PATTERNS: LUNKLET LACE JACKET and LUNKLET SHAWL

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.

KITS and PATTERNS

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.

 KITS ARE SOLD OUT

Also, posting on Ravelry,

My series of NJUGGLE accessories patterns

Toorie Version 1

                      

                     

Toorie Version 2

A Square Hat

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.

... 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.

Da Crofters Kep - SWW 2021

 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 loved the colours Wilma chose from my yarns. They reminded me of colour combinations we used to work with when I was young, so really an old type of colourway, but still looks good today.

This Crofters Kep is for me, knitted in the colours Wilma chose.

I have included 2 photos. A front view and a view of the crown.

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.

Here is the result. It is definitely 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.

  

Substitute colours for my handspun yarn colours from Jamiesons of Shetland:

Colour A - 105 Eesit
Colour B - 526 Spice
Colour C - 293 Port Wine
Colour D - 187 Sunrise
Colour E - 343 Ivory
Colour F - 150 Atlantic