The Burland Croft and Scalloway Museum

We visited Tommy and Mar Isbister's croft.  The link to their croft is here: http://www.burlandcrofttrail.co.uk.  A croft is a small area of land used for food production.  Background reading gave an excellent overview of how crofting developed centuries ago through the book The Crofter and the Laird  by John Mcafee.

Pictures from the croft:

A Shetland pony and then with her little one:  (perhaps that tiny one was tired of being photographed)

A gorgeous rooster:

The Scalloway Museum was a highlight.  The museum is new whereas artifacts go back to the Norse times.

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Viking boat:

 

Gracious volunteer staff at the Scalloway Museum

 

A Shetland Bus boat used during WWII on display.  An excellent history of the Shetland Bus operation is written in the book The Shetland Bus by David Howarth.

Shetland Lace Knitting Workshop

Three women from this part of the world representing the knitting guild in Lerwick shared their lace knitting expertise and showed some of their beautiful shawls and scarves made from one ply wool.

The knitter above, Kathleen Anderson, can make something the size she shows below in about six weeks.

Close ups of lace:

Sandra Manson was commissioned to knit the Royal Baby's Christening Shawl.  This quote is from The Shetland News:

The robe was made of Shetland supreme one-ply worsted spun yarn, which is the nearest to homespun it is possible to get. Although the full-length garment only took two weeks to make, it took six weeks to plan.

This was our supplied yarn

Shetland Islands Pictures

A church and graveyard.

On the way to Lerwick  by coach

Is this green?

At lunch, a gull taking bread.  He flew onto an abandoned table and snatched an uneaten sandwich.

SheeBeeEverywhere having a lager while her keeper knits.

Lerwick suburbs.

Wool fleeces at Jameson & Smith Wool Brokers.

Oliver giving information at Jameson & Smith.  

Knitters after Jameson & Smith.