Probably the #1 item on my bucket list has been to visit Lerwick, Shetland and to go visit important knitting destinations there. The opportunity unexpectedly came up this summer. Two of my knitting friends had booked a passage on a Holland America cruise through the Norwegian fjords and the price had been slashed in half. One of the port stops changed to Lerwick, Shetland, and my mother-in-law and I realized if we shared a cabin, we could fulfill our lifelong dream of visiting Lerwick and experience the knitting destinations there for the price of about $1200 each. Although this meant only a day trip to Lerwick, it also included two weeks in the Norwegian fjords. But more about that later.
So we embarked on the cruise, which, to be clear, is not one of those Crafting Cruises that are sometimes advertised. There were about 2800 people on board the ship for all kinds of touristic reasons, but once you get at least four knitters traveling together, it might as well have been a special Knitting Tour, as far as we were concerned. We knitted at every opportunity on board ship and off and located marvelous knitting stores everywhere! I was expecting my first exciting experience in Lerwick to be visiting one of the yarn boutiques I’d read so much about but humorously, a group of teens dressed as Vikings greeted us with lusty yells as our little tender boat pulled up to the dock:
Once disembarked, the four of us converged on the Jamieson’s of Shetland Boutique which was a fabulous treasure house of yarns, and handknitted items. We were also hoping to purchase some handwoven fabric, but the mill is now closed to visitors, and it seems the weaver has just retired so there were just a few meters of woven fabric left. My mother-in-law snapped up enough to sew herself a pencil skirt, and then purchased some matching yarns to knit herself a matching cardigan. I picked out the colors for a Buggiflooer Beanie, which is the Shetland Wool Week hat this year, and then browsed happily through some amazing handknitted gifts including journals, neckties, shawls and even pins.
I had always dreamed of putting together a Shetland inspired outfit, so here is what I did: The Red Cross thrift store is also located on Commercial street in Lerwick, a few blocks away from Jamieson’s of Shetland. I was lucky enough to discover a fabulous unworn dress by Jo Benson, a UK brand, there for 11 pounds that fit me perfectly and sported an understated tweed fabric that gave me that Shetland vibe I was looking for:
I walked back to Jamieson’s of Shetland armed with my new thrifted dress. The kind saleslady helped me pick out yarns to match the dress in different colors we pulled out from the tweed design. I’m going to be knitting a cardigan by Jennie Atkinson with stranded panels against a burgundy ground to go with the tweed dress:
As soon as I cast on the cardigan, I'll post the pattern information and photos, but I'm a big preoccupied with finishing a few projects on my needles first. Shetland was utterly gorgeous, although a bit rainy and grey, so many of my photos were spattered with raindrops and the temperature was about 45 degrees, even in mid-July. We had the chance to drive through the countryside outside Lerwick and there were so many wildflowers and wild grasses flourishing in spite of the cold weather; the hills were dotted with white fluffy sheep grazing happily in spite of the cold.
Next time, I’ll post about some of the other amazing spots I was lucky enough to visit on our day in Shetland! Happy Knitting everyone!