Plans

The  plan to go to Shetland was to see some lace for real. Not just from pictures, but with my own eyes. I have been staring at internet pictures for too long.

I wanted to go to the Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick, the Heritage Centre in Unst and any other place where there would be lace to see and take in.

But the island had other plans. As you have already noticed, the posts I entered so far have all been about the island. Rocks. Moors. Ocean. Roads. Silence. Not a word about Lace.

Monday I did get a quick look on lace in Lerwick, just before the workshop of Kate Davies would begin. Someone pulled out a display and there it was! The shawl I had only known from the internet and even had made a swatch from that picture! Can you see my reflection? It was so small. I kind of freaked out. Normally I would take time to sit, watch, take in, make notes and sit in admiration.

2012

I made this swatch 'ages' ago and now I saw that my swatch was 'fat'. Not even CLOSE to being as fine as the original. But that's okay.

2010

Or the Weddingshawl I had seen on the website of the Archive Museum and used as inspiration for my design for Jamieson & Smith: the Shetland Bound. (not bound as in tied up, more like: on my way to Shetland).

 original

Bound

I started noticing I didn't stick to the plan to take it all in. Only at home I found out I had also seen the Love Darg Shawl original when I looked back at the pictures at home.

I changed it a bit, because I wanted to add some hearts to the pattern (in one border).

The workshop by Kate started, finished and I was on my way back to find Amy. Didn't go back to see the shawls again for that day.
Soon it was Wednesday. After we'd been to Sandness, the evening had been planned for Talking about Lace with Mary Kay, Gudrun Johnston and myself. The designs by Gudrun are well known by many, but the fine lace by Mary was very new to me. It was VERY delicate; like knitting with hair. Only 2 ply. (sheep)Hair. Handspun.

Mrs. Mary Kay:

And all our lace on the J&S wool bed (very luxuriously handmade bed):

Mary's lace left top, Gudrun's lace left bottom, MoniqueB 's lace right

The next thing I knew it was already Thursday and we were on our way to Unst. Expectations were again véry high. The lace there was on the internet, but only photographed by people that have been there. Time to take my own pictures.

After a wonderfull trip, actually having a great time on board of the ferry to Yell and to Unst, thanks to the travelpills, we stepped out of the car at Muness. We had seen a sign:

 

It's a lovely little castle with a grimm past.
Back in the car, to Haroldswick: Heritage Centre. We drove past it once, in search of it...
Parked the car, went in, nice and warm. Hanged our coats and went in for a look.
I think my brain went left, while I went right. There was lace on display. THE LACE I CAME FOR (well, almost). OLD. FINE. Delicate. Handknit. The party begun.
I recognised a lót of patterns, but in an order I'd never seen. Some of the shawls were so delicate, we weren't even allowed to take pictures. The lady told us, she had one of her own, an real heirloom, and could photograph that one. Even finer than the lace by Mary Kay.

 Thanks to Amy, I now own my own knittingbelt. It's working out great!

Drawers pulled out show the most amazing garments in fine lace; socks, gloves and tops.

I had promised friends to also take a look at a shawl on display in the kabinets. The Williamson Stole. We have been working and swatching very hard to recreate it:

Picture Nita Bruce 

But it wasn't there anymore! The kind lady told us that shawls could only be on display for 2 years maximum and then were put back for several years. They are so delicate, the light takes away from it's structure and holes fall into the lace.
We did ask, and one of the ladies was so kind to help us find it. Taking out rolls of old lace shawls. The Williams Stole is still illusive, but we saw some darn fine lace. Imagne it being knit in a badly lit room, 100 years ago!

I was in luck. There were several other pretty shawls to see.
After I had calmed down, we had a lunch with the other ladies visiting and chatting with the locals about lots of stuff.

Amy told me we could do a bit of walking at Hermaness. It would be a short drive and decide to take a walk or not. I really wanted to see Muckle Flugga, but after a good hour walk, I realised that wouldn't be an option. I have to be happy with the postcard I bought at Baltasound.

And it was great! Do you notice the box with the blue top? Open the lid and there are folders with information about the location! And a guestbook! The piece of concrete on the left is an eyesoar compared to the two incripted rocks. We opened the gate and had the road to follow.

The brown on the left is dead bracken (fern). These were wet hills, pretty high up and again: silence. We did meet some sheep; one dead, others alive... hihi.

It was amazing, just like Sandness and Eshaness. I kind of 'understood' why it's said that people here 'are' frugal. You don't have a lot to begin with, so you better hold on to it, incase there comes a time when you don't have ány...

As you can see; we did A LOT. I can hardly fit all the pictures on my computer. My head is filled with impressions, thoughts, ideas, feelings, questions. I'm still thinking about it every day.. Not in a bad way, but it was an experience of (my) a lifetime. Doing something for this day, having a great time, and doing something different the next day, and having a great time again!
The weather was great. We've seen hails of rain, clouds, sun, blue sky, NORTHERN LIGHTS (although briefly). I dó want to go back. But I first have to get my head around this trip.

The travel pills did their magic again on the way back. I shed a little tear when we lifted of Sumburgh Airport, sad to go.. On Edinburgh we had a 4 hour lay-over and hung lazy on the chairs of the waiting area. Time to go home..

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