Seascape and wool

Our last day in Shetland, a drive to the coastal airport and a visit to Jamieson & Smith.

An exhibit of wool qualities that we stumbled upon at the last minute.  

Pouring rain, Pattie waits in the car while I take a look in the wool barn.  Jan, the wool sorter gives me the tour and after 20 minutes I dash out to grab Pattie!

It's an unassuming building next to an unassuming shop, on a remote side street, in a picturesque village on a wind swept island in the North Sea.  Jan is passionate about wool and the industry she represents.

Wind sock...normal hurricane force winds, waiting for a plane to land.  Yes, it's a crossing barrier!

The southern tip of the main island, and

Views from the airplane. 

To the mill

The only mill in the Shetlands.  Jamieson & Sons.  

Weaving for Italian upholstery,

Dyeing 

Big stuff

Giant dyed cake of wool

The raw stuff

The mixer

The product 

Assembling sweaters 

Machine knitted pieces to be pieced 

The knitting machine

The shop 

The irresistible finished product... lovely to touch! 

Bears and buttons

The Burra Bear workshop.  Another bright and windy drive to the west.  She uses remnants and recycled knitwear to make the cutest bears!  Please, click on photos so you can see details.  Especially below, center top shelf is the little display of bears.  She was almost sold out...much is gone to retail, and minutes later a tour group arrived and snatched up the last ones.

Burra bear view:

Yes, someone is hanging out wool to dry.

We made silver buttons that day.  

And this is Lerwick.

The Methodist church where I tried out more buttton making...

Enamel buttons and shawl pin, which I will model someday.

FUN!   Welcome to Shetland Wool Week, 2016.

Weaving and nice things

I went to a weaving demonstration and was allowed to weave a bit on this rickety loom.  This young woman was presenting Monk's weave, which I had done in the 70's in Norway.  

It was held in an Art Wool shop in Lerwick with a feast for the eyes and hands!

A recommended book.

And recommended shopping...at Jamieson &Son's.

Geocaching, of course!

Can't get past these guys!

What a beautiful day... lots of caches!  This was a series of many more caches than I wanted to do.  

And this young ram has a specially painted coat to show off his fine features. (I found this out from the local wool sorter... and he is not a native Shetland sheep.  IMPORT)

The drive and views were stunning.  Windy and stunning!

This took us north, between Lerwick and Laxo on the East coast. We saw sheep herding, ruins, and...SHEEP!

A wooly day in Lerwick

A movie ticket to see Yarn.  The Movie!

And browsing for buttons, yarn and looong dpn's.   They are in those green cases in the center, 14-16" long, and used with knitting needle belts.  They come in 1-4 mm and locally are referred to as "wires".  Don't try to take these on the airplane!  They look lethal.