Scotland Journey: Epic Scenery of Magicalness

Here are some of our favorite landscapes from Shetland and Skye for you to gaze at this weekend. To see even more photos, be sure to check out our Scotland set on Flickr!

Cliffs of Eshaness, Shetland

Eshaness, Shetland

Sea urchin remnants, Eshaness

Thistle in bloom, Sandness, Shetland

Fairy Bridge to Waternish, Isle of Skye

Hiking the Quiraing, Isle of Skye

The Quiraing

The Quiraing looking out to Staffin Island

At magical Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye

Misty hills near Uig, Isle of Skye

Neon green Seaweed near the haunted ruins of Duntulm Castle, Isle of Skye

Duntulm, Isle of Skye

Thanks, Scotland, for being so magical!

Scotland Journey Part 6: Isle of Skye and Shilasdair Yarns!

On the last leg of our Scotland adventures we took the ferry back to the mainland and trekked west with Stephen West and our friend Katie to the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye does not have the rich knitting traditions of the Shetland islands, but there is still a big love of wool, knitting and sheep! We explored Skye's epically beautiful landscape and were, again, constantly surrounded by sheep. Most of the sheep on Skye are Scottish Blackface, but Skye is near the outer Hebrides and the Soay and Boray islands - home to Hebridian sheep and Soay and Boray sheep - all very rare breeds of sheep.

The Quiraing is a stunningly gorgeous landscape on Skye that made us feel like characters in the Lord of the Rings...

Amber, Stephen, Katie and Jaime hiked the Quiraing!

Stephen happy among his sheep friends

Picturesque sheep on the Quiraing

We also went to the Fairy Glen, a magical collection of mossy woods and conical shaped hills dotted with sheep. If you don't believe in fairies, just go here and it will change everything.

Antics with Jaime and Stephen and a fairy tree

An adorable Scottish Blackface sheep in the Fairy Glen

Sheep graze near stone spirals in the Fairy Glen

On the northern tip of Skye's Waternish peninsula lies the most picturesque yarn shop of all time - Shilasdair! Shilasdair yarns is amazing because Tony and Eva dye all their own yarns using natural dyes. A lot of the plant dyes they use are from plants found on Skye. We couldn't resist purchasing even more yarn for even more projects!

Shilasdair yarn shop by the sea

The Shilasdair spectrum of naturally dyed yarns

Beautiful hues of red dyed with Cochineal, Madder, and Logwood

Jaime's acquisition of yarn dyed with Meadowsweet

More Shetland wool yarn at Shilasdair

Thanks so much for reading about our Scotland adventures. It is a magical place with a deep history and appreciation of wool and knitting and we hope you can all go one day. If you need any advice or suggestions for your own trip, feel free to email us! Check back tomorrow for a bonus post, with more epic photos of our journey, and look forward to lovely Shetland yarns in the shop soon!

Scotland Journey Part 4: Jamieson + Smith and Shetland Ponies!

Part 4 of our Scotland journey finds us still on the Shetland islands soaking up more wool culture. Today we visited Jamieson and Smith! Jamieson and Smith is the other producer of Shetland yarn on Shetland. Jamieson and Smith has a facility in Lerwick (Shetland's largest town and port) where they sort all the wool that they purchase from local farmers.

Oliver explains how to feel the quality of a fleece

Oliver Henry has been sorting Shetland wool for Jamieson and Smith for 46 years. He knows a lot about wool. Oliver took a couple of hours out of his day to give us a tour of their facility and talk to us about wool. Jamieson and Smith purchases over 80% of the Shetland wool grown on the island from over 700 crofters. They are very committed to working with the farmers and improving the quality of the wool. Oliver almost single-handedly sorts all this wool himself.

The Jamieson and Smith sorting facility in Lerwick

Each fleece has to be sorted by color, quality and type. Some of the Shetland sheep on the island have bred with non-Shetland sheep - Oliver keeps a catalog of lineage records so he knows which fleece are 100% Shetland - these are the only fleeces used to make the Jamieson and Smith Shetland yarns. Within each fleece there are different grades of wool and these must be sorted as well - the wool on the back of the sheep is a different quality than the wool around the legs so these all get seperated into different bins.

Above left: fleeces have been sorted by color
Above right: tons of wool fleeces await sorting
Lower photo: Oliver has trained a crofter to help him in the sorting room

Jamieson and Smith have developed other products to make sure that they are using all the wool. If a fleece is not suitable for their yarns they can find a home for it in other products they have developed, therefore they're able to pay the farmers more for their fleeces. In addition to their hand knitting yarns (which get only the finest grades of wool) they also have a company that produces wool carpets as well as another company that makes wool mattresses. These products are extremely sustainable and ensure that sheep crofters on Shetland can have a future with their wool. Imagine carpeting your home in 100% naturally colored Shetland wool! Amazing!

An old photo of women in Shetland blocking their lace Hap Shawls

Ysolda, Oliver, Malia, Stephen, Amber and Jaime in the Jamieson and Smith sorting room

Shetland sheep come in many different colors - which is amazing when you are on the island and see the landscape covered in dots of all colors - not just white dots! Shetland wool yarn comes in 9 undyed natural colors - each with adorable names like Mooskit, Moorit, Katmollet, Yuglet and Shaela. These names are still used today and are from old Norn origins.

A wall of undyed, naturally colored Shetland wool yarn in Jamieson and Smith

Attached to the sorting facility is the Jamieson and Smith yarn shop (also know as heaven to yarnies). We were able to shop to our hearts content all 84 dyed colors and 9 undyed colors of jumper weight yarn! Jumpers are sweaters and since fair isle sweaters are all knit out of fingering weight yarn, the weight is referred to as "Jumper weight" in Shetland.

Malia and Amber pick out colors of Shetland Jumper weight yarn

We picked out projects (some of us picked a few projects...) and left with a lot of yarn. There was even a wool bed in the Jamieson and Smith shop if you tire yourself out looking at all that yarn.

We took a nap on a wool bed in a yarn shop!

Black Shetland sheep frolic on a hillside in Shetland

There are a lot of sheep on Shetland - they were everywhere as we drove around and explored the island. In addition to Shetland sheep though, there are also Shetland ponies.

Cuddling Shetland Ponies - a necessary stop

We made sure to stop and take some time to cuddle and gaze at these most adorable of all ponies!

Next up: Shetland museums - Fair Isle and lace knitting galore!

Scotland Journey Part 2: Shetland Designer + Puffins!

After a couple days in Edinburgh, we made the trek up to the Shetland Islands. Shetland can be reached by ferry or plane, we opted to take the 14 hour, overnight ferry ride from Aberdeen harbor. We arrived in Shetland early in the morning and were so excited to be there, we immediately hopped in our car and started driving. We didn't have a destination, but just wanted to get out onto the land and explore. We headed south from Lerwick (the main town) and it only took about 5 minutes before we saw a sign that said "Knitwear Designs" pointing to a small house. We couldn't resist--we turned the car around and drove in. It was early on a Sunday, so we didn't expect it to be open, but the owner just happened to be walking outside and let us in. Little did we know, we had arrived to the best and most amazing collection of Shetland knitwear of all time!

We lost Stephen.

Wilma Malcolmson is the proprietor and knitter extraordinaire behind Shetland Designer. She designs and knits sweaters (jumpers) cardigans, vests, hats, mittens, and scarves - all with beautiful fair isle designs. Most of these are knit on small machines in her studio, but some are still knit by hand. We lost our minds with happiness at all the beautiful handknits.

Wilma was kind enough to show us around in her studio which contained several knitting machines and lots of knit swatches of her designs. The knitting machines still take a lot of work to get set up with special pattern cards that Wilma designs herself. She even has a seaming machine to seam the sweaters together.

Scenes from Wilma's studio

Wilma's swatches using natural undyed colors. 

We spent quite a while there, taking in all of her amazing designs, trying on sweaters and mittens and buying lots of knitwear!

Beautiful stacks of berets and gloves

Happy knitters surrounded by knitting!

Wilma also demonstrated knitting on a knitting belt. A knitting belt is a very common way that Shetlanders knit fair isle. It is leather and has holes to insert your knitting needle into a padded part of the belt. The end of a very long (about 14") double point needle is inserted into the hole which stabilizes the needle so the knitter can knit very fast. Pieces are knit in the round on these on just 2 of the double point needles, with a 3rd used as a working needle. Wilma showed us how she uses it and we've never seen anyone knit so fast - and she was doing colorwork!! Ysolda picked up a knitting belt while on Shetland and gave it a try as well!

Wilma shows us her knitting belt

When we left Wilma, she told us we had to keep driving south to see puffins! Of course we went. We drove to the furthest southern tip of Shetland where there are high cliffs on the sea - home to thousands of nesting sea birds, including puffins! While we went to Shetland to soak up the knitting culture and love of wool, a lot of people make the trek there to watch rare birds which Shetland is also famous for.

After seeing Puffins and eating some delicious local seafood for lunch, we checked out a crofthouse. Shetland has a beautifully restored, 1850's crofthouse museum that shows what life would have been like for early families living on the island. Women and children would work the land, living in the crofthouse, while the husband was away fishing or whaling.

Even our lunch spot was decorated with fair isle knitting.

Restored 1850's crofthouse

Next up: we visit Jamieson mill, Sandness beach knitting and sheep!!

Scotland Journey Part 1: Ysolda's Edinburgh Studio

-jaime

Amber and I recently got back from our own self-guided fiber tour of Scotland! We have come back filled with amazing inspiration, stories, and new yarn acquisitions that we want to share with you all. We traveled with Scottish knitting designer, Ysolda Teague, designer Stephen West, and Malia Mather of Penelope Craft in Amsterdam to the Shetland islands, home of Fair Isle knitting, Shetland lace hap shawls and, of course, Shetland sheep. We then headed west to the mystical Isle of Skye with Stephen and our friend Katie for even more woolly adventures. Stay tuned to our blog for the next week to read all about our adventures in this magical land. Our travels started in the fine city of Edinburgh - home to Ysolda!

Ysolda picks out buttons for a new baby sweater design

Ysolda was kind enough to give us a tour of her studio in Edinburgh! Edinburgh is a beautiful historic city. While in Edinburgh, we were able to explore delicious local food, beautiful parks and historic landmarks. Ysolda's studio is located in a fun part of town full of local restaurants, boutiques, and coffeeshops - kind of like Broadway in Denver if it were on a narrow, cobble-stoned street.

Amber, Ysolda, and Jaime, just chillin' in Edinburgh

Ysolda's studio is small, but very functional and organized. There are computer stations for her and her assistants. An inspiration wall of swatches sits behind Ysolda's desk and her collection of Shetland wool yarn is displayed in colorful round bins on her wall.

Ysolda has everything she needs for designing patterns right at her fingertips. It was fun to see how she organizes her materials and tools. Drawers full of yarn ready to knit are labeled and organized by yarn company. Ysolda's bookshelf is filled with knitting books and stitch pattern references to answer any quandary or lend inspiration to a design.

Ysolda is hard at work designing!

There are labeled bins containing everything from buttons to ribbon to needles and notions. She also has color cards from every yarn company under the sun in well organized file folders so she can easily plan a design and order the perfect colors from any yarn line.

Ysolda is all about fit, so it is no surprise to see professional dress forms in her studio in various sizes. Her patterns reflect her commitment to helping people make garments that are flattering on a variety of body shapes and sizes. 

A Cria sweater is displayed on a dress form

The most amazing thing about Ysolda's studio is her secret garden - an adorable outdoor courtyard, perfect for sharing a cup of coffee from nearby Artisan Roast on a nice day! Thanks for the tour, Ysolda! 

Ysolda's adorably overgrown outdoor courtyard

On Monday read all about what happens when 5 knitters descend upon Shetland!