Hap-py about Haps

The other day I asked my son if he wanted a “Hap Sandwich”.  Of course, I meant a ham sandwich and he couldn’t understand why I was laughing!  I have been thinking about haps a lot lately, one reason why is that I am really pleased that I have a design in “The Book Of Haps” produced by Kate Davies and Jen Arnold -Culliford.  I have been keeping quiet about it which was quite hard as I couldn’t show what I was working on!

The book is made up of patterns by different designers and essays about haps.  I have had a peek at the designs and they are all amazing, so different from each other; it is an honour to be part of such a lovely publication and beside many of the designer I admire and aspire to be like!  The design on the cover is by Carol Fellor from Ireland, Kate and Jen will be revealing each design on a daily basis on their blogs Kate Davies Designs and Jen A-C Knitwear and I will be revealing my design shortly so watch this space!

The book is available to pre-order at Kate’s shop here and the books will be shipped in early June.

On Saturday I spent a few hours of the day with the Shetland Branch of the Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers.  We met in the Trondra Hall and after the obligatory cup of tea and a banana muffin,  Anne Eunson (who knitted the famous lace fence) did a workshop on dressing (blocking) handknit garments.

She showed us how to dress a traditional square hap, this beauty was knitted by her mother when her daughter was born.  At one time in Shetland, as knitting was so important, most homes would have had their own wooden frames (usually homemade) for dressing various hand knitted garments, including aa adjustable hap board like this.  Strong cotton thread is sewn through each peak (scallop) of the hap and tensioned on the pins of the board until the hap is evenly and fully stretched.

Anne will be teaching a class on dressing lace knitwear during Shetland Wool Week, details of the programme will be out next week.

The meetings of the Shetland branch of Knitters, Spinners, Weavers and Dyers are open to everyone with an interest in textiles regardless of their experience, and take place generally every second Saturday on the month at various locations around Shetland.  For details of meetings please see https://www.facebook.com/SGSWD

I am currently knitting a traditional Shetland hap, pattern in A Legacy of Lace by the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers, which starts with the lace edging.

Its taking a while as I have been working on other things (also to be revealed soon) but the lace edging is so repetitive it is very easy to memorise and so it has been my travelling project, the edging of a hap is also probably one of my favourite things to knit.

I have also just finished blocking my Hap for Harriet but I think I will share that another time!

Have a good weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boards like these are generally homemade, Kate’s Husband Tom has made one and promises to write a tutorial for one on her blog soon.  Of course, you can pin it out on the carpet or I rember my Granny pinning it out on the grass in the back green on a fine day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent a day with Kate earlier this year speaking about traditional Shetland haps and visiting some local ladies that were hap knitters, which was very interesting and inspirational.