The winning ticket was drawn at the Maker's Market. Donna was teaching a class next to the Market, so Selina and I gate-crashed quietly and got her to draw the winning ticket.
Friday 16 October 2015
Baa-ble hat winner
We have a winner for the Baa-ble hat.
The winning ticket was drawn at the Maker's Market. Donna was teaching a class next to the Market, so Selina and I gate-crashed quietly and got her to draw the winning ticket.
Congratulations Lynette.
The winning ticket was drawn at the Maker's Market. Donna was teaching a class next to the Market, so Selina and I gate-crashed quietly and got her to draw the winning ticket.
Thursday 24 September 2015
WIN A BAA-BLE HAT
A Baa-ble hat designed for this years Shetland Wool Week by Donna Smith, knitted in my handspun yarn, in a mix of natural Shetland
colours, as well as natural and chemical dyed yarns.
Decide for yourself what the scene in the hat is – I see - sheep on the
foreshore on a winter night with the Merrie Dancers in the sky above!
You dont have to be in Shetland to win, send an email, or a PM on facebook, with your name and address and I will add to the draw.
Monday 21 September 2015
North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference, Faeroe
This week is the final preparation time for Wool Week - 9 days of workshops, both hard work and fun, meeting old friends and making new ones.
However last week I set off for Faeroe to the Wool Conference. It was a wonderfully different week, lots of very interesting talks, discovering more about the Short Tail sheep in neighbouring countries.
My talk was about my journey in textiles, from knitting as a child, to my business today working with handspun yarns and handknit garments, and including my interest and research into the ancient textiles and the warp-weighted Loom.
Next year the conference is in Lofoten, would love to go but not sure if I can fit it in.
But this was Faeroe and I did find the Faeroese Scotrok...
... and some nice coloured Faeroese ewes ...
... loved that dark grey face in the centre of this group.
... and a stunning ram ...
However last week I set off for Faeroe to the Wool Conference. It was a wonderfully different week, lots of very interesting talks, discovering more about the Short Tail sheep in neighbouring countries.
My talk was about my journey in textiles, from knitting as a child, to my business today working with handspun yarns and handknit garments, and including my interest and research into the ancient textiles and the warp-weighted Loom.
Next year the conference is in Lofoten, would love to go but not sure if I can fit it in.
But this was Faeroe and I did find the Faeroese Scotrok...
... and some nice coloured Faeroese ewes ...
... loved that dark grey face in the centre of this group.
... and a stunning ram ...
Then the scenery and the views - WOW .......
So now I am back home and back to work ..... just a few days before myself and Niela (www.nielanell.com) set up at the Hoswick Visitor Centre ready for Wool Week classes.
Sunday 16 August 2015
Using a Shetland 'kep' pattern from the museum.
Fisherman's 'Keps' are usually thought of as a Fair Isle hat, but they were knitting throughout the Shetland mainland as well. It is the same hat except that the patterns in the Shetland hats are all 'peerie' patterns. There are a couple of examples on display in the Shetland Museum, and I have, in the past, used one of these designs in a square hat.
I have now knitted this same design in a waistcoat, requested by a customer.
The shade of the colours are a little different but for natural and natural dyed colours they are never the same. Here it is, ready to be posted, and with a square hat to match.
The shade of the colours are a little different but for natural and natural dyed colours they are never the same. Here it is, ready to be posted, and with a square hat to match.
Saturday 25 July 2015
A new design - HAIRST
A new design for dags and toories was past due, and something a little different for me. This time I have included natural dyed colours.
The natural colours are 2 fawns and moorit. The dyed colours are logwood blue, lichen and 2 onion yellows, one dyed on white and the other on a light grey.
A peerie pattern is added in this Toorie and a simple crown in fawn and moorit with a touch of blue. The wirsties do have a slit for a thumb so can be worn as dags or a wrist warmer.
The square hat and lang dags shows all the patterns I have used in the Hairst design.
The natural colours are 2 fawns and moorit. The dyed colours are logwood blue, lichen and 2 onion yellows, one dyed on white and the other on a light grey.
A peerie pattern is added in this Toorie and a simple crown in fawn and moorit with a touch of blue. The wirsties do have a slit for a thumb so can be worn as dags or a wrist warmer.
The square hat and lang dags shows all the patterns I have used in the Hairst design.
Wednesday 20 May 2015
Shetland Textile Museum Exhibition 2015
I have the privilage to be part of this years exhibition at the Shetland Textile Museum. This year the museums display is entitled - "Makers' Choice". The trustees asked individual Shetland makers to choose a piece from the Museums collection which they liked, or which "spoke" to them, or which they had been inspired by. Then those chosen pieces would be displayed beside a piece of work by the maker relating to that inspiration.
So off I went to take a look through the photos - and I found a small 'kep' (hat).
What drew me to the hat was the colours - bright natural dyes, as well as the design. It is in what is called traditional colours but it seemed to me to have a different look than the usual combination.
The original has natural white and moorit and dyed colours of red from madder, two blue shades from indigo, and a yellow which could have been from a number of natural dye stuffs. The yarn is commercially spun lace weight yarn. There are some mistakes in the motifs but other than that the knitting is perfect.
My copy and 2 matching toorie hats, both in handspun yarn and natural dyed colours, which are now in the Museum for sale.
I knitted a copy of the hat and used madder for red, logwood for blue, and onion for yellow. My copy is in my handspun yarn but a thicker yarn than the original, so that my hat is bigger and I had to leave out one pattern repeat. My madder red is not as red as the original, and, as I have used logwood for the blues, the lighter blue is not the clear indigo blue but has a purplish tinge too it.
A bonus for me in finding this piece is that it was donated by Mavis Robertson, whom I had known from my school days.
So off I went to take a look through the photos - and I found a small 'kep' (hat).
What drew me to the hat was the colours - bright natural dyes, as well as the design. It is in what is called traditional colours but it seemed to me to have a different look than the usual combination.
The original has natural white and moorit and dyed colours of red from madder, two blue shades from indigo, and a yellow which could have been from a number of natural dye stuffs. The yarn is commercially spun lace weight yarn. There are some mistakes in the motifs but other than that the knitting is perfect.
My copy and 2 matching toorie hats, both in handspun yarn and natural dyed colours, which are now in the Museum for sale.
I knitted a copy of the hat and used madder for red, logwood for blue, and onion for yellow. My copy is in my handspun yarn but a thicker yarn than the original, so that my hat is bigger and I had to leave out one pattern repeat. My madder red is not as red as the original, and, as I have used logwood for the blues, the lighter blue is not the clear indigo blue but has a purplish tinge too it.
A bonus for me in finding this piece is that it was donated by Mavis Robertson, whom I had known from my school days.
Wednesday 11 February 2015
Cochineal and Logwood
Must try harder .... has to be my aim for 2015 ... at least for blog posts.
I will start this year with the yarn I dyed before our Craft Fair in November last year.
The colours are not quite true, but the photo does show the range of colours I got from the cochineal and logwood dyes.
Logwood blues are one of my favourites. It is such a deep, dark blue, especially with a grey yarn as a base. For these dye baths I did use white yarn as well as a grey and a fawn, so 3 shades from most of the baths.
The lighter shades of the Logwood dyed yarns took on a slight purplish tone.
These blue hanks are set aside for a customer at the moment while she decides on her project and the quantity of yarn she needs.
Cochineal colours, 1st and 2nd dye baths, with white, grey and fawn yarn - 6 distinct shades.
Then the purples. Cochineal from both baths overdyed in different Logwood baths. No white as a base colour for these, grey and fawn only. The combinations are endless - I aimed for 6 shades of purple - good results, I think.
Some of these purples are now allocated to a yoke cardigan which has been ordered.
Good result!
I will start this year with the yarn I dyed before our Craft Fair in November last year.
The colours are not quite true, but the photo does show the range of colours I got from the cochineal and logwood dyes.
Logwood blues are one of my favourites. It is such a deep, dark blue, especially with a grey yarn as a base. For these dye baths I did use white yarn as well as a grey and a fawn, so 3 shades from most of the baths.
The lighter shades of the Logwood dyed yarns took on a slight purplish tone.
These blue hanks are set aside for a customer at the moment while she decides on her project and the quantity of yarn she needs.
Cochineal colours, 1st and 2nd dye baths, with white, grey and fawn yarn - 6 distinct shades.
Then the purples. Cochineal from both baths overdyed in different Logwood baths. No white as a base colour for these, grey and fawn only. The combinations are endless - I aimed for 6 shades of purple - good results, I think.
Some of these purples are now allocated to a yoke cardigan which has been ordered.
Good result!