Scatness Tam

With massive thanks to Nic, my superb art and production editor, this image shows the cover of Colours of Shetland fresh from the presses! WOOHOO! We really are nearly there now – the bookshop will open on December 3rd, and in case you were in any doubt about the general excitement round here, I’ve created a countdown in the right sidebar. Just 7 days to go!!

The cover of the book features a design about which a few of you have been asking — the Scatness Tam.

This tam is inspired by the landscape and architecture of Old Scatness — a fascinating archeological site in Shetland’s South Mainland (that you’ll be able to read more about in the book).

Like the site, the tam blends Pictish and Viking influences from wheelhouse-inspired crown:

. . to side motifs which are based on Viking leatherwork moulds found on the site.

I’ve used 8 of my favourite shades of Jamieson and Smith jumperweight to create a really richly-coloured hat which echoes the autumnal landscape of Shetland’s South Mainland.

Some of you have been enquiring about shade numbers and yarn quantities. I’ve now started adding patterns from the book to Ravelry, and you’ll find all the relevant shade and yarn information listed there, with each individual pattern.

The Scatness tam features FC58 – a shade whose ‘recipe’ contains the largest number of colours in the J&S palette, FC38 – a glorious, deep rust – and FC12 – a complex golden green.

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you the other design in the Scatness ‘colour story’. Till then . . .