford in the Shetland Museum archives

Susan has worked to create garments as close as possible to the shapes, textures and colours of the originals; every stitch was transcribed, each garment carefully measured and Fenella, a 2ply that knits to a vintage 3ply weight and comes in 25 shades matched to the museum garments, was developed specifically for the project. The result is a collection that feels just like what I think of as Shetland knitting but that encompasses a huge variety of different styles, time periods and construction methods, including lace, menswear, accessories and, of course, Fair Isle techniques. Susan says that she struggled to narrow down the vast number of designs on offer to twenty-five as there were so many beauties in the archives and we agreed that one look at the museum’s collection blows out of the water the idea that Shetland knitters were traditional- there is just so much variety in their output!

All of the items in the archives have been donated to the museum and are largely the products of creative knitting minds, rather than from commercial patterns. To me, this beautiful piece from Susan’s collection demonstrates that…

A favourite piece from the collection

While the motifs and shades used in this pullover from the late 1920’s or early 1930’s are traditional, the way they are used is anything but! The way the allover checkerboard pattern is broken up and inserted into geometric panels reminds me very much of the pieced satin evening dresses of the time. And yet the way the designer (who was most probably also the knitter) has continued the background colours under the lice or birds eye stitch in traditional style and used corrugated ribbing and modified drop shoulders shows that the piece is still very much of Shetland. This illustrates beautifully the innovative nature of Shetland’s knitters and their desire to move with and respond to ever-changing trends in fashion.

A favourite piece from the collection

With the research completed, patterns in the process of being written and final photography shoots happening in Shetland in July, the project is nearing completion and Susan has launched a Pubslush crowdfunder campaign to create the Vintage Shetland Project book. Needless to say, there has been overwhelming support for the project and she reached her goal in just over 24 hours, but you can still support the project, with additional funds going to support a wide range of extras- and you get the added bonus of getting your hands on a copy of The Vintage Shetland Project before Christmas and general release in 2016 (or a series of other enticing rewards)…

Congratulations on a wonderful project and a hugely successful community undertaking, Susan!

This post is part of The Vintage Shetland Project blog tour and Helene Magnusson is hosting the next instalment tomorrow. You can find out more about Susan’s journey at susancrawfordvintage.

faces and places: melanie hodgson

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Part of a series introducing some of the places and people we’ve come across since moving to Scotland. Some you may already know but, more often than not, they will be new to you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

Mel, Flamborough Head

Mel and I met through a few years ago through a lovely Melbourne friend who kept insisting that we’d get along beautifully because of our mutual appreciation for woolly wools. Turns out we have a lot of other things in common but fibre is definitely at the core of our friendship!

Mel is a Yorkshire lass who has recently moved back there after nine hot summers in Australia and she is as happy as can be to be back in her homeland! I think what I appreciate most about Mel is her commitment to integrity. She really gives herself 100% to whatever she is doing, whether that is baking sourdough, growing food plants, caring for her patients at work or working with fibre and yarn: it’s all or nothing and she gives her whole heart. I’ve been very fortunate to be on the receiving end of her care, both in helping me get my bearings and in finding wonderful, interesting people and movements happening here in the UK and I will be forever grateful for her care and support.

Not only does Mel knit very lovely things for herself, her loved ones and her home, she also prepares and spins her own fibre and yarn… Being a Yorkshire girl at heart, she has a strong affinity for local sheep breeds and has sourced fibre from all kinds of British and/ or rare and conservation breeds, like Masham, Swaledale and Whitefaced Woodland and, by blending fibres and colours to create tops, she spins the most lovely, heathered, tweedy yarns.

She combs or cards fibres….

Combed Jacob fibre

Whitefaced Woodland and coloured merino

… and spins them into heavenly yarn…

Bluefaced Leicester, with the most incredible lustre and definition

Squishy Shetland

Pure, spindle-spun angora yarn in all its fuzzy glory

Odds and ends of singles plied into a beautiful, random yarn

… which she then knits into beautiful, sturdy, cosy knits that are all about enveloping and making one feel loved and held, the way Mel herself does.

Gradient-spun socks from Bluefaced Leicester fibre, dyed by the Thylacine, Tasmania

Detail from Mel’s Follow Your Arrow in North Ronaldsay 4ply

Compared to Mel, I’m not much of a spinner, but I think that common grounding helps us really get each other and the way we see and feel fibre! We certainly agree that fibre dyed in the fleece and then blended before spinning results in the most beautiful yarns and hope to one day collaborate in making yarn…

In the meantime, we’ve got Shetland Wool Week to look forward to, plus some dyeing with the avocado skins that Mel’s been stashing in her freezer for months (did I mention her dedication?!) and plenty of other adventure planned. I can’t wait!

(I wish I had more photos of her finished knits but my camera lens broke while I was visiting and photographing her work and so these are all I have for you- but do go and find Mel and her knits on Ravelry and at recipeforayarn)

faces and places: (london and) yorkshire

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One of a series of posts introducing some of the places and people we’ve come across since moving to Scotland. Some you may already know but, more often than not, they will be new to you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

I was lucky enough to make a trip down into England last week to catch up with two great friends last week… I first flew to London to spend a brief but very lovely twenty-four hours with Felicia, of which I have no photos at all to show you- but there was lots of walking, talking and hatching plans, as well as dinner with old and new friends! Felicia is full of excitement and enthusiasm about life and so the time we shared was a real treat for me- although I’m getting to know some great women here, I spend quite a lot of time working at home and so I treasure time spent with people I can talk to about my crappy day or ideas I have and who I know will both listen and be honest in their response- that kind of friendship takes time! Thank you Fel!

I then headed up to Yorkshire to spend a few days with local lass, Mel, who I’d met in Melbourne during the nine years she spent living there with her family. She escaped the Australian heat last year and has now happily resettled in Yorkshire, albeit with perennial itchy feet- but more on that in a coming post! First stop was baa ram ewe, a yarn shop I’ve heard about for years, mostly for Titus, their beautiful 4ply yarn made from a classic Yorkshire blend of Wensleydale/ Bluefaced Leicester/ alpaca yarn that is soon to be joined by their new Dovestone DK (with Yorkshire breed Masham in place of alpaca). It was lovely to see and feel Titus in the flesh and especially in their sweet in-house kits:

Ella Austin’s Dashing Dachshund

Little Fella, inspired by the work of L.S.Lowry

These women know their yarn and their community well. Their range is almost entirely British in origin and covers all the bases from rustic (the first shop I’ve seen to carry both Jamieson and J&S!) to luxury (Toft, Rowan), as well as patterns and books from independent and more well-known local designers. It was a real pleasure to spend an hour or two there, chatting about yarns and the industry, and it made me hanker a little for my time at Sunspun!

New Lanark Chunky

Jamieson’s Aran Heather in Broch- I’ll definitely be bringing some of this home from Shetland!

After a day pottering about Mel’s house (seeing more of her heavenly handspun yarns, trying gooseberry cake and samphire for the first time and just hanging out and knitting), we left early in the morning for Edinburgh. I’d mentioned a while ago that I was reading up on British fisherman’s knits for a new class and Mel very enthusiastically and generously said that we must drive back to Scotland via Flamborough on the Yorkshire coast, a place known for both its incredible natural beauty and its fisherman’s ganseys…

We didn’t have long there but we soaked up so much beauty. This is a place for wandering the beaches in bare feet and lying amongst the grasses and watching the seabirds wheeling and the clouds floating by… if there are any.

Flamborough Heads

Blowhole

Flamborough Heads

Flamborough Head

Flamborough Heads

Sea pinks (Armeria maritima)

A species of Chamomile?

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Unfortunately my camera lens broke on the trip so I have virtually no photos of the small gansey museum and shop that we visited but it was a joy to visit and to see some old and new ganseys- such exquisite work and some myths dispelled and others affirmed so well worth a visit if you’re in the area…

Flamborough Gansey

We then zipped up the coast, stopping at the lovely fishing village of Whitby for the best fish and chips I’ve had in years (not sure about the mushy peas though…) and a quick peek at the magnificent cathedral and jet jewellery, before heading on to Edinburgh. It was a magical day and end to the trip!

Thank you both so much both, Felicia and Mel- I’m lucky to have such lovely friends!

isager winter

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When it comes to knitting, I have to admit that I’m generally in favour of the quick and dirty. That doesn’t mean that I shy away from big projects but more that I prefer to put all my attention into one (or two) projects so that I can bring them into being while I’m still in love with the ideas that went into them. From the hours spent contemplating and obsessing over the most perfect yarn to the process of swatching and then the knitting of it, I like to be consumed by that one project and to make it as quickly as possible. The project I’m featuring today was not one of those. And it’s got me thinking.

This is the Winter Pullover from Danish designer Marianne Isager. (Apologies for the slightly fuzzy shots but I was on the remote shutter with this one!)

Isager Winter

I fell deeply in love with it when the very first delivery of Isager yarns and patterns hit the shelves at my beloved Sunspun and was especially excited to work with Isager’s Spinni yarn, a laceweight single spun in one of Denmark’s last spinning mills from sturdy Danish wool. I loved the way this design worked with so many of Spinni’s natural sheep shades, with little highlights of beautiful colour, the kind of wonderful, subtle shades you only find in Scandinavia. But it definitely took me a little while to commit to it. I knit colourwork in 4ply and am as happy to knit complex stuff as the next knitter but all those little squares!! in laceweight!! and all the ends!! Still, the squares are picked up as you go to avoid seaming… and I just couldn’t get it out of my head. So I decided to only pattern the front as I really didn’t want to do that many squares and, besides, I felt it might be a bit too much for me if patterned on both front and back- I normally wear pretty low-key knits!

Isager Winter

And I have to say that it was a really lovely knit! The yarn was heaven to work with (great toothy handle and colours that I could stare at all day), it was surprisingly quick (I could get a couple of squares done over my daily train commute) and each little double stripe of colour was like a little treat for getting another square done. After discussions with my workmates (in which there was much debate about the merits of planning!), I decided to freewheel it and not chart out the colours in advance. Advance at your peril! I did pay for it in ripping and re-knitting time but I think it would have taken a lot of the joy out of it if I hadn’t had the little treat at each square… And (I can’t believe I’m saying this!) I actually enjoyed knitting it so much that the re-knitting was quite lovely!

Once the front was done, however, it became the knit that I picked up in between other projects. Not that I didn’t enjoy working the back as I really love garter stitch and the yarn was lovely to knit with. But it wasn’t engrossing in the way that the front was, engrossing enough to keep me moving with it. And, in amongst the knitting, came the move over to Scotland and the establishing of so many new things here. So I just plugged away at it bit by bit in the way I don’t usually like to do. Not quick and dirty. But I think that is what makes it special to me now. Knits hold memories in their stitches and, because I knit reasonably fast and monogamously, those memories are usually of quite a specific period. This one holds much more in it. Memories of knitting with my Sunspun crew and my sweet Mochi, during the packing up of our home and our journey over, in both our temporary home and now our own first flat here… and on Saturday, I got to wear it for the first time while teaching up at Dundee. That felt like coming full circle. And I think that perhaps this is the reason that some people embrace the long-term project.

So I’m starting to feel the benefit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be signing up for the Beekeeper’s Quilt but I might just have a second project that I gently work away on, in the quiet moments between the passion of other more demanding projects. And that the working away will create just as strong a bond with it as to the other.

So how about you? Are you in for the long-haul projects, the short and sweet, the full passionate or a bit of all? And what do you get out of them?

Just a few comments on Winter! I was a bit nervous that the boxy, square lines might not be particularly flattering, that it might emphasise my (generous) bust too much. I’m not sure that it’s the most flattering garment around but the incredible drape that worsted-spun Spinni lends to it means that it moves in a way that other, fluffy or woollen-spun yarns wouldn’t do. And I especially love the neckline, which softens the lines nicely too.

Isager Winter

I made the smaller of the two sizes. I’m glad I did as I think the larger silhouette would swamp the body’s curves but I’m going to have to add a bit of length onto the sleeves as they ride up a bit.

It only weights about 300gm. So that’s a pretty affordable garment to knit and a super-lightweight one to wear.

And I played around with the colours as I wanted a softer palette with less contrast than the original. My shots don’t really do justice to the subtleness of the shades but I hope you get the picture.

Isager Winter

faces and places: helen gray designs

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Over the past seven weeks since we left Australia, we’ve been lucky enough to see some beautiful places and meet some very beautiful people… We’ve been welcomed into homes, fed, driven around, engaged in conversations, hugged and supported in a whole number of other ways. I know how blessed we are in that and, in the hope of giving something back to the community that we find ourselves part of, I’d like to introduce some of those faces and places here. Some you may already know but, more often than not, they will be new to you. I hope you enjoy and treasure them as I do…

You may well have seen Brenda’s work but, chances are, you won’t have met her. This textile designer is so understated that she doesn’t use her own name for her work; instead, she operates as Helen Gray Designs, a name she likes for its plain but dignified feel. Based in the beautiful Scottish borders in the south of the country, Brenda lives in what feels just like a dolls house, not so much because of its size but for its soft pastel walls, timbers and sweet furnishings. And it suits her perfectly. This is a woman who spends her time quietly exploring colour, knitting and reknitting her colourwork swatches until she is perfectly happy to incorporate the colour palette into a pair of her beautiful colourwork fingerless mitts or one of her long, enveloping scarves. Her work is what she presents to the world.

Swatches

A professional in another life, Brenda now revels in the life she’s built for herself in her house by the river. Like many creative people, this gentle soul identifies as an introvert and says that she needs the quiet activity of her solitary work. She uses soft, often neutral or earthy bases on which to lay rich, saturated patterned colourwork. Unexpected highlights pop but the overall feel is of a soft palette. She knows how to balance restraint and exuberance.

Fingerless mitts

Earthy

Rich and surprising

Sombre

Playful

Sweet combination of colour and texture

Thistle scarf

We sat and had tea and talked knitting for hours. Brenda doesn’t spend time with many other knitters but, I tell you, this woman knows yarn. She’s explored every British colourwork yarn out there and could tell me the stats on each and every one of them (a boon for a newly-arrived knitter!) and has seen colour ranges, yarns and entire brands come and go over the years. Together we mourned the demise of our favourite Rowan Scottish Tweed 4ply and celebrated the glorious shade cards of Jamieson and Smith and Jamiesons of Shetland…

Lots and lots of yarn

More yarn!

Brenda mentioned that she never formally trained in art and design but she is a true colourist. Combined with her skills in both hand-and-machine knitting, she is a very gifted textile designer. You can buy her beautiful work on Etsy and be inspired by it on Ravelry.

Thank you, Brenda, for the gifts of tea, endless yarn love and knitting machines to get me started on my own colourwork journey here in Scotland. Such incredibly precious gifts that I won’t forget!