Every morning started with a wonderful breakfast from Chef Pierre. (Again, no pictures ;-( ) We were allowed to pretty much choose what we wanted — full Scottish breakfast, continental, oatmeal, fruit, etc. I ate a lot of oatmeal, er porridge. After all, we were in Scotland and it was chilly and breezy! After breakfast, we had a Fair Isle workshop with Mary Jane. I was terrible about taking pictures at our workshops — I guess I was too busy knitting. Sadly, I don’t think I have even one good picture of us all knitting in the conservatory where we had our breakfasts and our workshops.
After our workshop, we went to a cute little Bonhoga Art Gallery for lunch and some shopping. There were lots of pretty things made by local artisans and they had a very nice cafe — we had some perfect warm-us-up soup with cake for dessert. A few pictures outside of the gallery —
After our art gallery lunch, we drove to Lerwick, where our first stop was the Shetland Textile Museum. The museum is located in the Bod of Gremista, so it offered some local fishing history, in addition to the textiles. I loved this little visit — so much to see in a small little space! Here’s the building with sweaters outside (!) and the neat little knitted fence along the walkway to the front door.
There were a lot of knits on display, including Da Muckle Gravit which is taking over the room where it resides.
But, my favorite part of the museum was the room where some local knitters sat demonstrating for us. They use knitting belts and they knit SO FAST! It was really fun to watch them and they let us try them out too. It was pretty awkward, but maybe, with practice, it would click. (Sorry, pun intended.) (Btw, if you’re a knitter and you’re interested in purchasing a knitting belt, the museum had the best prices. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that and ended up buying them at a knitting shop later.)
![Thimbleanna: Shetland](../"../../images/2018/Travel/Shetland058.jpg" "Thimbleanna: Shetland")
After the textile museum, we went to “downtown” Lerwick, across from the harbor. We were given free time to just wander the little streets and alleyways.
This is probably the most photographed building in Lerwick — if you’re a fan of Shetland, you know why!
Lerwick is so photogenic — I could have spent days wandering around and taking pictures. Sadly though, our time was limited. We returned to our guesthouse for gourmet dinner #2: Salad with Mackerel, Lamb, Roasted Parsnips, Celery Root, Broccoli and Carrots, and for dessert, a wonderful Almond Orange Olive Oil Cake.
After dinner, we were treated to a visit by the delightful Hazel Tindall. SOOOO fun to hear her speak, tell her stories and knit!
Hazel is the world’s fastest knitter! And look at all the samples that she brought with her — we were in heaven.
It was a great ending to a fun day!