Amazing Lace

I'm not new to lace knitting.  Oogy got me started years ago by giving me the book Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby.  I've made a few of those patterns, and a few others and have always enjoyed the lace process. So much of it appeals to me.  I like getting a large item from one skein of yarn. The yarn is a fine weight, but using large needles can yield a sizable fabric.  Lace yarn comes in a huge range of colors and fibers that tend to draw me in. It's fun to watch a pattern unfold, and then to really see it emerge when the project is stretched out at the end (or during, as when I get impatient and need to see how it looks so I soak it while it's on the needles).

Much of Sowerby's book is focused on vintage lace, and a good portion of that originates in Shetland. What I have only recently come to appreciate, though, is the especially delicate nature of Shetland lace.  Last week I had the great privilege to visit the Unst Heritage Centre and meet an expert in Shetland lace, Hazel Laurenson.  Lace from Unst became very popular with the British royalty in the 19th century, and was thus sought after by the aristocracy of that time.  This popularity brought much needed income to women and their families in exchange for their exquisite lace products. Watching Hazel working on a lace scarf over a century later made it very clear to me that she was doing something quite different than the lace knitting I've done.  Her yarn was nearly microscopic, probably 10 times thinner than anything I've worked with.  She was also using "pins" that were size 2 mm, which is US size 0.  Zero! These were long stainless steel needles that would easily draw blood in my hands. She was not consulting any pattern I could see, but rather producing row after row of lace from the pattern in her head.  The resulting fabric was like a cloud.  She informed me that it was important to use 1-ply Shetland wool to achieve that effect.

Earlier this week I began reading about the Shetland Museum and Archives Lace Project and I paid close attention to their lace display at the museum a few days ago. I've been nurturing a growing interest in how creativity can generate resilience, and it's my initial understanding of Shetland lace knitting that it is a highly creative endeavor. Living in the remote islands of Shetland in the 1800s was a huge challenge and it seems to me that they needed a lot of resilience. One challenge of the Lace Project is to chart the designs--the knitters didn't typically use written charts, so there are virtually none to consult.  This has given me even more appreciation for the lace pattern that Hazel translated from the vintage Norik scarf.   

So, willing to give it a try, I purchased the pattern for Norik fine lace scarf at the Centre.  I had already procured some black 2-ply Shetland lace wool from Jamieson and Smith Woolbrokers and I had some US 1.5 needles with me.  I wasn't especially happy with the combination--even after blocking, my lace was stiff and I was finding it very challenging to work the super fine yarn with that size needle.  So, I went up to a US size 2.5 (3.00 mm) and it's feeling a bit better.  I plan to finish the scarf in this manner, even though it will not be the cloud-like lace that I've been admiring recently.

You might be able to see where I changed needles, after completing the first central diamond motif (I had a few mistakes in there...nothing is more exasperating than to reach the end of the row and have one extra stitch). I've managed to complete two more 28-row repeats with no mistakes.  I removed the life line before taking the picture, but please know that I wouldn't dare continue without one.  Hazel Laurenson probably has never even heard of a life line.

The weather in Shetland has been mostly cool (low to mid 50s) and intermittently rainy, with a few spectacular blue-sky days sprinkled around.  One of those was yesterday, so I spent a few hours working on the scarf at the Jubilee Flower Park. 

It's a truly amazing place, and I find myself walking through there most every day that I'm here.  I was there knitting for just a few minutes before someone approached me and asked what I was making.  She turned out to be an expert lace knitter who encouraged me to come back for Shetland Wool Week when she would be involved in some lace workshops.  She said I needed to try the 1-ply wool and that I'd be ready for that when my 2-ply scarf was done. Then Robynn, who writes the monthly blog about the garden was mowing the grass right in front of my bench.  So, I talked to her, too.  I just can't believe that I get to be here!!

  
      

Social Knitting and Some Lace

An update on Harriet's Hat:  I finished one hat and believe that there is enough yarn to complete a second.  I had read about Harriet's MRI Maakers meeting at the hospital fortnightly (in Shetland the traditional name for knitting is makkin; not sure why there are two As in Maakers...) and thought it would be fun to join the group while I'm in Shetland.  Plus, I wanted to hand over the hat to be sold (for only 30 quid, I learned).  I made my way over to Gilbert Bain Hospital (on two feet, not on two wheels in a Volvo like Jimmy Perez) and found the canteen, fully expecting to find no one because the internet LIES, but there they all were, about 16 Maakers!  Joy!

I was immediately called out by Harriet herself as a New One, and didn't have the heart to explain that I was a transient.  I sat down with Rachel, who it turns out was also a New One.  And a transient, too, a Fair Isle crofter in Lerwick for a few days.  I was very happy to hear about Fair Isle and we talked about people we both knew.  This was not difficult and took little time because there are only 51 people living there, including Rachel, and she was one of the few people I didn't meet when I was there last year.

Seeing many hats together was impressive.

In addition to meeting Rachel, I enjoyed listening to the Shetland accent and dialect, understanding just a small percentage of it.  Also, it was interesting to see many of the Maakers using makkin belts to hold a needle (pin) while they worked. I'd show you a picture, but I didn't have the guts to ask them to pose.  I know they would have been happy to, but I just didn't. 

I was super glad to get back to working on a fair isle project, which was far less complicated than the lace I'd been attempting earlier in the day.

This is a pattern called Norik Fine Lace Scarf from Hazel Laurenson, who is a lace knitter and historian from Unst.  She's documented the history of lace knitting from Unst and is devoted to convincing more people to make Unst-style lace. She has written a number of patterns based on lace specimens that have somehow survived hundreds of years in storage.  There were no original patterns because maakers in Unst did not use them.  They just came up with designs and used ones they liked repeatedly.  It's incomprehensible when you look at the intricacies of the shawls and other items. If you want a knitting challenge that keeps your task-mode network continuously active, this is for you. No chance for default mode network to get involved. No down time!  It's been like February in Shetland for a few days, so I've been happily holed up in my lodging attempting to make the scarf.  What you see above is the product of MANY hours of knitting on size 1.5 needles.

Turns out that I met Ms. Laurenson on Tuesday when I went to the Unst Heritage Centre.  I didn't realize until I got back to Lerwick and looked up the pattern designer that she was the kind lady who patiently showed me what she was making and encouraged me to stuff my big hearty Nordic hands into one of the dainty lace gloves she had made. They're meant to stretch, she assured me, and they did.  She said I should use cobweb lace like she was using, but I decided to use the 2 ply yarn I had already bought.  It's finer than anything I've ever worked with. I did go back and purchase the cobweb stuff to try; I'll see how the 2 ply goes first...

The lighter yarn is 1 ply that I'll try again if the darker 2 ply doesn't crush me

  


 

Appreciating Patterns

For the first few decades of my knitting experience I mostly avoided using patterns.  It was fun to make stuff up as I went along, even though the resulting finished object was usually not what I intended it to be originally.  Ever since I signed on to Ravelry I've gained an appreciation for other people's designs and have been using more patterns.  It wasn't until I attempted my own that I fully appreciated the challenge of writing a pattern. I've been immersed in the Shetland Webcam Hat patterns for the past few years, and each one of those gets increasingly complicated.  So, it was with some relief that I heard of the Shetland MRI Scanner appeal hat project and got myself the materials to make Harriet's Hat.

I believe that I have enough yarn to make a second hat, and if I run out I can walk over to the Jamieson and Smith's Woolbrokers and get me some more yarn!

After working the Harriet's Hat pattern, which was nicely written and easy to follow, I am re-inspired to get back to my own designs.  I've got two brewing at the moment.  The newest is called something like "Layers of Croft" and is inspired by the typical crofting environs in Shetland.  Most crofts are near water and are bordered by some form of rocky or cliff edge and the land often includes some peat bog.  Peat is still cut and burned here--I could smell it while walking around in the cold evening yesterday.  There is also this time of year lots of flowers, my favorite being the Pinks that are all over the cliffs.

The pattern will also include some representation of the many colors of sheep that are raised here and some blue and white for the sky. 

I have a growing collection of yarn from Uradale that I plan to use for this project. The colors have a natural appearance and seem especially well-suited for what I have in mind.  This idea evolved from my experience using this yarn to make a variation of the Jubilee Hat pattern that I've been working on FOREVER.  It's been a challenge to get it right, but with some feedback from Oogy and our pal LW, I feel as though I have it nearly ready for prime time (that would be Ravelry).  Here is the yarn I plan to use on the Uradale variation, plus the hats that were made with Jamieson's of Shetland, on the right
and Jamieson and Smith, on the left:

  

Lerwick Destinations

Jamieson & Smith Shetland Wool Brokers must have made a deal with the Northlink Ferry company to make it all but certain that overnight passengers would find their way to the wool shop on North Street.  The ferry gets in very early in the morning, and most lodging in the area has a check-in time later in the morning or in the afternoon, leaving a considerable time gap to fill. If you are not in a hurry it is possible to eat breakfast on the ferry until 9:30 am.    Last year, and again this year, after a leisurely breakfast I left my heavy suitcase at the ferry terminal and made my way up the hill a few hundred feet away.  Imagine my delight in seeing a newly-installed staircase across the street from the ferry terminal,  leading directly to the wool brokers' property. A stairway to yarn heaven!!

My main objective in going there was to get the pattern and yarn for Harriet's Hat, which was designed by Harriet Middleton "in aid of Shetland MRI scanner appeal".  It is my understanding that the hospital here does not have its own scanner, requiring anyone who needs an MRI to travel to mainland Scotland to have one done.  By purchasing the yarn and pattern in the J&S store, I was assured that the whole cost was to be donated to the fundraising effort. The hat is very cheery and bright. I had a great time picking out some lace yarn, some colors of 2-ply wool for an as-yet undetermined hat design, and the yarn for Harriet's Hat. I still had time to pass so I made myself at home and got the hat started in the store.

The second destination was the flower park.  I really love it.

The weather here has been windy and a bit rainy: perfect weather for knitting.