My only visit to Shetland was back in 2010 when I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the In the Loop Conference held in Lerwick. As I said right at the beginning of this blog post I'd waited for many a year to hold a plane ticket which would mean I was flying to Shetland. The Conference was excellent, and resulted in my published article about the event in the Knitter magazine. And I loved Shetland as much as I suspected I would.
I missed the next one held in Winchester a couple of years back, but I am very excited to be going to the next one which is to be held at Glasgow Uni in August this year. Not only do I get to go to the conference, but the organisers have very kindly invited me to take my yarns with me and to set up a stand so that during the breaks in the conference attendees can browse and buy yarns from me. I won't be alone - The Border Tart will be there too along with all her gorgeous indigo dyed yarns and "bits of fluff" (as I call them - others more correctly call them carded batts of fibre for spinning!). And I'm sure there will be other independent yarnies but I have not yet seen a list of who will be there.
You can find some information about the event here, and you can download the provisional programme and also find the links to how to book for the conference. I'm pleased to see that Annemor Sundbø will once again be presenting, along with the likes of Karie Westermann, a designer/teacher in Glasgow whose work I admire.
August is looking like it will be a busy month, and there will be more news about another happening in August, but until details are finalised I'll have to keep you in suspense. So watch this space!
I'm away off to Woolfest next week, so the shop will be a little empty. So if you had your eye on anything in particular, best order it soon. Perhaps some "Glencanisp in the Autumn"?
I am thoroughly enjoying knitting with the Suilven base. I am making Stay the Same by Veera Välimäki and I am using the combination of That will be the Coal Then and Victoria Plum.
Before I began knitting I wasn't sure how neat the change in colour would be, as this top is knitted in the round, but it is a very clever construction resulting in relatively neat colour changes. If I were more careful it could probably be even neater!
Sadly I won't have time to finish this in time for Woolfest, but I'll have it on the stand as a "work in progress" so if you're coming you can have a look at the fabric produced by this yarn. Will I see you there?
