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Bousta Beanie KAL - choosing colours
Its been a bit of a dreich and damp day in Lerwick today so the thought of a nice new knitted hat is ideal! Our Bousta Beanie KAL kicks off on Monday and there is already a lot of good chat in the Ravelry thread. I thought I'd do a quick post about choosing colours - that is probably my favourite but also sometimes the hardest part of knitting Fair Isle. The good thing about the Bousta Beanie is there are only three shades needed so that makes it a bit easier - One fail safe way I think is to either choose a nice light main colour.. like these.. (all hats are taken from here ) Or dark like these.. You can see on the lighter background ones that the contrasts are either dark or quite bright shades so they will always stand out well, this is the same with the darker main coloured ones above with the lighter/brighter contrasts. It can take a bit of trial and error but if you follow this general idea you will get a hat with enough contrast. If you take a photo on your phone and put it into black and white you will also get a good idea as to whether there is enough or even too much contrast. You can see above 81 is a perfect dark MC and 202 and FC61 are tonally similar but different enough to make a good pair of contrast colours. If you want to take inspiration from a photo there are a couple of good apps which you can download for Iphone (i'm sure similar ones are available for android) They do much the same thing, which is you add a photo and the programme chooses the main colours in the picture. The one on the left is Adobe Colour and the right is Pantone studio, there doesn't seem to be a way to get less than 5 colours but it still gives you some good ideas and put together pleasing combinations that you wouldn't have thought of! I took those photos in the Flower Park here in Lerwick but you could use any picture to give you ideas, I think this works well if you want to go for a more subtle colour scheme which also looks lovely in this pattern. Another thing you can do of course is swatch! As you will be knitting the hat in the round its best to swatch in the round too and you can follow this tutorial for swatching circularly flat (it is for plain knitting but you can use it for Fair Isle too) You will be able to finalise your colours and also check your gauge! I hope this has given you some ideas and you are ready to start the Bousta Beanie from Monday! feel free to chat in the thread on Ravelry and use the #boustabeaniekal on instagram. We've had a busy week with the Voe Show last week, Cunnigsburgh Show on Wednesday and Waas Show tomorrow so I'll be back next week with some photos from the shows. Happy Knitting!Save
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Bousta Beanie KAL
Hello everyone, I cant believe we are now into August! For us that means one thing - next month is Shetland Wool Week! So we thought this is the perfect time to think about a KAL for this years hat - the Bousta Beanie.. This pattern is a great introduction to Fair Isle but also an interesting knit for those wint with it as we would say in Shetland. It is a simple motif which moves in an even repeat as you go up the hat so it makes a great knit. The most exciting thing of course about knitting Fair Isle is choosing colours!! I love looking on Ravelry and seeing what colours people have put together - you can see all the hats knit using 2ply Jumper Weight here. You only need three shades (two balls of your main colour and one each of your contrast colours) so the possibilities are endless and of course with this kind of repeat you can use multiple colours for your contrast shades. So the KAL will begin on the 14th of August, I have made ravelry thread so until the KAL kicks off I thought we could use it to chat about colour choices, to enter our KAL you will need to use J&S yarns and it will run until the 20th of September, just before Wool Week starts on the 22nd. We will also use the hashtag #boustabeaniekal on instagram, ill be back next week with some ideas about choosing colours so until then.. happy knitting! PS this next week we have the Voe Show, Cunningsburgh Show and the Waas Show which all have our Colourbox Competition so keep and eye out for posts about that! Save
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Fire Festival KAL Winners
Hello everyone, so last week I asked you to vote on your favourites for the winners of the Fire Festival KAL and you didn't disappoint, 736 of you voted in the two category's and the winners were: So congratulations DottyBev and Hedwychs, I have contacted you by Ravelry message, they have both won a gift voucher to spend at J&S, thank you again to everyone who took part - we have really enjoyed seeing the different ways people put the colours together! We will be having a little break but we were thinking to have a KAL for the Shetland Wool Week pattern - the Bousta Beanie - probably beginning in June so keep an eye out for that. Happy knitting!
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Bousta Beanie kits
This past weekend it was the Edinburgh Yarn Festival which has become the time when the new Shetland Wool Week hat and patron are announced, this year is it Shetland born designer Gudrun Johnston and her beautiful Bousta Beanie design! You can download the pattern here and find our kits for the given colourways here, if you want to choose your own colours simply buy two balls of your main colour and one ball each of your two contrasts, with such a graphic motif its hard to go wrong and this makes the pattern an excellent choice for Fair Isle newbies and experts alike! How about greys? 203, 81 and 54 Or grellow? 54, 91 and 23 or these? FC47. FC7 and 125 29, 1281 and 122 FC56, FC50 and FC9 The possibilities are endless! Remember to tag your projects on instagram and Ravelry with #boustabeanie and #Shetlandwoolweek2017 so others can see your Bousta Beanie and spread the story of Shetland Wool Week, happy knitting! Save
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Outi Kits
Hello and happy Monday! here at J&S we love to support local designers and we've just got in a delivery of some new to us patterns from Outi Kater, Outi is originally from Finland but has lived in Shetland for over 10 years, she takes her inspirations from her Nordic upbringing but is also inspired by Shetland and we think her patterns make a perfect blend of those two inspirations. I don't know about where you are in the world but in Shetland things are still a bit chilly so these patterns are calling out to me! Arhippa Mittens Finnish Midwinter Ski Hat Thrift Hat Sandsound Sweater Thrift Gloves Xylitol Mittens Finnish Midwinter Mittens Outi is extremely good at putting complex colour combinations together but her graphic 2 colour designs are equally as successful as you can see from the pictures above. We have received 7 new patterns printed by Outi, and if you order a kit it will include a copy of the printed pattern and all the yarn to knit your chosen design. You can see more of Outi's designs on her Ravelry page and you can see all her designs which we offer as a kit here which includes her two kits we already sold. Happy Knitting!
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Fire Festival KAL inspiration
Sometimes choosing colours for a Knit-a-Long can be quite daunting, but after quite a number of years of choosing shades for the Colourbox Challenges with the Country Shows in Shetland and a couple for our online KAL's we are always pleased and surprised with the colour and pattern combinations people come up with. The Fire Festival KAL, inspired by Shetland's Up Helly Aa festivals has been running for a little while now and more projects are beginning to emerge so I thought it was time to take a look at some of the knitting.. clockwise from top right: one, two, three clockwise from top left: one, two, three, four I always find it very inspiring to see how people have put colours together, and how to colours change when put next to others - it's my favourite part of the KAL! it runs until the 20th of March so there is still plenty of time to get involved and knit yourself (or someone else a firey inspired garment or accessory) We have already had the first of Shetlands Up Helly Aa's for 2017 with the Scalloway Fire Festival on the 13th of January, you can see some great pictures here. Lerwick Up Helly Aa is on Tuesday 31st of January and it is a public Holiday in the town on the day after (some of us need time to recover..) so we will be closed Wednesday 1st of February opening as normal on Thursday. If you would like to watch any of the live broadcast of Lerwick UHA on Tuesday you can do so here. I hope this has inspired you if you were thinking to join the KAL, you can find the shades here on the website, there has been some confusion about adding in other colours but to be entered in the KAL you can only use the 8 shades chosen and you must use at least 5 of them. Your project must also include some Fair Isle/stranded colourwork, don't forget to share your projects in our Ravelry group and on Instagram with #firefestivalkal Happy Knitting! Save Save
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New Year, New Skills!
Hello everybody! We hope you've had a lovely festive season and are feeling refreshed and ready for 2017, the New Year is a great time to plan for those skills you want to improve in the next 12 months - although sometimes it's hard to know where to start! One skill close to our hearts at J&S is Fair Isle knitting and its what many people use our yarns for (especially 2ply Jumper Weight!) but we know it can be quite daunting to some people, luckily there are lots of different ways you can get help with the trickier aspects! One way is to watch someone doing and explaining these things! Hazel Tindalls DVD 'The Fine Art of Fair Isle Knitting' is an excellent resource for those of us who learn by watching - I am definitely one of those people! The DVD takes you through all aspects of traditional Shetland knitting and demystifies things like knitting belts, jumper boards, long DPN's and steeks to name a few. It's one of those things you will refer back to often and although the DVD is about knitting a garment (in this case a cardigan) the skills you learn can be carried over into all your knitting. You can view the trailer and buy the download if a DVD isn't for you here Another great way to gain confidence in your skills is to use a kit, by following a pattern in the colours provided all stress is taken away, I know choosing colours can be quite scary! And sometimes a smaller item like a hat, socks or hot water bottle cover can seem a lot more manageable than a Jumper! Saudade and Fishermans Kep Toatie Hottie and Yuglet Socks First Footing and Antarctica For those of you that want a bit of a colour challenge our Fire Festival KAL is a great way to play with a group of colours already chosen for you, there are lots of projects appearing in our ravelry group so there's a place to support, advise each other and chat about how you're putting the shades together! The knit a long runs until March so there's still plenty of time to join in. I hope this has given you some ideas about Fair Isle you'd like to try, especially now that Christmas and gift knitting is by with - some selfish knitting may be in order! Speak soon :)
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Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017
Hello! Many of you have asked if we would be doing another Knit A Long this winter and the answer is yes! This year we have decided to take inspiration from something unique to Shetland and that is Up Helly Aa, there are a number of these fire-festivals all over Shetland from the Scalloway one in the second week of January up to the Delting Up Helly Aa in March. Without going into too much detail Up Helly Aa is held all over Shetland throughout the beginning of the year and they all feature a Guizer Jarl (chief Viking) and their Jarls Squad, a number of Squads dressed up, a torchlight procession and the burning of a Galley. It is something which cheers up and brightens many Shetlanders during the darkest time of the year here and I have always found the colours inspiring! So you can see from the shades chosen we have mainly been inspired by Fire! we have chosen a number of fiery shades (91, FC38, 125 and 9113) but also some darker shades to represent the dark winter skies (36, 81, 54) we have thrown in the bright blue shade 132 as when I was looking through photos for inspirations I kept seeing a brighter blue either in the sky or shadows like the photo above. Although we have taken our inspirations from the Vikings this Knit A Long is totally open to your interpretation of the colours, all you have to do is knit something (garment, accessory, whatever you feel!) using at least 5 of the 8 shades and it must feature some Fair Isle knitting (two colours in a row) Fire Festival Knit A Long Shades: 132, 54, 9113, 81, 36, 125, FC38 and 91 You can put together your own patterns or use a pattern that's already out and work with putting the colours into it, we know there is still a lot of Christmas knitting going on so to coincide with the last Up Helly Aa we will have the Knit A Long running From now until 20th March 2017 I have put together a mood board of pictures on Pinterest so feel free to have a look and enjoy the Knit A Long, you can see the colours here on the online shop. If you take part and would like to Share pictures please post in our Ravelry Group and tag your pictures on instagram with #firefestivalkal Happy Knitting!Save Save
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A Shetlanders Fair Isle Graph Book
You have probably seen this book if like us you love anything related to Fair Isle, Knitting and Shetland! Published by The Shetland Times and compiled by the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers A Shetlanders Fair Isle Graph Book in Colour is a bright and inspiring book - perfect for this dark and dreary time of year. It was released just in time for Wool Week this year and since then it has been selling like hot cakes, everytime I went to do a blog it would be sold out! As things calm down though its a lovely book to look through. It is filled with hand coloured motif's for Fair Isle knitting, the originals of the notebooks belonged to Bill Henry who ran the Hosiery side of Anderson & Co in the mid 20th century. They were most likely used by knitters to put together pattern to put on items to sell. The idea of the notebooks themselves is not unusual, Shetland knitters have many self drafted pattern books but what makes this one unusual is the coloured aspect, it is very common to see the black and white dotted kind you see in many Fair Isle books like Traditional Fair Isle Knitting by Sheila McGregor, Alice Starmores Book of Fair Isle Knitting and Fair Isle Knitting Patterns by Mary MacGregor. Those kind of graph books are invaluable also because they help you to put together patterns without being distracted by the colours but this book is a feast for the eyes if you like Fair Isle and Stranded knitting. It's very tempting to gather up colours and try to match them up... 2ply Jumper Weight l-r: 77, 1403, 66, 1, fc15 and 34 greens: 34 and FC11, blue: FC15 and FC47, cream: 1 and 202, yellow: 66 and 121, reds: 1403 and FC55, black: 77 and 81. The yarn on the right-hand side is the same kind of shades as the ones on the left for the pattern in the previous picture but it would give you a more subtle version of the pattern. That's another fun part of putting colours together, you can adapt it until it is more your kind of shades. Shetland Heritage Naturals l-r: white, fawn, light grey, moorit and black 2ply Jumper Weight l-r: 1403, 23, 21, FC15 and 202 We have the book in stock just now and it costs £20.00. It would make a great present for anyone interested in Shetland Knitting, the historical aspect is just as interesting as the colour inspirations!
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