Sandness Heather...

When you're on Shetland, you're surrounded by Heather. All over the place.
The culture shock for me, the no-trees thing, wasn't as 'bad' as the heather thing. The compact heather makes peat over the years/centuries and that is cut in the fields. And once dried it's to light a fire.
When you're European, you know that when you go to the mountains (there aren't any in The Netherlands) you see a nice valley with a village or a town or a city in it. Think of Rome...
Not in the Shetland Isles. Heather. And Water.

And then.... the Silence. I live in a area which is called: De Wâlden, or the woody area. So I'm used to hearing the wind in the trees. Here are NO trees. (at least not much, I spotted some pines in Voe and Brae).
So... no sound. I know, the wind is there, but the sound is different. And what I also missed was the smell of the sea. Sorry, the ocean. It probably was so windy, it blew away. The only day I smelled the ocean was on Friday, when it was very windy and the waves had a great time playing around the rocks.

Back to the heather.
Wednesday it was time to go to Sandness. Next to Eshaness and Hermaness my favorite place in the WORLD. Again, utter the silence, the sheep, the wideness of the landscape and the way that single road meandered through the land. I saw it with my own eyes, but couldn't believe it.

Weisdale

Because I got sick on the bus to Voe, Tuesday, we decided to take the car. A lucky thing, as I will tell you later. The road to Sandness is one of great boredom, like the picture on top. Wide valleys, hardly any sheep because it's too wet. Once you pass Hellister, the road to Weisdale is the most amazing drive to do on the entire island. The way goes up, and just at the right spot is a passing place, eventhough it is still a two way road, to take in the view.
We were fortunate enough that the sun was shining through the clouds and all the way to the south it was isles and the silver water.

Then, when you pass Bixter and continue on to the Bridge of Walls, nót going to Walls, you steer away from life as you know it, and continue on a single road. Thére the happiness begins.
Heather, small streams, passing sheep. Silence. Silence, more silence. Infact, we were driving and you could SEE the silence. There just wasn't anything to make noise.

I was VERY impressed. We passed only a few four wheel drives (you actually need those over there, it's not a fashion statement) and started to wonder what would we find at the end of this road!

Picture by Amy

And we found a very small village, and a factory. And even thát didn't make much noise at all. Or they were having a break. 

picture by Amy

 The Jamieson's of Shetland factory, where they select, dye, card, spin, weave and handle wool. Lots of it. And amazing quality. We got to see the machines make fabric (like tweed) and knit sweaters. We got to see all the steps of selecting, processing and producing products from the wool. Garry, the kind young man who showed us everthing, gave us the knowledge the plant had even woven fabric for Ralph Lauren. So.. at the end of the guide tour, Cathy was so kind to ask him, if it was possible for him to show us the fabric... The first tour group was already seated in the bus! So we went upstairs for a 'quick' look.

My mother had asked me, if possible, I could bring her some tweed so she could quilt with it. I asked Garry if it was an option for me to get me some tweed. He told me I could point at a roll of fabric, they would cut the amount and sent it to me.
But that wasn't what I had in mind. My mother cannot quilt with anything 'single'. He pointed at the waste bin... I asked, he nodded and then 6 women went wild in the bin. Picking out fabric, nicely putting back the (large) pieces that were tagged.

The call came that the bus would be leaving, and because Amy and me were by car, we kept on 'grabbing' at pieces and parts of the tweed in the bin.
Thanking Garry a lot, we went back downstairs and smiling at our new required treasure.
We were already sitting in the car, chatting about our luck, when the lady from the shop came running.
Oh oh..

We opened the door, thinking about what to say. She said we forgot something. Our goodie bag... Oh my god, more??
We thanked her vèry much, covering our treasure and googling the new found goodies.
A pattern, (lace) yarn, a colour card and a fabric bag with Shetland language for english knitting terms.

What a day.
We had to speed things up, because I had to be back at Jamieson & Smith by 18:00 for the Let's talk Lace evening. (more about that later..)

I did manage to buy some yarn at Jamieson's of Shetland. They had to pull it of a shelf out back, it was not on display in the shop. I had glanced at the colour card and noticed a lovely orange.
The same shade of the shawl the lady on the bus was wearing, the day before. She drove us back from Voe and I had found here wrap amazing. It was fine knit, and because I couldn't find the same shade in the right weight, I had bought the Heather Gingersnap instead.

The road from Voe to Lerwick was long enough for me, to try and study the pattern of her wrap. It wasn't so difficult. I could remember that. When I casted on, and had knitted the first three repeats, I thought it might look a bit to much of a leopard print. So I knitted a plain center part. Then, my mother saw it, loved it, and didn't want it that wide... Mirrored the little squares and bound off. 

She can wear it doubled around her neck, and when it's colder, once around her neck and the other half around her head.
It's 29" wide (double) or 250 stitches (on size 4,5mm needles).
The yarn? Jamieson's of Shetland Heather in Gingersnap and Mirrydancers.

Monique on Shetland...

 Luminous Lights at the Böd of Gremista.

 One of the many bays on Shetland

 At Burra

 At the museum admiring the fine knitted lace knit by the lady I'm talking too at the Museum in Lerwick.

 Talking about my lace, I'm showing the Across the Beach at Jamieson & Smith Trunk Show by Kate Davies.

 At Charlotte's in the heart of Lerwick, quite sunny.

At the top of a moor at Hermaness, Unst. Furthest north I've ever been. 

 This cute little car made it possible to go anywhere (Bolt's Carhire).

 Showing my Across the beach shawl to Kate Davies and Cathy.

Talking with Garry at Jamieson's of Shetland, Sandness. Learned a lot!

With Amy holding up my lace shawl The One, so they could see how it looked overall. (Voe)

This is my most loved picture. For the very first time, I'm smiling on a boat! The pills for travel-sickness did their work perfectly. Finally I was able to travel like a normal person. This was the boat from the Mainland to Yell.

Thanks to Amy for allowing me to use her pictures.

WARNING: these will probably be the last pictures you see of me, I'm usually vèry camera shy..

Day 3

Maandag. Het gaat beginnen. Maar eerst telefoon uit NL. Mijn ouders bellen om me te feliciteren met mijn verjaardag. Even later belt Manlief ook! De dag kan beginnen..

Monday. It's time. But first a phonecall from The Netherlands. My parents are calling to congratulate me on my birthday. Hubbie is calling also, but a bit later. Let's start the day.

 We gaan eerst een stuk wandelen. De vorige dag waren we daar verkeerd gereden en zagen dat we daar wel een heel mooi uitzicht hadden. Eenmaal om de bocht van de baai bleek een begraafplaats te zijn. Met hele oude en hele nieuwe graven. Eigenlijk was het mooiste dat bijna 'iedereen' uitzicht had op de baai.

First we took a walk. The previous day we had taken a wrong turn and saw it would be nice to be there a bit longer. Walking about a bit and turning the corner there was a cemetary. Old and new graves. The nice thing was that almost 'everybody' had a view of the bay (or "Sound" in Shetland).

Zie je dat kleine zwarte vlekje in het water?? Een zeehond! Er waren een paar aan het zwemmen in de buurt.
See the little black dot in the water?? A seal (Selkie). There were plenty of them.

Tijd voor wat lekkers. In het museum werden we gewezen naar een tafeltje bij het raam. Voor Amy hadden zelfs glutenvrije lekkernijen en ik nam een superscone! Met jam. In élke tafel was een paneeltje met een gebreid, geweven of gevilt item.

Time for some snacks. At the museum we were pointed to a table at the window. Amy was very happy to know they had an excellent choice of glutenfree products. I took a superscone! With strawberryjam. In évery table there was a little item knit, woven or felted.

 Fair Isle sweater

Finest lace knitted ever

's Middags was het eindelijk zo ver: De workshop van Kate Davies. Ik moest nog behoorlijk opletten; engels horen en NL schrijven. Enorm veel geleerd over ontwerpprocessen, vormgeven en het onvermijdelijke. Lévende modellen gebruiken. Ik wil zelf nog steeds niet op de foto, dus ik moet op zoek naar een ademend model.

The afternoon was reserved for the workshop by Kate Davies. I had to pay a lot of attention: listening in english and making notes in Dutch. Learned a lót about design processes, designing items and the inevitable. Using live models. I still don't want to be in the picture, so it might be time to search for some breathing models.

Op de voorgrond van deze foto zie je de Sixareen Kep. Een prachtig doordacht ontwerp van Kate, in de nieuwste garens van Jamieson & Smith: Heritage Yarns (6 kleuren). Ik heb alle kleuren gekocht en geloof me: het is heerlijk zacht. De Kep past me maar net, dus ik zal een maatje groter moeten breien (naaldmaat omhoog).

Kate had bedacht dat iemand van de workshop wel kon fungeren als model en dat de 'rest' mocht stylen en fotograferen. Bovendien mochten we discussieren over de naam en besluiten wat het uiteindelijk zou worden. Hier hadden ze nix aan mij; de taal was toch een probleem. Kate was erg aardig; ze heeft onze namen toegevoegd aan het patroon.

The inspiration...

In the foreground of the picture of Kate Davies you see the Sixareen Kep. A wonderful design with a well thought through design. She told us all about it, so later we were allowed to come up with a name for the design. Kate used the latest yarns of Jamieson & Smith: Heritage Yarns, 6 colours. I've bought them all and believe me: they're very soft. My big head didn't quite fit in the hat, so I will have to increase the needlesize when I knit it. Kate decided that we could also participate in the photographing and styling of the design.

Kate was very kind to add all our names to the pattern as coworkers. Thank you!

                                                                 Tile in the Shetland Museum: a sixareen

Later op de avond zijn we nog in Scalloway geweest; Amy wilde erg graag even kijken bij een groep vrouwen die bezig waren met erg mooie materialen. Er stond in het kleine studio-tje een paar prachtige weefgetouwen. Ik heb er geen verstand van, dus ik kan je er niet veel over vertellen. Maar gezellig was het wel!

Later in the evening we went to Scalloway; Amy wanted to look at a group of women working with amazing materials. In the small studio were a pair of looms, and Amy was very happy seeing them. I don't spin or weave, so you cannot get any useful information from me about that. It was a pleasant evening.

Day 4: Voe

Day 2

De héle zondag hadden we voor onszelf. Waar te gaan op zo'n groot eiland. Het gebreide hek. Het was al beroemd op Facebook. Nu nog vinden. Dus.. op naar Burra, Hamnavoe

The whole sunday to ourself. Where to go on such a wonderful island. The knitted fence. It was already famous on Facebook. We only had to find it. So.. in the car to Burra, Hamnavoe.

Hamnavoe is een hartstikke leuk visserstadje aan de westkust van Burra. We parkeerderen even aan de rand van het dorp om van het uitzicht te genieten, gingen toen naar de haven en hebben werkelijk het HELE dorp door gelopen. Hamnavoe is a wonderful little fishermans village on the westcoast of Burra. We parked by the councilbuilding to take in the view. Then we went to the harbour and started walking the ALL the streets.

 Het was prachtig weer, dus dat was geen straf. Maar het hek was onvindbaar. Eindelijk kwamen we iemand tegen en hebben het gevraagd; het bleek bij het dorpshuis te zijn. Waar we in het begin waren gestopt om van het uitzicht te genieten. Hadden we ons omgedraaid en een stukkie gelopen, dan hadden we het zó gezien! hahaha.
It was bright and sunny so walking about was a treat. But the fence was nowhere to be seen. Finally we ran into someone who wás able to tell us where it was. It was at the viewpoint we stopped the first time. If we would have turned around and turned the corner it would be right there! hahaha

Voor iedereen die het wil weten: het hek heeft 27 herhalingen. Er is gebreid met vissersnet 'garen' en flinke houten breinaalden. Later in de week heb ik de maakster gezien en gesproken en ze had het materiaal mee. Zo konden mensen even proberen hoe het voelde om zo groot te breien.

For everybody that wants to know: the fence has 27 repeats. Fisherman's netting 'yarn' is used and some bulky wooeden knitting needles. Later in the week I had the opportunity to meet the knitter and she had the material with her. That way people can try how it feels to knit that large.

Toen was het tijd om een stukkie te rijden en te lopen. Het is zo ontzèttend mooi daar. We zijn zo ver gereden tot we niet meer konden en zijn gaan wandelen. Gelukkig hadden we goede schoenen aan. Dit is een tombolo; een stukkie strand tussen 2 watergebieden. Later in de week zul je nog een zien. Het is prachtig! Deze had veel stenen en het klonk geweldig; de golven door de kleine steentjes.
We zijn over het hek gestapt en zo de heuvel op gelopen. Helemaal tot de top hebben we het niet gered, maar we zijn een heel eind gekomen. Het gras was kort, de schapen bang en overal kleine schelpen, En toen... de oceaan! Jéétje wat was dat mooi.

Then it was time to do some driving and walking. It is só amazingly pretty over there. We drove till the road ended and went for a walk. Luckily we had our walking shoes on. This is a tombolo, a piece of beach between two bodies of water. Later in the week you'll see another one. The beach has a lot of pebbles and it gives such a lovely sound to hear the water picking them up in the waves and dropping them back to the land.
We stepped over the fence (it's allowed) and went up the hill. Didn't made it to the top, but we came a long way. The grass was short, the sheep afraid and there were little round shells everywhere. And then there was the ocean. My god, it's gorgeous!

Ik was al een fan van de serie Coast van de BBC. De aflevering over Shetland en Orkney heb ik wel 5x bekeken. Nu was ik er écht! Neil (de presentator) vertelde dat je op Shetland nooit verder dan 3 mijl bent van de oceaan. Op het britse vaste land is dat nooit meer dan 70 mijl..

I was a fan of the series Coast by the BBC. I've seen the episode about Shetland and Orkney about 5 times! And now I was thére. Neil (the host) told us that on Shetland you're never more than 3 miles from the ocean. On the British mainland it's never more than 70 miles..

Dag 3: Praten over breien met Kate Davies
Day 3: Talking about knitting with Kate Davies

The Shetland Experience...1

Eindelijk was het tijd om te gaan. Ik zal je niet vervelen met de details en gruwelijkheden van het reizen met een vliegtuig, of dat het mijn eerste keer in de lucht was. Ik vertel alleen dat ik een klein vreugdedansje in mijn eentje deed toen ik 10 meter had gelopen op het asfalt van Sumburgh Airport. Gelukt. Ik bén er.

Finally it was time to go. I will not bore you with the details and 'horror' of my maiden flight in the sky. I'm only telling you that I did a little dance of joy on my own when I had walked about 15 yards on the tarmack of Sumburgh Airport. Made it! I'm thére.

Dit was het beeld uit ons raam. Het toeval wil dat het foto'tje van mijn vorige posting precies uit het huisje is genomen waar wij in verbleven. Geweldig uitzicht over de hele baai van Scalloway.

This is a room with a view! The case was that the picture in my previous post was taken exactly from the little chalet we would be staying at. The beautiful bay of Scalloway at our feet.



Mag ik Amy voorstellen? Ze is een hele goede en snelle breister, een goede spinster, vertaler, manager en een goede vriendin. Toen ze hoorde dat ik naar Shetland zou gaan, vroeg ze of ze mee kon. Ik ben blij dat ze mee ging, ze heeft me enorm geholpen tijdens het reizen, autorijden en voorkomen dat ik een ongeluk kreeg. Maar bovenal hadden we het samen erg gezellig!
Je zult haar tegenkomen in vele foto's, en je zal mij in haar foto's zien..

May I introduce you to Amy. She's a very good and quick knitter, spinner, translator, manager and a good friend. When I announced I would be going to Shetland, she wanted to come too. I'm very glad she did, she helped me out a lot with traveling and mainly dríving on the roads. But most importantly we had great fun! You'll be seeing her in most of my pictures, and you can spot me on her pictures.

De eerste dag niet veel meer gedaan. Boodschappen gedaan bij Tesco's, lekker gegeten en ondanks dat ik veels te groot was voor het bed, nog redelijk geslapen.

Didn't do much the first day. Did some shopping at Tesco's and had a nice dinner. Despite the fact that I was too tall for the bad, had a reasonable night of sleep.

Volgende post: Burra (dag 2)
Next post: Burra (day 2)

Check

Nog maar een paar dagen... Dan is het EINDELIJK zo ver.

Only a few days... Then it's finally time!

Tickets? Check
House? Check
Car rented? Check
Stress?? Check
Shawls to show?? Check
Suitcase?? Check
Carry on bag? Check
Camera? Check
Laptop? Check (batterie ordered!)
Money? Check
Workshops booked? Check
Extra room in bags for more stash? Check

Now for the unexpected things..

We'd lóve to check out the knitted fence, éverybody's talking about. It's not far away from our little home away from home, so that's on the itinerary for Sunday. 

picture by Kate Davies

My friend wants to check out some puffins.

Monday the Wool Week will be opened for business and lots of workshops will take off. I'll be at Kate Davies Workshop on Monday afternoon.
(it's also my birthday then, so we have to check out some local shops for treats)

Tuesday we both take of for Voe, and in the afternoon I'll have to race back to Lerwick. Hazel Tindall will learn me (and others) how to best knit Fair Isle.
In the evening we'll meet up with other Ravelers and Liz!

Wednesday we have the day off. Plenty of time to visit the museums then. In the evening I'm showing my stuff in the Jamieson & Smith store with Mary Kay and Gudrun Johnston.

The Shetland Bound is there already on display with all the other designs of the Lace Collection!  

Thursday we take our little car to Unst. The top of the Isle hosts a lot of pretty things, and getting there will involve 2 ferries! The museum holds lace and other heritage items and I'm sure by that time my laptop and camera will be overloaded with pictures.
I don't think we'll see the lighthouse, but it sure is pretty! 

Friday I have time for visiting more museums, or do other things; playing tourist! I'm sure I'll stand out with my length like a sore thumb.

By the time it's Saturday we have to pack our stuff and leave it all behind. I'm sure you'll hear all about it, after that!

See you!