Let Shetland come to you! Sign up for our free email series and enjoy stories, history, woolly discoveries, and plenty of knitting inspiration delivered right to your inbox.
Knitting gives us a wonderful way to travel. Knowing where our wool comes from—and the people, animals, skills, and history behind it—adds meaning to the yarn in our hands. With every stitch, we can celebrate living traditions, support the people keeping them alive, and carry a little of Shetland's remarkable wool story forward.
Just sign up on this page and enjoy the journey right from the comfort of your home!
Image: Cait is wearing the Yokey Dokey Tunic by Gudrun Johnston and knitting the Hairst Cushion by Wilma Malcolmson.
Set sail with us (virtually!) for the windswept Shetland Islands, where sheep graze across rugged hills, the sea is never far away, and wool and knitting are woven into generations of island life.
In our free Armchair Travels Shetland email series, we'll explore the sheep, people, places, and traditions behind some of the world's most beloved wool!
From colorful Fair Isle knitting and delicate Shetland lace to crofts, mills, wool brokers, and makers, we'll follow Shetland wool from the landscape to the needles. Along the way, you'll discover what makes authentic Shetland wool so special and why these small islands continue to inspire knitters around the world.
Welcome to Shetland, a rugged collection of islands where the North Sea meets the Atlantic and the landscape tells a story at every turn. Dramatic cliffs, rolling green hills, quiet crofts, and the ever-present sea have shaped life here for generations. Wool is woven deeply into that story. As we travel across the islands, we'll discover how Shetland's geography, history, and communities have shaped an enduring wool culture—and why this faraway place continues to capture the imaginations of knitters around the world.
Across Shetland's hills and heather-covered pastures, small, hardy Shetland sheep have adapted to island life over centuries. Their fleeces come in an extraordinary natural range of colors and produce wool prized for its warmth, lightness, resilience, and character. We'll meet these special sheep and the crofters who care for them, exploring the connection between animal, landscape, and livelihood. It's a relationship that reaches back generations and remains an important part of Shetland's living traditions and distinctive way of life.
Follow the fleece on the next part of its journey as Shetland wool is sorted, graded, spun, and transformed into wonderfully woolly yarn. We'll meet the people keeping these skills alive and explore the qualities that make authentic Shetland yarn ideal for intricate Fair Isle colorwork, delicate lace, and more. Lofty, warm, lightweight, and available in an incredible range of colors, this is yarn with a strong sense of place—and generations of knowledge and craftsmanship spun right into it.
Now we're bringing Shetland right to your needles! The Woolly Thistle makes authentic Shetland yarns, patterns, books, kits, and other treasures easier for U.S. knitters to discover and enjoy. Choose your colors, find an inspiring project, and experience why knitters have loved Shetland wool for generations. And every good journey deserves a souvenir! Our Armchair Travels: Shetland patch (available soon!) is a little keepsake from your travels and a reminder of the places, people, sheep, and traditions connected to the wool in your hands.
