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| Shetland Handspun - Lunklet, a lace layered jacket |
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| Shetland Handspun - Cumulus Shawl |
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| Shetland Handspun - Voar Jacket |
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| Shetland Handspun - Voar Jacket detail |
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| Shetland Handspun - Waterfall Jacket |
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| Shetland Handspun - Layers of Fashion Show garments |
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| Hadewych's Norwegian Challenge |
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| One of Cecil's woodwork classes |
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| Bella, hanging out in the shade in North Carolina |
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| Class at John C Campbell Folk School |
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| Some of the results of the FI class at John C Campbell Folk School |
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| Sheep waiting to be sheared and all the lambs taking a rest. |
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| Martha taking a rest before starting shearing |
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| watching the shearer |
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| Natural dyed colours ready for carding and blending at Maryland Sheep & Wool spinning class |
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| Everyone working hard in the Fair Isle class at Maryland Sheep & Wool |
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| A busy John C Campbell Folk School stand |
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| Beautiful blues on the Pacific coast |
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| The Rockies - just like the movies! |
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| The natural dye class at Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins in Boulder. |
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| The results from the dye class ..... all ready for blending and carding |
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| ..... and the rolags ready for spinning |
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| leaving Boulder, heading south to Santa Fe the plateau goes on forever! |
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| stunning mountains, and yes, there was hail in those clouds |
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| and that stunning landscape just goes on and on. |
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| Santa Fe, and I did buy jewellery. |
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| Stunning views on the drive up to Mesa Verde |
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| Cliff house at Mesa Verde - absolutely stunning. |
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| The Grand Canyon |
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| ..... an incredible place |
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| ... atmospheric as the sun starts to set |
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| ... changing colours as the sun sinks in the west. |
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| Stunning results from the dye class at the Marshfield School of Weaving |
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| We took the carding outside in beautiful Vermont sunshine, - but we did stay in the shade. |
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| The last class. Great results in the samples with the first colour choices, but with a few changes the next knitted samples were even better. Very proud of everyone in this class. Then Martha and I headed back to the airport to get our separate planes home - me to Shetland and Martha to North Carolina. Till next time. |
Here are my Mirknen Dags and Leg Warmers, the pattern is in the 2020 Shetland Wool week Annual. The yarns suggested are Jamieson & Smith jumper weight yarn and Jamiesons of Shetland's Spindrift, and .....
my Handspun yarn is available in a kit.
1 kit will knit the medium sized dags,
2 kits will kit the small dags and the small legwarmers.
Kits have either more of the dark background ..... and will knit up as in this photo of the medium dags .......
OR ............
more of the light background to knit up ..... as in this photo of the medium dags.
Only 50 kits will be made available - 25 with more of the dark background colour and 25 with more of the light background colour.
Price - £55 + shipping, payment by PayPal or online banking.
To book a kit - email me at shetlandhandspun@btinternet.com Title your email MIRKNEN KIT. Say if you want more of the dark background colour or more of the light background colour.
Include your shipping address and your preferred method of payment.
Kits will be shipped out from the 5th of October.
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| Medium dag in my handspun yarns |
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| leg warmers, large dags, and small dags in Jamiesons of Shetland's Spindrift colours |
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| leg warmers, large dags, and small dags in Jamieson & Smith colours |
Wow, its July already, what happened! This year is going by fast! It doesnt seem very long since the 2021 Crofters Kep was launched, and that was back in April.
Wilma did her usual and created a beautiful hat pattern in 5 different yarns each in a different colourway, and she used my handspun yarn for one again. I was honoured. But that also meant that I had to spin and dye the yarn for kits.
I decided to set the number of kits to 50, and should have put that information out, but before that happened the enquiries came in fast and they were booked up in a few days. I am only getting back to doing a blog now!!!
My appologies to those of you who have missed out on my handspun yarns for this years kep. I just could not fit in any more time to spin for the hat this year.
Wilma and I did look at alternative yarns to substitute for my handspun yarn and these are detailed below.
I usually name the yarns by their natural colours and by the natural dyes I have used on them. For this pattern I decided to give the yarns 'names'. So the background colours I named those Silver and Cloud, 2 narural greys. The 4 pattern colours were all dyed. Rouge was dyed with cochineal and onion. Wine was dyed first with a little onion then with cochineal, Maroon was dyed with cochineal then overdyed with logwood. The last colour, a dark blue, Midnight, was dyed in logwood.
I did love Wilma's choice of colours, but I thought I wanted a Crofters Kep on a dark background. I thought I would see if I could just take the colours and rearrange them to knit a kep that was more ME - and by ME I really mean more blue.
The blue background is a darker blue more of a blue/black, still dyed in logwood. The second background is a pale blue from an exhaust logwood bath.
The other colours were Rouge, Wine and Madder but as I had used a colour almost the same as Midnight for the background, I used a colour similar to Wine as a substitute but a shade or 2 lighter.
The result was dark but it works - just, and is very ME.
For Shetland Wool Week Makers Market
I have a limited number of Da Crofters Kep Kits,
in my handspun yarn,
prepared especially for SWW.
The kit price, in my handspun yarn, is £60
plus postage,
£4 to the UK, £10 to the EU, and £14 elsewhere.
Email me - shetlandhandspun@btinternet.com -to buy a kit.
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| Toorie Version 1 |
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| Toorie Version 2 |
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| A Square Hat |
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| The mitts, or Dags as we call them in Shetland. 2 which match the Toories, 1 with a long 2-coloured rib, and a long pair. |
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| ... and then a cushion. |
All are knitted in natural Shetland colours, with yarn from Jamieson & Smith. I do occasionally have kits made up with my handspun yarn.
The motifs are all similar to those found in antiquity, some from ancient Greece, especially the Greek key and the small flower. Hearts and crosses are both very old, and because of the association with the sea, an anchor and a chain is included.
The design is named Njuggle after a mythical Shetland horse which was purported to live in streams and the sea.
The Njuggle collection includes:
Dags version 1 & 2, Toorie Hats version 1 & 2, Rib Dags, Long Dags, a Square Hat and a Cushion.
Search for SHETLAND HANDSPUN on Ravelry to find all the patterns.
I hope you have all enjoyed the Virtual Shetland Wool Week.
The patterns for the Lunklet Lace Jacket and the Lunklet Shawl are both now on Ravelry.
I have sold both of these patterns from my studio and at shows, but with lockdown, the time came to put them on Ravelry. I had thought that it would be a challenge to re-format the charts for Ravelry. It actually worked out fine.
The Jacket has been knitted many times. It looks difficult but it is much easier than it look to knit.
Included in the pattern are tips on knitting the jacket. Also tips for the Frost Flower pattern (motif), an impressive pattern made up of 2 very simple elements and quite simple to knit when it is broken down to its individual parts.
A Lace Jacket is not for everyone so I made a shawl to match the Jacket. I think I almost like the shawl more than the Jacket.
The Jacket in the photo is knitted in my handspun lace yarn. The layers are spun from natural coloured Shetland fleece. The yarn in the sleeves and the top of the jacket are a tussah silk single plyed with a Shetland wool single.
The shawl is knitted with Jamiesons of Shetland Ultra, their lace weight yarn.
Bonnie Isle Hat Kits
The 2020 Patron and Shetland Wool Week Hat were both announced on the 9th of June. The launch was in Shetland for the first time at the Shetland Museum. We were a smallish group but enough to have a good photo with a range of previous Wool Week Hats.
My handspun yarn as not included in the pattern, but 2 of our new Shetland Wool Producers were included: Aister 'oo' and Laxdale Yarn. Both have beautiful yarn and some beautiful colours to choose from.
Since the launch I have been busy and I have put together a colourway in my yarn which is now available in a kit.
The kit price, in my handspun yarn, is £63
plus postage, of £4 to the UK, and from £10 to £14 elsewhere.
Postage now varies outside the UK. I send the kits tracked and charge the cost price.
Email me - shetlandhandspun@btinternet.com -to buy a kit.
I have used 3 natural colours and 2 natural dyed colours.
The 2 light colours are silver grey and natural white. The 3 dark colours are Shetland black, Aubergine (dyed with cochineal) and Dark Blue (dyed with Logwood).
As usual I will have a limited number of kits available. For the Bonnie Isle Hat I will have 24 kits. To order Email me - shetlandhandspun@btinternet.com
I do have some kits ready now, but there is still some spinning to do - I have a little of the black and the silver still to spin. I plan to have that spinning done by 22nd of July.
The first batch of kits can be shipped from 28th of June, and the remainder can be shipped from 25th of July.
I have a delay in shipping the first batch as I am on route to Norway to teach a spinning class at Osteroy Museum, so if I dont answer an email over the next few days, I am just having too much fun with the class at the museum.
It is that time of year again. Time for the 2023 Patron to be announced and Shetland Wool Week hat to be launched.
The Patron is Alison Rendall, a perfect choice, and her hat is called Buggiflooer Beanie, the Shetland name for the flower, the Sea Campion. In her pattern there are colourways from 5 Shetland wool producers. Yarns from Jamieson's of Shetland, Uradale and Jamieson & Smith have colourways using 6 colours, and Laxdale Yarn and Aister Oo colourways using 2 colours.
There was a launch at the Shetland Museum on Friday night with Linda Shearer, last years Patron, handing over to Alison. Such a good evening meeting up and talking to folk. Then home to plan for a kit in a colourway in my handspun yarn over the weekend.
It is knitted and dressed, on a fawn background, and using 5 colours in the pattern.
The pattern colours are:
Light Moorit, Dark Moorit, Shetland Black, a natural Madder dyed shade, and for the centre rows of the flooers there is a very dark Madder dyed shade.
That red in the centre rows is hard to get in a photo, but really adds something to the look of the hat.I have 3 of the colours already spun, but need to spin the other 3 colours.
Fleece from my stash has been sampled and is ready to start the carding and spinning process.
So my plan is ready to produce kits, in a limited number.
... and the last photo of a stunning crown. I love the flower, simply done following Alison's design, with one half in the light moorit and the other half in Shetland black.
If you would like a kit in my yarn, send me an email, shetlandhandspun@btinternet.com
Kits should be ready in about 3 weeks, the cost is £65 plus postage.
Postage now varies outside the UK. I send the kits tracked and charge the cost price.
Email me - shetlandhandspun@btinternet.com -to book a kit.
