The Shetland Trader

Interview by Susan Crawford

We talk to one of knitonthenet's favourite designers, Gudrun Johnston, about her life and how the past has influenced her designs.

1) For people who don't know about you, can you tell us a little about yourself and your design ethos.

I am originally from Scotland (born in the Shetland Islands). Although I was being dressed in my mother's original Shetland knitwear from a young age, it wasn't until I came to the United States that I began to knit myself and then design.

I would say that I'm still discovering what my design ethos is at this point, however there are some recurring themes. Most notably I prefer to knit and design in the round. I find this offers many benefits for the knitter (and designer) as in being able to try the garment on as you knit and reducing the amount of seaming involved. I have to admit that seaming is my least favourite part of knitting!

I also have a strong draw towards encompassing a certain amount of Shetland knitting elements when designing. So far I've mostly played around with traditional lace patterns but plan on including some fair-isle too. I'm not striving to recreate a completely traditional garment but rather use these age-old patterns with a fresh take on how they can enhance a modern design.

My use of Shetland patterns is not exclusive. I'm drawn to many different stitch patterns and styles. Like I said, my design ethos is still forming and thankfully there is plenty more exploring to be done!

2) And can you tell us a little about your life? Where you live and why. Your family.

Currently I live in Fresno, California (the hot Central Valley) with my husband and two kids (ages 9 and 7). My husband, David Anthony Durham, is a novelist and professor at the university in Fresno. We have lived in many different locations in the US and Scotland, this being our 16th move and probably not the last!

We spend a lot of time together as a family as our kids are also being home-schooled. It works well for us and thankfully we all get along very well!

3) Who first taught you to knit and when? Can you remember the first things you made?

I know I learnt the basics sometime around the age of 10, but I'm not sure who taught me. I think it may have been my primary school teacher when I lived on the Isle of Rum off the west coast of Scotland. I do remember a vest in a particularly unattractive colour that may have been produced by me!

However it wasn't until about 4 years ago, when we moved to Massachusetts, that I reconnected with knitting. The reason I chose to get some yarn and needles at this point was because my daughter had lost a treasured blanket in the Iceland airport during our move and I wanted to knit her something special. I saw a poncho displayed in a local yarn store and went in to get the supplies and pattern, feeling a bit nervous that I wouldn't understand the instructions, but too proud to ask for help. I managed it, and four years later my daughter still sleeps with it every night. Even the cat likes to have a good suckle on it!

4) Your mum owned a store called the Shetland Trader. Can you tell us more about this and about your mum's design career?

It was when my parents moved to Shetland in the 60's that my mother became interested in Shetland knitwear. At this time Fair Isle Knitting was going through a period of using the larger and less subtle Scandinavian style patterns, which didn't include the traditional finishing around the cuffs, hem and neck.

After seeing old photographs of the traditional knitting styles in the Shetland Museum, and finding them much more appealing, my mother was inspired to return to the roots of Fair Isle. She began designing garments of a more modern style using the narrow patterns and natural wool colours as well as experimenting with colour combinations of her own. As she did not knit herself she turned to local knitters who could whip things up pretty quickly!

Initially, these designs were only to clothe the family, but before long she was getting requests from friends and then friends of friends. She turned the growing demand into a mail order business, offering made to measure sweaters, smocks, skirts, gloves etc and opened a shop. When an article was written about the Shetland Trader in a national newspaper she was overwhelmed by a sack of letter orders.

She designed many different types of knitted clothing and accessories. The ones that stand out the most to me are her garments for women. These designs were very elegant and original, from beautiful lace sweaters in Old Shale Lace to floor length dresses with Fair-Isle yokes

The Shetland Trader had a brief life of only a few years as my parents left Shetland. However, its influence helped revive the use of traditional Fair Isle patterns, styles and colours. I still own some of those original garments and they look good as new. A testament to the hardy Shetland wool!

5) How would you say your mum's work and Scotland has influenced your work?

My mum's knitwear designs have inspired me a great deal. She had a good eye for colour and came up with great combinations in her designs. I love the style and shape of many of her garments and think they would appeal to today's knitters also. Like her, I hope to able to take aspects of the traditional elements of Shetland knitting and come up with something that is a blend of the old and new. I'm lucky enough to have some of her swatches and sketches, which I keep on a pin-board above my knitting area. Hopefully some of her talent will rub off on me!

Scotland as such has not been as big an influence on my knitting so far. Mainly this is because I have lived overseas for all of my designing years and right now living in such a hot climate has had me knitting with a lot more non-wool yarns!

6) What else influences the design process for you? Do you have an idea then look for yarn or vice versa?

It can be either way. More often I will have an idea for a garment and make a simple sketch with some of the basic elements. Then I'll refine it over time and if I have come across a certain yarn I think may work I'll make a note of it. I also enjoy swatching different stitch patterns as a way to try out new yarns. That often causes ideas to percolate. Sometimes it's the shape or style of a non- knitted piece of clothing that brings on the designing process.

7) Would you say you are a designer who knits, or a knitter who designs?

I'm most certainly a knitter who designs. I still get a lot of satisfaction from knitting other people's designs and appreciate learning a thing or two at the same time!

8) Can you describe a typical day for you.

A typical day begins with some coffee, at the computer (still in pyjamas) where I mostly see what the knitting world is up to! Once I've checked in on blogs and Ravelry etc, I get the kids up and we concentrate on 'school work' for the morning. Our approach to home schooling is fairly eclectic so we can be doing a variety of things from playing darts and dissecting owl puke to creating posters of their favourite animals...or perhaps we're curled up on the couch reading together!

After lunch the afternoon continues in a similar free form fashion with regular log-ins to the internet. If I don't have activities to take the kids to then I spend some of the afternoon on the knitting and designing. If there is a deadline looming then I may ignore the family for the whole day to write up a pattern or finish a garment.

Right now part of my late afternoon involves a swim in our pool. As I mentioned we live in the hot part of California where the summer temperatures are often over 100 degrees. I don't know how to exercise in that kind of heat (being a red-headed Scottish lassie) except for being in the pool by the time the sun is no longer shining on it

Dinner, for the most part, is provided by my husband (who is a great cook) and evenings spent with more knitting and DVD watching (movies or TV series).

9) Are there any other crafts that you pursue or would like to?

I like felting, although I haven't done a lot of it. I'd love to be able to sew but I fear that may never happen as sewing machines tend to malfunction when I so much as look at them! Wouldn't mind trying some weaving, crochet, spinning, and some yarn dyeing if days ever get longer!

10) What are you working on at the moment?

On the design side of things I have just finished knitting something for the winter issue of the new online magazine Twist Collective and am currently writing up the pattern. In personal knitting I'm working on a traditional Shetland Hap shawl for a friend's baby that is due soon.

11) Which is your favourite design of yours?

My Little Black Dress design, from issue 4.
That felt like quite a sense of accomplishment from perceived idea to finished dress.

12) You have been published in many of the leading knitting magazines. What goals do you have for The Shetland Trader? Do you make plans?

Whist I am very pleased with my publication record so far, I would like to focus on more self-publishing for the Shetland Trader alongside getting a website together (which my brother will be handling). I'd also like to re-work some of my mum's designs, adding my own touch. These designs were never written up as patterns for sale.

I'm about to be spending a chunk of time in Shetland close by my parents. During this time my kids will be in school (bringing the school's population to 7) so I will have many free hours to devote to designing. Hopefully my design process will be encouraged and enriched by being in such a great knitting location. Being within walking distance of Jamieson's Woollen Mill won't hurt either!

13) How do you see the craft of knitting develoiping in the next few years?

I definitely see a continuation of the popularity knitting has gained recently with the appeal crossing all gender/age groups. I think we'll see a return to the passing on of the knitting tradition to our offspring. I know that already in Shetland they are employing knitting teachers to go around the schools teaching skills that their ancestors once relied on for income.

With the ready access to the internet designers are learning a great deal about what knitters likes and dislikes are when it comes to written patterns. I think we'll see even more self-published patterns in formats that give knitters an in depth set of instructions and range of sizes that wouldn't be possible in a print publication. However I believe that the print publications will improve over time too, with some already making in roads to include certain aspects requested of their readers.

Of course this will also mean there will be a lot of patterns to wade through and greater competition for the designer, but it's very exciting to be knitting at a time when we have such a wealth of choices.

See Gudrun's latest pattern for knitonthenet 'Taj Mahal'