Scotland: Edinburgh, Shetland, and Skye

A few weeks ago, Janine Bajus and I led one of our textile tours to Scotland. Janine had been many times, but I had never been. Everyone who has been talks about what an amazing and transformative place it is, and they are right. I can’t wait to go back.

Edinburgh

Two hours after I landed, I was full of tea and at the Royal Scottish Academy seeing the Andy Goldsworthy retrospective. I was greeted with cascading fleece in the entryway. A work made of bits of wool he picked up from the ground and from fences and connected with thorns.

Ginger Twist is a wonderfully curated yarn and fabric shop. All of the yarns you see on the right side of the photo are their own, in a tantalizing rainbow of colors, they also carry Merchant and Mills fabrics. Only my jet lag kept me from leaving with half of the store

Di Gilpin

Our second day we drove to Di Gilpin’s new studio, The Wool Hoose, to have a class on gansey knitting with Di and Sheila Greenwell. The pair wrote The Gansey Knitting Sourcebook, the best resource for gansey knitting that I’ve found.

I’ll admit I did more shopping than knitting. I fell head over heels for Di’s yarn Lalland Lambswool. After 40 years in the fashion and fiber industry, Di knows how to construct a perfect yarn.

Shetland

We spent five days on Shetland right before Shetland Wool Week. The entire island was getting ready for the celebrations, but folks were gracious and took time to meet with us.

At Neilla Nell I was reminded that not all knitting on Shetland is Fair Isle and lace. This shop is packed with modern machine knit sweaters and accessories in vibrant colors and textures.

One of the highlights for me was getting to visit the Unst Heritage Center, where we were greeted with a remarkable array of knitted history, tea, and several kind Shetlanders willing to teach us how to use knitting belts. There’s a learning curve and Minnie was very kind with my fumble-fingers.

Donna Smith has a masterful way with natural dyes, she gets amazing depth of shade and variations of color. When we visited her, she let us peek into her dye journal. She also forages most of her dye stuffs on the island.

There is beautiful knitting and craft work everywhere we went in Shetland. These were taken at a small café in a community center where we stopped at for tea.

Another once in a lifetime moment for me was meeting Oliver Henry at the Woolbrokers, a.k.a Jamieson and Smith. Oliver gave us a tour of their fleece barn and told us the history of his work with Shetland wool. We also visited the shop. I’ve never seen all the colors of Jamieson and Smith in one place and it was overwhelming.  The colorwork knitters among us returned to the shop more than once.

We were lucky to take a lace knitting class with Elizabeth Johnston, who is as funny as she is talented. Janette Budge gave a talk on choosing colors for Fair Isle and her history of designing. She also gave us the secret to using a knitting belt if you are a picker: use the belt on your left hip.

Skye

After Shetland we moved to the Isle of Skye. Where Shetland was ocean and views that went on for miles, Skye is mountains and rushing rivers.

Island on the Edge is a croft that is completely off the grid, running the entire croft on solar power and raising rare and native breed sheep. (Ann Hood wrote about this wonder for MDK.)

If you even have the chance to take a Dorset Button class from Tania, aka TJ Frog, please do it. She is a detailed and passionate teacher. Even though our class was at night after a long day, every single person in class got the hang of these addictive buttons.

Our trip was winding down. As we headed back to Edinburgh, we were sure we all had enough yarn, until we walked through the door of Shilasdair Yarns.

Shilasdair Yarns is run by natural dyer, Kirsty, and her husband Simon, who is also a chef. No one in Scotland has just one job. Her shop is a jewel box of joy.

How many fiber bucket lists items can a woman check off in one trip? A visit to the world-renowned tapestry weaving studio, Dovecot Studios was another one for me. (A short video of these weavers at work.)

Built in a Victorian public swimming pool, the weavers work in what was the bottom of the pool, while the public can watch from the original balcony. It was mesmerizing to watch this ancient craft. Weavers work singularly or in groups depending on the size of a weaving.

Elsewhere in the building is a café, classrooms, and a second textile exhibit, the history of Ikea textiles was up when we visited.

Our last day we were free to wander Edinburgh. Books, scones, exhibits, and one last yarn shop filled my day. Kathy’s Knits is the yarn shop has been open longer than others in town. As you can see from the photo, never try to admit to the universe that you’ve bought enough yarn.

Kathy told me that the yarn shops in Edinburgh work collaboratively, each having their own specialty, and even organizing their days off to make sure there is always one shop open every day of the week. We should all work so well together!

If you would like to get on the information list for our next textile tours, email je**@************ys.com