Welcome to the 'your-hostess-is-off-at-Vogue-Knitting-Live-(and-a-matinee)' edition of WAYWO (What Are You Working On?, a weekly community diary series for all things crafty, in a variety of mediums and techniques....so welcome knitters, sewers, quilters, crocheters, woodworkers, and anyone else who would like to share.....).
While I'm off in Manhattan indulging myself (I'll check in on the comments as soon as I get a wifi signal), I figured I' share a few more pictures from last year's trip to Scotland, including Shetland and the wonderful Fair Isle.
Shetland, the northernmost islands in Scotland (as close to Norway as southern Scotland), is full of sheep ~~ and knitting. Shetland lace and Fair Isle color work are the most famous examples of Shetland knitting.
The Shetland Museum in Lerwick has an amazing collection of textiles....
It's all behind class for conservation reasons, so some of the pictures are less than excellent :-(
Shetland lace:
Fair Isle knitting:
More modern examples:
Many Shetland knitters still use a knitting belt with long straight needles (often called knitting pins); one of the women I talked to in Fair Isle was surprised that no one I know in the US uses one: