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Shetland Wool Week 2016

I’ve been slow getting you my pictorial view of Shetland Wool Week this year, I apologise for that! I have been from Shetland to Harrogate this week and feeling quite tapped creatively!

This year I wasn’t at all of Shetland Wool Week, as I had some other commitments. It was a little odd not being there at the start, but it was nice to watch the opening ceremony via the WWW.

When I got up there on the Tuesday, the Shetland weather was pretty grim, but the sun came out again the next day for the hap meet up!

(roll over images for caption, or click for lightbox)

It was so lovely to visit the museum and catch up with some of the awesome ladies of the Hap KALs and it was really nice to wander through the textile collection too. I gave a talk that evening of how the haps and the KALs had knitters feeling strong connections to Shetland, to history to learning and to other knitters (which made me a bit emotional!). We even had a little fashion show!

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Thanks to everyone who wished me luck for the talk and sent me messages after to ask how it went. I will talk more about SWW on the next podcast, but thank you so much!

I did two classes this Wool Week, quite modest for me, but this is also the first time I’ve been back for a year and I had a lot of catching up to do too. The first class I did was enamel pin and button making with the awesome Helen Robertson.  This was great and it was brilliant to learn a new skill, but boy you needed a steady hand picking up the little buttons covered in the ground glass powder.

I could have done a whole day of this class.

The next day I did Fair Isle book binding with Mary Fraser, another incredible art and skill to learn.

I feel a brand new craft will be coming into my house! Mary gave a really fun and interesting class and I loved getting my hands on and around a different medium of craft.

The other highlight for me, as every year, was the Sunday Teas hosted by the Shetland Guild of spinners, weavers and dyers. I walked part of the way there (and back) the weather was very autumnal, bright and calm. It is always the highlight of the event because it is an opportunity to catch up with old and new friends, enjoy the works of the guild and all the cakes!

Here is a selection of other images from my few day in Shetland. (Click for lightbox) I had such a wonderful time! More on the next podcast!

I’ll be back soon on the podcast and blog telling you about what I got up to after Shetland Wool Week, which included cuddling goats!!

See you soon!

Info – All images are copyright to me, Louise Scollay!

8 Comments

  1. Jenny says

    Great pictures Louise. I look forward to hearing all about Shetland Wool Week on your next podcast. I really miss Shetland and the woolly events are so inspiring, but I’ll be there next year!

    Look after yourself lovely ????

  2. Lydia says

    Great to read about your happy visit to Shetland and to see the fabulous woolly books and buttons you made. Such fascinating and original ideas…

  3. Isobel Thomas says

    Is there any way to find out the information on the Shetland Organic shawl that you shared the picture of? It is exquisite.
    You shared such fabulous photos. I am an ex-pat living in the US and want desperately to get to Wool Week sometime!

    • louise says

      all I can remember is that they commissioned someone to design it in their yarn. I’d Google Vaila Fine Art (home of the exhibition) to ask.

  4. Thanks for sharing your lovely snaps – would love to go there someday, but more likely I’ll just be admiring photographs 🙂

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