The studio this week

Can you believe that it is the second week of May already! Nearly a year since we took on the new studio space and Alvin-the-loom arrived.

This week we have been working on a new project, involving a Famous Weaver and some Shetland wool. It is still at the top-secret stage, but all will be revealed in due course. Suffice it to say that we are surrounded by cones of richly coloured yarn.

All of our first set of woven blankets from Fiona Daly have now gone and we are ready to warp up the next set. (By the way, one of our readers emailed to ask to reserve one a few months back and, my apologies, I have lost the email and forgotten who that was. Please email again if it was you.) We are only making 60 blankets in a limited edition of these two blankets - thirty of each, and already eighteen have gone. Isn't that great. 

Our new tea towel has arrived too. It is Very Smart, with a band across it of a beautifully blue Shetland sea, and an all-over print meaning that there is no white edge. It is screen-printed which makes the towels wonderfully soft and the colours fine. We love them and will put them on the shop site in the next couple of days. 

Kirsty has been beavering away with inspiration pictures and yarn wraps for a new collection. This is for The Shetland Tweed Company's newest design. Once again the tables are full of yarns and colours. 

After a week of cold and wind and snow and hail and all things wintery that Shetland can throw at us, the past few days have been glorious here. Today on the walk to work the curlews flew overhead calling, larks were pouring down their tunes from a blue sky, and many, many lambs were unsteadily clambering over the peat in pursuit of mum and milk. If you happen to be driving through Yell, or anywhere in Shetland for that matter, please watch out for the sheep and lambs. They have a habit of darting across the road...