The weather plays a huge parts in our lives here in Shetland. It’s often the first point in conversation, it can determine what the day looks like and so often plans have to be changed due to the weather. As I sit here in my kitchen I can hear the wind battering the house and the rain is lashing at the windows. I can see the two little New Zealand Flax plants I planted a couple of years ago bend almost double like a half closed pocket knife with the wind and between them there’s the hole where the third one blew out of the ground last winter. These two seem to be holding on, it’s one of the hardiest plants I have come across. It’s been a particularly tough winter this year in Shetland, the relentless wind has disrupted a lot of travel and deliveries and often makes getting outside a bit of a challenge. One thing that keeps me going is getting out every day (or most days) is having a dog! There’s also the famous saying “there’s no such thing as bad weather only unsuitable clothing” which is so true. A proper waterproof coat, hats that don’t blow off and good waterproof boots make such a difference. Living on top of a hill with the sea on the north, east and west sides means there is very little shelter here, so occasionally we will drive somewhere know will be a bit more sheltered depending on the direction on the wind. Small things also help when the weather is bad like getting cosy with candles, good books, some knitting and making tasty food like homemade bread.
During the first few months of the year Shetland sees many fire festivals through several Shetland districts also know as “Up Helly Aa”. The largest of these festivals take place in the main town of Lerwick Up Helly Aa. The festival harks back to Victorian times and on this day a 1000 or so “guisers” will be led in a torchlit procession by the Jarl Squad – a troop of people dressed as stylised vikings. For more information on the festival and its history see the blog post by Shetland with Laurie earlier this year. These festivals give many people a focus on the long winter nights.
My indigo dyeing process is also determined by the weather. I have an indigo vat in my garage and after each dip the yarn needs to be hung outside on the fence so the indigo can be in contact with the air. This allows the chemical process of oxidisation to take place and the characteristic blue shade of indigo develops. I always love watching the colour develop before my eyes. I feel it’s a combination of chemistry, art and magic. There have been vey few days this year so far I could do this, the wind has be be low enough that the yarn doesn’t blow away and get tangled in the fence. I tend to watch the weather forecast closely and when I see a good day coming up I spend the day before preparing for indigo dyeing day. Sometimes the forecast is wrong and I have to postpone it until another suitable day. We were blessed with a suitable day a couple of weeks ago and I dropped all plans to dye with indigo.
It’s always a long but very satisfying day watching the colours develop as they hang on the fence. By over-dyeing various colours you can get a very wide range of shades, from purple to green and even blue/greys. In this latest batch I have over-dyed several skeins which have been dyed already with natural dyes such as weld, madder, Himalayan rhubarb root and logwood to create a range of greens, teals, and blues; I’m always amazed at the range of colours that can be created from one indigo vat.
These shades are now available on the website and there will be more uploaded in the next couple of weeks.
Generally dyeing and designing has been a bit slower over the past couple of months; I have been dealing with lots of admin, including accounts, tax, VAT. There have also been several issues with the website but has now been thankfully been fixed by the web designer, but it takes a lot of time to reply to customers and relay problems. So sorry to those of you who have had problems with trying to order, I can only thank you for your patience and for sticking with me. I maybe should have titled this post “Shaped by Technology”! I must say the latest challenges have really made me consider whether or not having a business is actually worth it.
But, that’s the reality of any business, there will always be these seasons. Occasionally people will say things to me like “it must be great to be able to sit and knit all day and to be able to experiment with dyes”, the truth is, there is so much admin behind the scenes I often don’t time to actually produce anything which is a problem when I’m running a creative business!
However, the days are now getting a bit longer and since the clocks went forward an hour on Sunday and we are now officially in British Summer Time, its light now after tea time so we can get out for a walk at the end of the working day and it’s heartening to see the bulbs emerging in the garden.
I tend not to be one to follow trends but recently I jumped on the bandwagon and knitted my first Sophie Scarf. I love it! I loved making it, it was simple enough so I didn’t have to concentrate too much (which is what I was needing after all the admin!) but interesting enough with the increases, decreases and i-cord edging for it not to become boring. I used one skein of Langsoond 4ply dyed with fustic and indigo. To get the most of the yarn I periodically weighed the yarn and once it was around 53g (so I knew I had used just under half of the skein) I started decreasing. I love wearing it too, it’s just the right size to keep the cold draughts out without being too big or overwhelming.
I have since started making the Sophie Shawl with one strand of Langsoond 4ply and one strand of Langsoond lace weight to give and really interesting fabric. One more evening knitting and I think it will be finished.
Also on my needles at the moment is the Riggies Vest, the latest pattern by Gudrun Johnston. I chose to make it out of Langsoond DK in shade Clod, I have also really enjoyed knitting it so far, the construction is quite unusual so it makes the knitting process interesting. More on that to come!
I enjoyed reading The Last Laugh Club by Kate Galley earlier this year, it is a story about 3 characters who travel to Shetland to scatter their friends’ ashes. It’s a very heartwarming and lighthearted story about friendship. It is very well researched by the author and Shetland is described very well, I could completely visualise the areas within Shetland and a few real life characters appear such as Hazel Tindall, and the character of Shona is based on myself! Anyone who has been here for a class or to visit the shop will be transported back here in the story. As you might have guessed from the cover knitting plays a part in the story!
Another book I have been spending a lot of time with is A Year in My Shetland Garden by Misa Hay, I often just dip in an out of cookery books but a few weeks ago I sat down and read it from cover to cover, it’s such an inspiring and beautiful book with lovely photography and many great recipes. Misa has lived in Shetland for many years and has based her recipes on produce that is available in Shetland but also takes her Cezch Republic roots into consideration (the crispy fried cauliflower is delicious!) My favourites at the moment are the dark rye sourdough loaf , the bean and chorizo stew and the carrot cake.
You can purchase the book from my website here.
