Knitting

I might actually finish those two inches of Milano k1p1 rib today. (But I haven’t wound the next skein yet.) In shape, the Milano is very like Relax which I wore all the time on Shetland and which is blissfully comfortable. I had other sweaters with me, mindful of your experience, Shandy. One morning I started out with one of them, but it felt confining, so I took it off and went back to the Relax.

I don’t think the shape is particularly flattering – Herzog would be horrified. No curves. But I love it.

Shetland – the last day

I trust you’re reading Kristie’s blog in parallel with this.

We left Burrastow – I was booked on a seriously early flight back to Edinburgh on Tuesday morning (the first flight of the day, I think) and I had insisted on a hotel nearby for the last night. It provided comfort, hospitality, a view, good food – but was a notch below Burrastow (two notches, in the case of food) on each count.

However, it located us for the final afternoon in the stretch between Lerwick and Sumburgh where the airport is. Much is to be seen and done there.

But the day began with Jamieson and Smith.

Next to the shop is a warehouse. The doors were open, and we could see men in overalls sorting huge bales of this year’s clip. I thought one of them might be Oliver Henry – his photograph appears in people’s blogs and books. If so, we had spoken on the telephone when I was writing Gladys Amedro’s obituary for the Scotsman.

I introduced myself. Mercifully, it was indeed him. His face lit up. He shook my hand, and said that it was a good obituary and that he still has it tacked up in his office. That was a good beginning to the J&S experience, as you can imagine.

What can one say? There it all is. No pizzazz, just wonderfulness.

I had been sort of thinking, Fair Isle vest. So had Kristie. We’d been looking at Ravelry. Meg has a pattern [Ravelry link] of some interest, which may serve as a base. We had learned at some point – must have been in the Museum on Saturday – that J&S and the Museum have teamed up to produce a range of yarns in traditional Fair Isle colours.

It’s lovely stuff. It’s called “Shetland Heritage”, and the ball bands are signed by Oliver Henry. He is a director, or perhaps the director, of J&S. There’s not a great range, compared to the walls of Shetland jumper weight which surrounded us. The colours are vivid, and it’s remarkably soft. I bought a vest’s-worth, using Meg’s specifications for quantity. Kristie pointed out that my Shetland-jumper-weight stash could fill up any deficiencies, once I get down to pattern-choosing.

And I also bought…but that’s probably enough for today.