Shetland shades sing in harmony in the work of Ella Gordon
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All articles filed in fair isle
Terri Laura talks colour
colour personalities and practical steps to plan a pallette
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Fair Isle in Whalsay
Are you going to Shetland Wool Week this year? If so, can I strongly suggest you set aside a day in your itinerary for a trip to the wonderful island of Whalsay?. The Whalsay Heritage Centre is currently hosting an exhibition of the island’s fair isle knitting that will, I assure you, really blow your…
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The Fine Art of Fair Isle Knitting
You will have heard me mention distinguished Shetland designer, Hazel Tindall, many times on this blog. I first met Hazel three years ago, when I was lucky enough to take a workshop with her during Shetland Wool Week. Over the course of the class, Hazel shared her knitterly tips and techniques, talked us through some…
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Shetland Textiles: 800 BC to the Present
Writing of the worn and mended Fair Isle sweater that Shetland knitter, Doris Hunter created for her fiancé, Ralph Patterson, who spent four years in a Japanese POW camp during the Second World War, editor Sarah Laurenson states: “Ralph’s sweater is much more than a physical object. It is a site of personal and political…
Read MoreSixareen Cape
While we were in the Highlands, we took the opportunity to photograph a design I’ve had ready for a while: the Sixareen Cape. I started knitting this Fair Isle wrap last October. You may remember that at that time I’d just designed a hat especially for Shetland wool week (The Sixareen Kep) using Jamieson and…
Read Morethinking time
Well, I had a fantastic time in Shetland. As I was on my own, I stayed in Lerwick. I really enjoyed meeting up with Shetland friends old and new, and pottering about toon. But I was there to work — I have a couple of writing commissions in the pipeline, one of which involves producing…
Read MoreUrsula Cardigan
Its time to show you another design, from the next of my Shetland ‘colour stories’. This is the Ursula Cardigan. This design is named for writer and naturalist, Ursula Venables, who lived and worked in Shetland during the 1940s and ’50s. (You can read more about her in my book.) Ursula’s writing about wildflowers, as…
Read Morerams and yowes
Hmmm . . . do I spy . . . some sheep? . . . . many sheep? . . . and many rams? 120 yowes and 48 rams?!! Yes! It’s the rams and yowes lap blanket! In case you were wondering, yowe means ewe in Shetland dialect and, just like the sheepheid design from…
Read MoreI want to bob my hair . . .
Stanley Cursiter The Fair Isle Jumper (1923) Edinburgh City Art Centre . . . just to wear this hat. I have 1920s accessories on the brain at the moment – we watched Anthony Asquith’s brilliant A Cottage on Dartmoor a few days ago, in which, between manicures, Norah Baring was sporting some fantastic hats in…
Read Morewwwwo #1
I’ve written up the pattern for this wee headband — item #1 in wazz’s woollen winter walking outfit (wwwwo for short). The pattern is very simple — just a single large star repeat — certainly suitable as a first colourwork project for those who’ve not tried the technique before. You’ll need springy fingering-weight yarn in…
Read Morepaper dolls
I’m glad the early mornings are becoming lighter, otherwise I (or rather, Tom) wouldn’t have been able to take these speedily snapped shots of my new sweater. Spring is definitely on its way . . . Did I mention that, undoubted tweeness notwithstanding, I heart this sweater? I love the velvety braf yarn (particularly the…
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KDD & Co 