Drop-in Knitting, Spinning and Wheel Clinic

Bring your knitting, spinning or wheel problems and let’s work them out together with Elizabeth Johnston of Shetland Handspun.  Alternatively, come for a coffee and the company, including some special guests.  This is a free drop-in session. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert)

Type: Drop-in
Location: Hoswick Visitors' Centre, Sandwick
Time: 1000 - 1230

ASF Shetland Open Studio

ASF is a weave studio specialising in research and development.  Have an inside look at what goes on.  Free, drop-in. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert)

Type: Open Studio
Location: 4 Sellafirth, Yell
Time: 1000 - 1600

Nielanell Open Studio - KnitWear with Attitude

Feed your soul - indulge in a studio full of vibrant colour and scrumptious loveliness.   Highly original textiles are transformed into simple yet flattering styles.  Wild handspun yarns and batts are also available.  Visit www.nielanell.com for more information. This is a free drop-in event or you can phone 01950 431516 or email info@nielanell.com for a visit at a time to suit you. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert)

Type: Open Studio
Location: Hoswick, Sandwick
Time: 1000 - 1700

Burra Bears Open Studio

Head towards the east side of Burra and discover where the original Shetland Teddy Bear is created.  Meet Wendy in her workshop and hear how the first Burra Bear was made over 16 years ago.  Recycling at its best! Transforming traditional Fair Isle knitwear into the unique Burra Bear. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Open Studio
Location: Houss, East Burra
Time: 1000 - 1600

Wool Sorting & Grading Demonstrations

See behind the wool store doors and take a peep inside the hub of Shetland’s wool industry. Take a tour around the converted church and police station at the North Road stores and watch Oliver Henry of Jamieson & Smith sorting and grading fleece. An interesting insight for all wool lovers and wool producers. Free. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Drop-in
Location: Jamieson & Smith Ltd, 90 North Road, Lerwick
Time: 1400 - 1430

Needle Felting Class

A dry felting workshop suitable for beginners, led by Rosalyn Fraser. Create your own peerie felted accessories to take away. 10 places. Cost £35. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert). Book online through Shetland Box Office (booking fee may apply).

Type: Event
Location: Jamieson & Smith Ltd, 90 North Road, Lerwick
Time: 0930 - 1230

'Can Ewe Find Wir Peerie Sheep?' Scavenger Hunt

Help! Sheep have escaped in the museum. Can you work out the clues to find where they’re hiding? Fun for all the family as you hunt around the galleries. This is a free drop-in event - ask for the clues at Reception. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Drop-in
Location: Shetland Museum & Archives, Hay's Dock, Lerwick
Time: 1000 - 1600

Shetland Organics CIC

Shetland Organics presents a sensory and entertaining exhibition of their work throughout Wool Week at the beautiful premises of Vaila Fine Art. Members will be on hand throughout the week to explain the organic system and how they have developed it for native Shetland wool. Come along and engage with the very unusual range of happy and charming products. Free, drop-in. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Drop-in
Location: Vaila Fine Art, 61 Commercial Street, Lerwick
Time: 1100 - 1700

Tak Dy Sock

A chance to talk to our spinners and knitters and see the display of fine lace knitting, including older and more delicate items not normally seen by visitors to the Centre. You also have the opportunity to try spinning, with experts on hand to guide you. Tickets cost £2 on the day, drop-in. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Drop-in
Location: Unst Heritage Centre, Haroldswick, Unst
Time: 1100 - 1600

Evening Lecture

A lecture relevant to Shetland Wool Week 2013, held in the Auditorium. Speaker, full details and booking information to be confirmed.

Type: Core
Location: Shetland Museum and Archives, Hay's Dock, Lerwick
Time: 1930

'From the Croft to the Palace' Exhibition

An exhibition celebrating Shetland knitting, worn by Royalty and renowned across the world. Admission charges of £2 apply (pay on the day). 

Location: Shetland Textile Museum, Böd of Gremista, Lerwick
Time: 1200 - 1600

Knitwear Shop and Factory Tour

Laurence Odie Knitwear Ltd of Hoswick Woollen Mill are worldwide exporters of authentic Shetland knitwear.  Observe the manufacturing processes from yarn to finished garments then view traditional Shetland knitwear which has been made on the premises or in knitters’ own homes. Entry is free on a drop-in basis, with a short guided tour at 0915. For more information, or to arrange a visit outside the scheduled times, email enquiries@odie-knitwear.co.uk or phone 01950 431215. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Drop-in
Location: Hoswick Woollen Mill, Sandwick
Time: 0900 - 1700

The History of Hoswick Woollen Mill

Enjoy a chat with Cecil Duncan, former weaver at the Hoswick Woollen Mill, while he shows you round the looms and textile machinery. See sample swatches and examples of historically significant Shetland weaving. This is a free drop-in event. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Type: Event
Location: Hoswick Visitors' Centre, Sandwick
Time: 1230

Wild Wool Play Day

Be Free!  Learn new spinning and carding techniques for making wild scrummy batts and yarns using local fleece combined with exotics. Tutor Niela Nell Kalra of nielanell guides you to use fresh methods to spin contemporary highly textured luscious yarns. Maximum of 8 places. Spinners must be able to spin a yarn. Cost £80, including wheel hire, lunch and materials. Email info@nielanell.com for details. Minimum experience level required = 3 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert). Book online through Shetland Box Office (booking fee may apply).

Type: Event
Location: Hoswick Visitors' Centre, Sandwick
Time: 1000 - 1600

From Sheep to Shop - Textiles Tour

The first stop is Burland Croft, visiting Mary Isbister to discover the varieties of sheep and traditional methods used in producing the world renowned ‘Shetland Wool’. At Easthouse, a renovated croft with traditional thatched roof, bannock making will be demonstrated, followed by a chance to sample reestit mutton soup and bannocks for lunch.  After a couple of hours spent chatting with local spinners and knitters, who will be demonstrating their skills, there’s a visit to shops that specialise in yarns and knitted garments produced in Shetland. 8 places available, all refreshments and lunch are included in the price of £75. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert). Book online through Shetland Box Office  (booking fee may apply).

Type: Event
Location: Pick up and drop off at the Market Cross in Lerwick
Time: 0830 - 1730

Hand Felted Flower Brooches

Amy Fisher and Ana Horne teach you to hand felt a square in a colour of your choice using natural and dyed Shetland Wool. Then using a die cutting machine you cut out flowers to assemble as a brooch which can be embellished as you want. 20 places, for all abilities (children under 16 should be accompanied by an adult). The cost of £18 includes tea and homebakes. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert). Book online through Shetland Box Office (booking fee may apply).

Type: Event
Location: Peerie Shop Cafe, The Esplanade, Lerwick
Time: 1900 - 2130

Quotidian Colourwork with Felicity Ford

In this workshop, delivered by Felicity Ford, knitters will be invited to bring along a small collection of photos and/or objects which they find particularly meaningful, with a view to developing colourwork knitting charts based on them. Photographs, books, images, and objects of significance may be bought along by participants, and the principles of stranded knitting will be applied to creating unique charts from these personal design sources.

The workshop covers stranded knitting, knitting in the round and steeking. Workshop participants will need some skill level - This event is not suitable for beginners and is designed for those with already developed skills. Minimum experience level required = 3 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert)

15 spaces available.

All materials provided. Price - £55.00  (includes £30 of materials) Bookings will be taken online or by telephone through Shetland Box Office (booking fee may apply).

Type: Event
Location: Shetland Museum and Archives
Time: 1000 - 1300

Shetland College Garments

A Shetland College display of a range of garments designed by students during their studies.  The Textile Facilitation Unit will also be open for visitors to see garments and knitted textiles being produced for businesses all over Shetland, using the Shina Seiki knitting systems. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert). This is a free drop in event.

Type: Drop-in
Location: Shetland College, Lerwick
Time: 0900 - 1600

Darning Session with Tom of Holland

Best known for his Visible Mending Programme (VMP), Tom uses darning, patching and weaving techniques to give a new lease of life to damaged and over-loved garments in the most visually spectacular way. Join him and explore the lost art of mending.

Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert).

Free, drop-in

Type: Event
Location: Shetland Museum and Archives
Time: 1400 - 1600

Ninian Open Studio

An open studio at the shop premises. Minimum experience level required = 1 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert). This is free drop in event.

Type: Open Studio
Location: Ninian, 80 Commercial Street, Lerwick
Time: 0900 - 1700

Interesting Yarns and Aleatoric Fair Isle

This evening begins with a lecture - Many Strands Make Interesting Yarns...

Felicity Ford and Tom van Deijnen of TEAM WOVEMBER will reflect on their collaborative projects to date, exploring what happens when you mix knitting with sound,
wool, and mending! The pair will explain KNITSONIK, WOVEMBER, Visible Mending, and their collaborative knitting experiment - "Aleatoric Fair Isle" - devised especially for Shetland Wool Week. This lecture will set the scene for a creative stranded knitting workshop to immediately follow the talk!

Workshop with Felicity Ford (KNITSONIK) and Tom van Deijnen (tomofholland): Aleatoric Fair Isle

In this workshop, Felicity Ford and Tom van Deijnen will share the results of a collaborative experiment in Fair Isle knitting, and invite participants to try out some daring new colour/pattern combinations of their own! Sharing swatches produced during the experiment, and lessons learned during the process, Ford and Van Deijnen will encourage participants to experiment with Fair Isle in playful and fearless ways. The workshop will cover steeking, the construction of the perfect Fair Isle Swatch, and the philosophy behind "Aleatoric Fair Isle". Participants will hopefully leave thoroughly enthused about new ways to reinterpret knitwear design sourcebooks in the future!

The Aleatoric Fair Isle experiment is going to be conducted throughout 2013, and involves creating Fair Isle colour/pattern combinations through a careful mixture of observing the principles of colour work, and leaving some factors to chance. This creative investigation has been devised as a way of unearthing new possibilities presented by the dazzling Jamieson & Smith shadecard, and Mary MacGregor's excellent book of Fair Isle knitting patterns. 

The workshop covers stranded knitting, knitting in the round and steeking. Workshop participants will need some skill level - This event is not suitable for beginners and is designed for those with already developed skills. Minimum experience level required = 3 (1 = Beginner, 5 =Expert)

40 spaces available.  All materials will be provided. Cost - £55.00 (includes £30 of materials) Bookings will be taken online through Shetland Box Office (booking fee may apply).

Type: Core
Location: Shetland Museum and Archives
Time: 1730 - 1930

Drop in Knitting at Mareel

Drop in and join in the ongoing knitting projects available, or continue with your own knitting and enjoy a coffee and a chat with other visiting and local knitters in the relaxed café bar.

Yarns, needles and 'public' pieces to knit on will be provided through the week.

Type: Drop-in
Location: Mareel, Lerwick
Time: 1100 - 1600

Drop in Knitting at Bonhoga

Drop in and join in the ongoing knitting projects available all week, including specialist lace and Fair Isle pieces.

Yarns, needles and 'public' pieces provided in the Gallery cafe for all to join in.

Type: Drop-in
Location: Bonhoga Gallery
Time: 1030 - 1630