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    150 WOOL KNITTING IN THE SHETLAND ISLAND...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    E. It Lias Frequently Been Observed, Alt...

    to fetch . For this , it is to be feared , there is no remedy except purchasing * of well-known dealerswhose character is a guarantee

    , that the goods are genuine , that is to say , are really brought from the islands when called _Slietlandic ; or else , as there are several

    persons who take an interest in this work , procuring an introductionand ordering such things as are desired , direct from

    , the country . At the present crisis in the cotton trade , Shetland wool , as

    it comes from the sheep , is in great demand . It is to be hoped the poor cottars will not be tempted by a high price to relinquish

    the material of their industry . Indeed the Shetlanders , though not in general _jxrovident or far-sighted , are shrewd enough in most

    matters , and if they should be thoughtless once in this , they will know better another time . Happily the supply conies not all

    at once , but yearly—a temporary rise in price may be expected , _perhapsbiit it will pass—and as long as the peculiar pie-bald little

    creatures , that feed on the short , coarse , but aromatic hill pastures of these bleak islandsare permitted their own wild freedom , and as

    , long- as British ladies will give encouragement to the knitters , so long , we trustwill this branch of the national industry flourish and not

    decay . , Indeed , we believe that few persons who have experienced the comfort and healthfullness of the peculiar -wool of the islands ,

    choose to be without inner or outer clothing made from it . And this leads to a few sentences on the nature and

    management of the material used in Shetland knitting , with which this little sketch shall conclude .

    The _sheejD are very small . From one to two pounds of wool is all that each will yield in a season- but the breed must be

    , kept unmixed and the animals allowed to feed as heretofore _^ else their fleece will lose some of its distinguishing * and valuable

    characteristics . ing Almost to what every miht famil elsewhere y has a be few called of these even animals " a small — flock seldom . " They amount are - ¦

    more or less looked g afteraccording to the thriftiness or ability of the owners . They herd in , common , each animal marked in the

    ear in a certain manner , known to all , and registered in an old parish book kept for the purpose . At stated times , one j ) erson

    from each household that owns sheep , attends the herding , a due number of dogs assisting , for the purpose of driving them into

    small pens or folds , where they are counted—the young ones marked , and in early summer roo'd _, that is , deprived of the fleece

    by plucking , as it has then become loose , and ready to drop oif . Towards winter , a few of the lambs or elderly ewes may be slain

    to be salted and driedof which then a small piece is used to make the famil ' s broth on , occasion of weddings or other festivals . But

    in general y , the wild untended flocks are subject to so many

    casualties that they do not increase much , and those that survive are more

    150 Wool Knitting In The Shetland Island...

    150 WOOL KNITTING IN THE _SHETLAND _ISLANDS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1863, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051863/page/6/