Five Shetland knitters and their favourite books

Shetland Wool Week Annual

Chosen by: Janette Budge, Shetland knitwear designer and tutor

www.janettebudge.com

How can you choose a favourite Shetland knitting book? There are so many great books out there featuring many Shetland designers.

I particularly love Fair Isle knitting and Shetland’s rich, diverse and deep knitting history. A place where you can find all these, combined in a publication series is the Shetland Wool Week Annual.

With a wide range of Fair Isle and lace patterns each year and informative essays describing Shetland knitting’s evolution – from its impact on the local economy in times past to a walk through a modern croft, right up to the finished product of the squishy yarn.

I always feel a buzz of excitement when a fresh annual appears on the shelves. I particularly love that each year lesser-known Shetland knitting designers are invited to create a pattern for the annual, even if they’ve never had a pattern published or written down (traditionally Shetland knitters only made the briefest of notes when designing finished knitwear to sell).

The patterns in the annual are clear, easy to read, fully tech-edited and beautifully photographed in Shetland’s rugged landscape, adding to the magic.

Shetland Fine Lace Knitting: Recreating Patterns from the Past by Carol Christiansen

Chosen by: Helen Robertson, knitter and jewellery designer

www.helenrobertson.com

The knitting community in Shetland anticipated this book for years, so I was eager to get my copy. Luckily, I’d pre-ordered, as the first print run sold out quickly.

Shetland Museum has over 400 pieces of knitted lace in its collection, each containing many motifs. The dream team of Carol Christiansen, Anne Eunson, Kathleen Anderson and Tracey Hawkins worked together to record, analyse and recreate these motifs.

The book examines the history of Shetland lace knitting and the effect royal patronage had on the craft. It contains photographs and detailed analysis of exquisite stoles, like the one knitted for Queen Victoria’s 80th Birthday.

That lace knitting evolved from creating humble motifs inspired by familiar items (such as the ‘peerie flea’) to duplicating a specific royal crown is a testament to its creators’ ingenuity and skill.

Shetland Fine Lace Knitting includes easy-to-knit patterns, with plain knit rows between each ‘holly geng’ (lace row). It also has patterns that require more concentration, where every geng (row) is a holly geng. This makes it suitable for all levels of experience.

As soon as I picked up the book, I was inspired to pick up my wires (knitting needles) and cast on. I was particularly drawn to the flower patterns and have already incorporated them into new projects. Even if you’re not a lace knitter, There are so many gorgeous photos you’ll be inspired to get started!

I’m a bit of a Shetland lace knitting geek but I still learned new designs and information. It is my current favourite book on Shetland knitting and has been very much worth waiting for! An ideal gift for any knitter.

Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting

Chosen by: Carol Christiansen, Curator and community museums officer at Shetland Museum and Archives

Identifying my favourite Shetland textile book has been difficult. Many books have influenced my thinking over the years!

As a textile historian, I look to Scandinavian and North European studies to understand the origins, similarities, and breadth of textile designs that have influenced Shetland makers through the centuries. As a knitter, however, I am inspired by different books.

I learned to knit in the 1980s and became a devotee of Fair Isle knitting because of the play and challenge of colourwork. Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting influenced me the most. This was the American edition, published by Taunton in 1988, by Blandford in the UK in 1990 under The Fair Isle Knitting Handbook.

Starmore, a knitting designer from the Western Isles, makes clear in her designs and photographs that she is inspired by the natural colours and shapes of the Scottish coast. The patterns are written, with charts for the Fair Isle repeats. Technical advice is rendered in large and clear drawings, and she includes illustrated instructions on how to make your own jumper board.

The shapes of some of the knitwear pieces are now a bit dated, but the Fair Isle colourwork is still worth revisiting. The black and white charts can be recreated with your own colour designs. And Starmore’s historical introduction, apart from one or two bloopers, is honest in its approach to deflate the silly romanticism perpetuated by other authors that have plagued the craft.

Shetland Textiles 800 BC to the Present (ed. Sarah Laurenson)

Chosen by: Edina Szeles, textile artist and designer

www.edinaszeles.com

If I had to choose my favourite book about Shetland textiles, it would be Shetland Textiles 800 BC to the Present because it is a comprehensive collection of writings by local artists, wool experts, researchers and historians.

I moved to Shetland nearly 10 years ago, as I was drawn by its textile heritage, which I now realise I had only a superficial knowledge of. This book helped me discover more about different types of textile art, beyond Fair Isle knitting, and the history of the place, the people and specific artefacts.

As a weaver, spinner and dyer myself, it is always fascinating to learn about local materials and wool processing. It’s also good to find out about the local sheep, where the yarn comes from, and how the colours have been developed by various dying methods and resources.

Learning about the tweed weaving industry made me research and study these textiles in depth. This has given me endless inspiration in my work. Similarly, the unique ‘taatit rugs’ with their fascinating colours, patterns and symbolism have been an important influence.

A Legacy of Shetland Lace, by Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers

Chosen by: Elizabeth Williamson, Shetland lace knitter and tutor

www.elizabethwilliamsonknitting.co.uk

One of my favourite knitting books is A Legacy of Shetland Lace. It is a collection of 21 wonderful projects designed and knitted by members of the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to knit Shetland Lace or who has an interest in the subject.

Each beautiful pattern (varying in skill level from beginner to advanced) features a short biography of the designers, their background and experience of knitting Shetland lace. It also shares where the inspiration for the pattern came from.

For people who have not knitted Shetland lace before, the book contains information on how to knit it, with sections on grafting and dressing as well as detailing suppliers of Shetland Wool and the yarns, they have available.

There is so much to read and learn within its pages. It’s not just a book of patterns – it’s a brilliant resource for anyone looking for traditional and modern Shetland lace patterns.