Day 5 was, in many ways, just the opposite of the previous day. It was rainy and drizzly all day and, where yesterday we were out learning all about Shetland, this day was an indoor knitting day. An indoor day was a perfect plan for the rainy weather. The day started with a hap class given to us by Gudrun. I had no idea what a hap was, but I learned that it’s just another word for a shawl. My Scottish friend Pam also informed me that hap is a verb — to hap yourself up is to wrap something around you. Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures during Gudrun’s class — I was too busy knitting. She had us each knit a mini-hap and it was really interesting and fun.
After Gudrun’s class Elizabeth Johnston came to speak to us all about haps and color work. Her samples were beautiful!
I’d only ever really seen these shawls wrapped around the neck and worn like scarves, so I asked Elizabeth if she could show us the traditional way that haps are worn. She kindly obliged me and I had an aha moment and remembered seeing old drawings of Shetland women wearing their haps. I think they’re beautiful and the drizzly weather was perfect to help imagine just how Shetland women would have worn the shawls to keep warm. (Also, if you’re an Outlander fan, you will have seen Claire wearing beautiful haps on several occasions.)
Elizabeth’s presentation ended around 3 and we were given the rest of the afternoon to do as we wished. Because the weather wasn’t great, everyone opted to stay inside and spend the afternoon knitting, but I can never get enough of the beautiful scenery, so I decided to go for a walk. Burrastow House is about 2 miles from the nearest little town, Walls (prounounced Waas), so I donned my rainsuit, grabbed my camera and headed out. The weather had cleared a bit when I started my hike and everything was so pretty.
It was fun to walk past this old phone booth, look inside and take some pictures. It’s no longer usable, but what a treasure.
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Are you sick of sheep pictures yet LOL?
The little town of Walls was tiny, you could walk from one end to the other in 5 minutes. It was a Sunday afternoon and a bit drizzly, so it was very quiet.
There are ruined crofts everywhere in Shetland, even in the little towns!
For the most part, the weather held during my walk, however, on the way back, the wind picked up enough that the rain was going sideways, so only one side of my rain suit got wet. It was a beautiful walk anyway — I would take whatever weather I could get to be walking in Shetland!
When I returned, it was time for another gourmet dinner by Chef Pierre. This time we had Tomato Basil Soup, Pork Tenderloins, Green Beans, Carrots, Brussel Sprouts and Tiramisu for dinner. It was the perfect treat after my long walk!