Casting on: Shetland Wool Week offers an impressive programme

The trust’s cultural heritage manager, Jacqui Birnie, explains:

“We’ve had a really positive response to the programme and are excited to be back. There are over 200 events lined up, including classes in lace knitting, makkin belts, wool sorting and weaving, to more unusual topics such as Fair Isle inspired Japanese Hina dolls. These, together with talks, drop-ins and open studios means that anyone attending can fill their nine days or just dip in and out of the programme.”

Jacqui continues: “Shetland Wool Week would like to say a huge thank you to everyone in the Shetland community who has stepped forward to put on and organise an event, helping us to make it happen. At this stage, we anticipate around 500 people to attend so, come the end of September, Shetland will be bustling with activity, and hopefully we’ll be seeing hundreds of Wool Week ‘Bonnie Isle’ hats, too!”

Tickets – for which there has always been strong demand – went on sale on Wednesday 10 August. At the time of writing, tickets were still available and you can find full details at the Shetland Wool Week box office.

The programme includes something for everyone with an interest in knitting, but it also offers some interesting diversions into other crafts.

For many participants in Wool Week, the opportunity to learn or hone skills with the guidance of expert tutors is one of the main benefits of attending. This year, there are many options, including some aimed at complete beginners, including one on Beginners’ Fair Isle. You might learn how to make a pair of socks on a 1920s circular sock machine, or slipper socks that have their origins in Newfoundland.

Other classes will work on projects such as a yoked cardigan for a teddy bear, Fair Isle thumb gussets and cuffs, a sampler and shawl of cockleshell, a lace spider’s web, or the Viking technique of nalbinding.

There’s a taster session for those interested in weaving. Perhaps most exotic of the classes on offer is Chihiro Sato’s, which promises to show how a traditional Japanese doll can be made with a Fair Isle kimono.

There are visits to makers’ studios, for example in Bressay, Scalloway, Hoswick and Walls, and several croft tours in Bigton, Bressay, Lunna and Scalloway. It will be possible to learn about the work of the University of the Highlands and Islands – the workshops at UHI Shetland have been a training ground for many textile designers.

A tour in Unst includes a visit to the gin distillery and another in Lerwick involves sampling the products of the Lerwick Brewery.

Other tours and demonstrations include a visit to the exceptional textile collections at the Shetland Museum and Archives, a great introduction to wool sorting and grading with Oliver Henry at Jamieson and Smith, and a fascinating insight into the transformation from fleece to jumper at Jamieson’s of Shetland spinning mill.

Several workshops or visits offer the opportunity to learn about the use of colour in knitwear; the experts involved include Joanna Hunter, Niela Nell Kalra, Terri Leask, Wilma Malcolmson, Helen Robertson and Andrea Williamson.

Shetland designers are constantly inspired by the colours of our landscape; the example below is by Wilma Malcolmson.

The programme links other art and craft forms to textiles; there’s an opportunity to create a Shetland scene in wool, or a puffin wall hanging. You can make Fair Isle fused glass in Unst, jewellery in Weisdale, silver pendants and buttons in Burra, or join a Shetland photography safari.

All of this makes for an experience which so many find irresistible. It’s not just the breadth and depth of the programme; it’s also the opportunity to take a break from one’s usual routine and surroundings, in a beautiful environment. There’s also the chance to make new friends and catch up with old ones.

And then there’s the Shetland Wool Week Annual. This year’s will be the 8^th edition and, as ever, it will offer a great selection of articles that highlight the wealth of design and making skills to be found in Shetland. It contains unique heritage patterns, too, including the one shown below, by Donna Smith.

The annual can be pre-ordered from the Shetland Wool Week shop and it will also be available, for the first time, in a digital version.

One of the organisers, Victoria Tait, is also the editor of the Shetland Wool Week Annual. She pays tribute to the community backing that’s so evident. She emphasises that “without everyone’s support and input the event wouldn’t happen”, and continues:

“We’re grateful to everyone in the community who has stepped forward to help us pull the programme together during these uncertain times. Their commitment and energy is what keeps the event going. And of course, we’re grateful to all our supporters too. We work hard throughout the year to make sure we engage with them and keep the interest going.”

Each year, a Patron is appointed from among Shetland’s most experienced knitters. This year, the honour has gone to Linda Shearer, from Whalsay, who shares her skills year-round via Shetland Adult Learning, ShetlandPeerieMakkers and annually during Shetland Wool Week. She joined the Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers in 2013 and has just completed six years as chairperson.

Linda’s mother taught her to knit; the tradition of handing down these skills from one generation to another is very much alive, including through the ShetlandPeerieMakkers classes in schools.

“I can’t say at exactly what age I began knitting Fair Isle but I designed and knitted myself a Fair Isle jumper at the age of 14. I do remember knitting children’s mittens with a small Fair Isle pattern when I was quite young; I even got to sell some of them. Knitting has always been a passion of mine – I cannot remember ever not doing knitting, I’m always planning the next project in my head while doing other things.

Like other previous Patrons, Linda has designed a knitted hat for Shetland Wool Week, with a nautical theme reflecting Whalsay’s intimate links with the sea. She explains:

“The chain in the rib represents the link between us all during Shetland Wool Week; and the anchor, a common motif in Fair Isle knitting, symbolises a sense of keeping grounded, connected to what matters most, and able to cope with life’s challenges. The crown, a circle, is to me a spinning wheel and a tribute to my mother Ina Irvine. A prolific spinner and knitter, she was my inspiration.”

This year’s programme may be a little more modest than usual, but there is still more than enough on offer to satisfy any enthusiast, with an astonishing range of activities and many opportunities to learn every aspect of knitting from local experts. Shetland Wool Week is a unique and unforgettable experience.