Virtual Shetland Wool Week 2020

A long-held dream of mine is to attend Shetland Wool Week.

Neil and I visited Shetland in 2015 in early September to celebrate our 50th birthdays and our Wedding Anniversary. Gosh, there is so much to love about Shetland, the ponies, the sheep, the amazing scenery, the glorious colours of wool and the most delicious Fish & Chips you will eat anywhere!

It was wonderful and often places we visited were busy gearing up for Shetland Wool Week starting a week or so later…

This year, I decided that I would enjoy the Virtual Shetland Wool Week 2020. It is being held this week Monday 29 – Friday 2 October 2020. When you visit the Shetland Wool Week website you will find all of the links for the virtual events. There are classes, videos, and additional rabbit holes to disappear down like the fantastic Fruity Knitting Podcast – Shetland Wool Week 2019 Ep 87.

When the pre-orders were released for the Wool Week Journal and zipped project bag and pin, I signed up. I love the Wool Week Journals and have all of them although I don’t usually buy the bag or pin. The patterns are great, but I also really enjoy reading the articles about Shetland. Every year Shetland Wool Week release a free hat pattern. “The official 2020 Shetland Wool Week knitting pattern ‘Katie’s Kep’ has been exclusively designed by Wool Week Patron Wilma Malcolmson.”

During the Spring lockdown, I received an interesting newsletter from Misa Hay of Shetland Wool Adventures, saying that she was planning a Journal (Vol 01) that would have knitting patterns, recipes, inspirational photos and stories about Shetland. Of course, I signed up for this and it duly arrived in the post. It is wonderful and lives on the coffee ‘knitting’ table where I savour it by reading an article while relaxing with a cup of tea… I don’t want to rush through this journal and instead want to enjoy every single moment! It reminds me of the wonderful 60 North quarterly magazine that Shetland Amenity Trust used to publish and Misa Hay edited.

Well, the Autumn was shaping up to be filled with wonderful Fair Isle inspiration and colourful yarns, when Felix in her Knitsonik Newsletter, said she would be releasing her Knitsonik System course running from October-November and based on her colourwork class that she normally teaches at Shetland Wool Week… I was definitely not going to miss this… Neil thought it was funny, that I was sitting at my laptop at 7 am on a Sunday morning to sign up for this class the moment it was released. (I think there are still places on the course). But I was not going to risk missing out. Felix is an utter delight to learn from and I am busy choosing my inspiration photo and Shetland wool colours in readiness for the beginning of this class.

I’ve decided to use a photograph that I took when I was visiting Shetland as that seemed most appropriate. When I visited Shetland, I came home with lots of balls of wool and I am having fun looking through my collection.

While watching “Fair Isle through a Lens – Episode 32” by Barkland Croft (Youtube), I heard about the “Fair Isle Fisherman’s Kep Page” on Facebook. They have a Fair Isle Fisherman’s Kep pattern designed by Anne Sinclair that they sell to support the George Waterston Memorial Centre and Museum on Fair Isle. So I’ve decided that it will be the perfect warm cosy hat to keep me warm on the dark winter evening dog walks at Hazelbank.

So far, I’ve really enjoyed watching “Jamieson & Smith – Sorting and Grading Shetland Wool with Oliver Henry” and “Garths Croft Bressay” videos while knitting a Moebius Cowl. I’ve fully jumped into the virtual Shetland Wool Week experience and am loving every single moment…

I’d intended knitting a Moebius Cowl for a long time, and with the sad passing of the innovative and inspirational Cat Bordhi, decided that this was the time to do so. I wanted a relaxing knit (although I can’t honestly say the Moebius cast-on was relaxing – although Cat Bordhi explains it very clearly in her Intro to Moebius Knitting video) but I’m enjoying knitting and purling the long long rounds while feeling like I’m really taking part in the virtual Shetland Wool Week experience.

And, as if that wasn’t enough excitement about Shetland, I hear that a new series of Shetland with Douglas Henshall, based on the wonderful Ann Cleeves series of books, is due to start filming in February 2021…