Lang Ayre

Today’s hap is Lang Ayre by Gudrun Johnston, who is interviewed over on Jen’s blog today.

As you probably know, Gudrun was born in, and has close family ties to Shetland. She’s very well-known for her beautiful hap designs, and she was top of my list of must-ask contributors for this book! One of the many things I love about Gudrun’s work is her uncanny ability to weave her cultural heritage and influences into designs that are fresh, modern and completely unfussy.

Lang Ayre is a case in point. The design’s simple, modular construction, begins with the centre square which is a familiar feature of most Shetland haps. With the nifty knitted-on addition of two smaller triangular pieces, a large, eminently wearable, triangular wrap is created.

Lang Ayre uses several shades of Jamieson & Smith jumper weight to great effect. It would be a fantastic project for using up odds and ends of any colour, but Gudrun’s original was inspired by the distinctive palette of the Shetland landscape around Ronas Hill, which you can see gleaming pinkly in the distance across the horizon of this next photograph.

We shot these photographs with Gudrun in Shetland, in a truly wonderful location.

Shetland abounds with magic spots, of course, but this place takes the biscuit. There just seems to be a peace about it that I can imagine being apparent on the wildest of wild Shetland days.

I am the model (again) and (ahem) styled myself, with the able assistance of Gudrun, who was on hap-adjustment duty.

Tom once more did a great job with the photography.

Thankyou for this beautiful design, Gudrun!

Tomorrow I’ll be revealing a hap from another important Shetland designer! Pop back in the morning to hear more!

The Book of Haps is now available to pre-order, and all the designs that have previously been revealed can be seen on the book’s Ravelry page.