When in Shetland....

You have to knit with Shetland wool using fairisle patterns, which I did. I am really pleased with the way this has turned out. It really wasn't too difficult and the decreasing for the crown is genius. I bought 6 balls of wool and have enough left to knit a couple more of these. The details are in my Ravelry projects here. The Jamieson and Smith shop is a must visit if ever you go to Shetland.

You have to go to Sumburgh Head to see the puffins. These comical little cuties at this time of the year are just everywhere. Especially when the sun shines, we did visit when it was blowing a gale and raining and only saw one. The next visit in the sunshine brought them all out. They are really tame and love having their photos taken. I'm always surprised by how small they are.

You have to take in the gorgeous views and countryside that is the Shetland Islands. In the sunshine there is no prettier place, the sea really is this colour and the beaches are white. This picture is also at Sumburgh where the airport is. To get to this point where the photo was taken you have to drive across the runway! 

We had a lovely holiday and can't wait to go back.

Shetland 2, Knitting

This is the Jamieson & Smith shop in Lerwick. So many weights but I eventually went for some jumper weight, the go to yarn for fair isle knitting.


These were the colours I chose for the Yuglet hat. This pattern isn't in Ravelry's database so I thought I'd put a picture of it when I add it to my projects.



See how much I knitted whilst enjoying the view.




Today we went to Sumburgh Head to see puffins. I also met a lovely lady in a yarn shop at Hoswick who has a Little Peggy spinning wheel to sell. Hopefully we can do a deal. I'm calling back on Friday to see her and try it out. I'm very excited.

I haven't worked out how to add links when using my IPad so ill pop them all on when I get back.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Shetland 1

A little dark, but you get the idea. This where I'm going to be for the next few days. With my feet up looking out onto this lovely view. Already there have been arctic terns and oyster catchers out there. I've also heard skylarks.

The journey was long and frustrating. We had to turn back to Edinburgh yesterday as the weather at Sumburgh airport was too bad to land the plane. A night in a hotel in Edinburgh and another early start today with a long wait for the weather to soften so we could take off. Eventually we found ourselves here after making friends with fellow travellers who gave us lots of tips about places to see and eat. One lovely man, Gareth even led us to our lodge and showed us where to go.

This is a lovely place, just look at this, fellow knitters..



Fair isle cushions on the sofas and Hazel, who runs the place is a knitter as is her mum, they sell what they make and sell wool from a neighbour who spins and dyes. I'm in heaven.



This is what greeted me as I walked into the lodge we are staying in. Oh wow!

On My Needles

Judi2 is working hard at modelling the aran jumper I have just started. I was going to dye this yarn until I saw this pattern that my sister found. It had to be aran colour for the aran jumper. It's blue faced leicester which I bought in 'Skeins' in Glossop the other week. Its very soft and knitting up beautifully, my sister is also knitting it but in brown bfl. Although this should be a quick knit I'm going to have to abandon it for a couple of weeks soon as I'm off to Shetland, I'll need some socks to knit because this will just be too big to pack.

Sunny Bank Holiday

The sun shone on my cherry blossom.

And on the kerria over the pond.

Window boxes done with white petunias and violas.

Plying my yarn on Kate's spinning wheel. A short post this week.