7 min read
*Yarn from Scotland
Update: Well, I ended up getting in touch with this show to tell them about Scottish wool and yarn and they asked me to come on the Scotland Outdoors podcast. ( I need to stop saying “incredible”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08zh1yr
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I was listening to Out of Doors, on Radio Scotland, the other day and I heard a claim that drew the breath from me.
Someone wrote in to say that it was important to wear wool in winter (Correct! This was not the alarming point) and they followed it up by saying they had recently brought back a suitcase of wool from a trip to Norway for…
“You can’t buy 100% wool in Scotland”
Kurt the Ram, in Uist, poses with a skein of yarn made from his own fleece
(I’ll wait whilst you pick yourself up off the floor.)
…Now, I know most of us herein know fine well of the purveyors of fine wool yarns in my native Scotland. But if you think I can leave this post there, safe and warm in that knowledge, then I am afraid you will have to go and make a cup of tea, and come on a woolly trip around Scotland with me right now.
*Disclaimer:
This is not a precise rundown of every yarn seller in Scotland. This is an opportunity for me to give a link to the Scottish yarns and Scottish-based wool businesses that I have personally used. Think of this as a good jumping of point in your own research!
If you want to add a link to anyone in Scotland creating yarn that I have missed, please leave a comment to this post. (I won’t add suggestions into the post itself.)
As long term readers and listeners of WoolWork will know, I truly believe that, we are the change we need to see for local wool.
If you can’t find wool local to you available in your wool shop, ask your LYS owner why that is. Have a conversation about local wool and see if they can stock some, or point you in the right direction.
This year has been particularly tough on wool growers – the clip prices have been marked so low. We need to advocate more for our small wool businesses.
If you want to craft local and you can’t find material local to you in your LYS or in big online retailers, dig deeper, look harder.
Remember that not all wool sellers have big flashy websites, or the same access to marketing that larger companies do. But if you look more mindfully I guarantee there are sellers out there and I also know they all have an important story to tell you about their yarn.
Don’t forget that one of your best resources for finding British wool is by checking out the directories at WoolSack.org – that resource is a valuable one and a real labour of love by Jane Cooper – Thanks for this incredible resource, Jane.
I’ve included some Scottish-based hand-dyers that I know have some British wool bases from time to time and who are definitely worth knowing about!
In no particular order then,
Shetland
(all selling Shetland breed yarn and/or fibre)
Woolen mill – Jamieson’s of Shetland
Jamieson and Smith – The Shetland Wool Brokers
From Organic flocks, Uradale Yarn
From their own flocks, Aister Oo
From their own flocks, Foula Wool
From her own flock, Langsoond
Orkney
(Selling North Ronaldsay breed yarns and/or fibre)
woollen mill- A Yarn North Ronaldsay
Inner Hebrides
Custom blends, botanically dyed – Shilasdair yarn, Skye
Hebridean yarn from their own flock- Croft 29, Skye
Dorset breeds, Hebridean blend – TJ Frog, Skye
Native Breeds and blends – Ardalanish Mill, Mull
Single origin local breeds – Iona Wool
Outer Hebrides
Breed wool local to Isles and woollen spinning mill – Uist Wool
Hebridean & Cheviot blends from their own flock- Birlinn Yarn Company, Berneray
Scottish Highlands
Cheviot yarn – Caithness Yarns
Mixed breeds local to Caithness – Caithness Croft Yarns
Blends of breeds local to Black Isle and natural dyer – Black Isle Yarns
Hand-dyer – Ripples Crafts , Assynt
Rest of Scotland (You know, the middle to bottom bit)
Ryeland yarn from their own flock – Rosedean Ryeland, Angus
Hand-dyed yarns and British fibre – Rusty Ferret, Dundee
Scandinavian and Welsh yarns, dyers – Midwinter Yarns, Linlithgow
Natural dyer – Woollenflower, Glasgow
Hand-dyer – Old Maiden Aunt Yarns, West Kilbride
Hand-dyer including British breeds – Ginger Twist Studio, Edinburgh
Scottish-spun British and non-UK wool – New Lanark Mill
Pedigree Shetland from their own flock – Lammermuir Wool. East Lothian
Single breeds and blended yarns from their own flock – Hawkshaw Sheep, Borders
Alpaca blend yarns and fibre processing mill – The Border Mill, Duns
Hand-dyer of yarns and fibre – The Border Tart, Duns
…What else can you find? Answer in the comment!
the local sheep at Loch Doine who ignored me
I hope you find this a useful quick-resource. It is not my intention to tell you to go out and buy all the yarn right now, but it would be incredibly powerful if you seek out these sellers on social media, give them a follow and maybe share some of their posts. That is a very valuable – and free – thing to do to support local wool