A Wool Week update

This week has been busy with visitors and Wool Week of course!

We have had visitors from Switzerland, USA, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, Shetland, the Western Isles... In fact the list of nationalities who continue to visit just keeps growing. And most people are fascinated to see Alvin-the-loom working away, creating the fabrics which are being turned into cushions and throws. Many people are also asking if we sell online and the answer is "not yet but wait a little while..."

It has also been a week of gifts. A beautiful merino shawl arrived from Canada, woven with a motif from the Pacific Northwest First Nations. It will go alongside a waistcoat which also hails from that part of the world and which was presented to the local community a few years back by the team who accompanied the canoe, Spirit Dancer, to Shetland. Thank you, Janet, for the beautiful gift. I shall use it this winter before it goes on display.

Then a new book arrived for the library. A Handbook of Weaves is a Dover reprint of an antique book full of patterns and ideas, plus lots of technical advice for budding and experienced weavers. As always, the book will be part of the libary collection, available to browse in the studio. 

A friend from the Shetland Sheep Society was also in the studio this week and we received a calendar of pictures of the critters who provide our wool. The calendar will be on display next year and I am sure a search of the interweb will turn up places to purchase your very own copy. Thank you Hazel (and sheep!)

It is now officially Wool Week and a week of touring and visiting is on the cards. If you are in Shetland and see us, please stop and say hi. We may even have Haegri, the knitted Viking with us...