Tag: Shetland knitting
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reminiscent
It’s a real pleasure to introduce today’s designer to you – Chihiro Sato. Chihiro’s an experienced knitwear designer who lives and works in Tokyo, but her inspiration comes from Shetland, its landscape, its culture, and its knitting. Bringing traditional patterns, interesting construction methods, and a fresh and distinctive take on colour together, Chihiro is the…
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Ottar (hap)
I have been so inspired by Ottar (see yesterday’s post) that I decided to name my latest design for her – the Ottar hap. This is a hap I’ve had a notion to knit since I started working on The Book of Haps about eighteen months ago. As I researched Shetland hap construction, I became…
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Helen Robertson
If you’ve read my introduction to The Book of Haps then you’ll already have come across Helen Robertson – a Shetland artist and craftswoman whose work I deeply admire. Working with silver wire and other precious materials, Helen has developed a uniquely thoughtful aesthetic which celebrates, commemorates and reflects upon Shetland’s history and heritage –…
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Hamegaet
It is no secret that I am a big fan of Hazel Tindall. I first met Hazel during a visit to Shetland in Wool Week, 2011, when I took a class with her on Fair Isle knitting. I often think about that afternoon, and the profound effect it had on me. Hazel talked to us…
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Houlland
Today’s hap is a rather special one. It is the work of Shetland designer, Donna Smith, who you may know as the patron of Shetland Wool Week, 2015, and the creator of the famous Baa-ble hat. Donna’s hap was inspired by her great auntie Emma Isbister, a wonderful knitter, who has been making Shetland haps…
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thankyou, KCG
A few weeks ago, I visited the home of the UK Knitting and Crochet Guild – a fantastic organisation that exists to support and promote the crafts of knitting and crochet. The KCG is supported entirely by charitable donation, and is staffed by a group of wonderful volunteers, who administer a growing international membership; organise…
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Have you knit this pattern?
Do you recognise this pattern? Did you knit it or do you know someone who did? You may know it as Patons 893, or 1085, or H283, or simply as the tree of life pattern (under which name it is still being sold today on eBay). Did you knit it, or receive it in its…
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generosity
What an amazing week I had in Shetland! It was a complete privilege to see and talk to so many amazing knitters, who generously shared their work and thoughts with me. Mary Kay, at the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers, shows us an incredibly fine lace shawl, knitted in Unst around 1930. Joan…
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A conversation with Gudrun Johnston
Gudrun I recently had a chat with one of my favourite designers, Gudrun Johnston, and thought I’d bring this to you today. I just love Gudrun’s work. She has this knack of producing designs that are are always classic, timeless and wearable, often using stitch patterns (particularly those originating from Shetland) in really innovative and…
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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…