Support Susan Crawford's Vintage Shetland Project

Vintage knitwear designer and A Woolly Yarn favourite, Susan Crawford, has turned to crowdfunding to publish her latest pattern book based on designs in Shetland Museum's archive.

Image courtesy of Susan Crawford

The book is the culmination of two years of painstaking research in the archives studying knitwear from the past hundred years. Susan's husband Gavin created a computer programme to enable her to create modern knitting patterns for the garments.

Says Susan:

"I chose 25 pieces, recording their construction stitch for stitch then recreated them for the Vintage Shetland Project. These pieces - all with their own unique story to tell - have been developed into comprehensive multi-sized knitting patterns, complete with instructions, technical advice and illustrated with colour photography shot on Shetland."

Each pattern is accompanied by an essay telling the story of the hand-knit item, which gives an insight into Shetland's rich textile traditions.

Go to Pubslush to support Susan in publishing the book. There are various packages available both for knitters and non-knitters, starting from £5. Favourites include signed copies of the book when published, taking tea with Susan during Shetland Wool Week, or the book plus all the yarn needed to knit the gorgeous Roses are Red cardigan, one of the 25 patterns.

I confess that I've treated myself to day at Susan's farm, looking at all the sample garments from the book and receiving advice on fair isle knitting from her. Now that's something to look forward to.