Shetland Handspun

28/05/2026

ALL SOLD
SWW 2026 Birsie Beanny kits in my handspun yarn. A different set of colours from me this year. Moorit is not a normal colour for me to use as a background colour, but stock was low and these were the colours I had. I loved the result, moorit with silver grey, white and an onion dyed yellow - just perfect. Email me for more information- [email protected] Congratulations to Helen for such a stunning design.

15/01/2026

07/01/2026

It's our pleasure to introduce you to another member of the SOK Trustee board. Leah Irvine has spent years spotlighting the best of Shetland and advising entrepreneurs and small businesses as they launch and grow their businesses. We asked her to share what drew her to working with SOK:

"Shetland knitting has long been, and should remain, a source of pride for Shetlanders. It was a privilege to be invited to join SOK as a trustee. Preserving traditional methods for future generations is essential, and our native yarn and knitwear must continue to be recognised as a genuine and respected unique selling point of Shetland. To achieve this, I believe it is vital to have a strong collective voice to ensure our heritage is properly protected and taught correctly to the many adoring knitters and wool lovers around the world."

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Leah reminds us why this work matters. We are currently working behind the scenes to complete the administrative steps required to launch our services. Please visit SOKShetland.org to join our mailing list and stay up-to-date on our progress!

02/01/2026

Here we are at the end of both the year and our Crowdfunder appeal, and we’re feeling incredibly grateful.

Because of you, we raised £53,665 with the support of 1,071 people. Seeing that many individuals show up for Shetland’s knitting heritage has meant more to us than we can say.

Thank you for the donations, the sharing, and the quiet encouragement along the way. You helped turn an idea into work we can now begin carrying forward.

Over the next few days we’ll start distributing rewards, so please keep an eye on your email inbox. As the new year begins, we’ll also get to work on recording skills and stories, preparing teaching materials, and supporting local knitters who want to teach and share their knowledge.

We’re so glad you’re part of this with us. Here’s to the year ahead!

31/12/2025

Crowdfunder reaches target as group takes action to prevent skills being lost

26/12/2025

SOK: Shetland's Organisation for Knitters is led by a team of Shetland-born trustees with a passion for preserving Shetland's heritage knitting traditions.

Amy Sandison is a member of the trustee team who wears many hats. As a teacher, she works with young Shetlanders. As a heritage guide, she shares the history and heritage of the area with visitors and local people. And now Amy has been a vital part of our pre-launch preparations.

In her own words: 'I got involved with SOK because Shetland knitting is a really important part of Shetland culture that needs to be preserved for future generations. As I teacher I understand generally the importance of education but I am also worried Shetland knitting is something that will be lost as future generations fail to learn the craft. SOK is going to be important in ensuring that doesn’t happen.'

Many of you may recognize Amy's name from the SOK Crowdfunder page, where we continue to be amazed by your support. The amount raised currently sits at £44,447 donated from an incredible 824 unique supporters. The crowdfunder has a little over 5 days left, and while it would be amazing to reach our stretch goal of £50,000, we would be equally thrilled to see the number of unique supporters rise to 900. We have funder rewards for donations as low as £4, but any donation is welcome and will go toward our mission to preserve and protect Shetland's heritage knitting skills for the benefit of local people and respectful learners around the world.

Find the crowdfunder at the link, and browse the many rewards still on offer:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sok-shetlands-organisation-for-knitters-1 #

19/12/2025

Elizabeth Johnston, SOK Trustee, shares her experience of learning to knit, which parallels the experience of many Shetland knitters:

We all start with the knit stitch, knitting small things. I knitted before I went to school as many of us did here. What it was, I don’t know. At school we started with a doll’s scarf and dress. At home I moved on to knitting in the round, adding a Fair Isle (FI) pattern. In a lace knitting family, you’d do the lace edge for a hap.

I knitted children’s FI mitts for a few years, over and over again. Learning in the process to knit with 2 colours, a few FI patterns, the stiches for each size, colours, and how to knit a mitten. Not from a written pattern--this was design. When my work was good enough, I sold my mitts, a few at a time to the shops. I liked earning my own money. Then I was on to gloves, learning larger patterns and fingers, more colourwork and design. In repeating a garment, we learn its construction, the patterns and how colour works; it was all design.

At about 10 years old, I wanted a lace cardigan. So, with long wires(needles), knitting belt, lace yarn and lots to learn, I choose a lace pattern(motif), a colour and got started. Again, no printed pattern. You work things out as you go. It took a year, but I mastered the belt, the long wires, figuring the shaping at armholes and neck, picking up stitches, and grafting – Designing. It was all learned with help from family, working together and explanations.

Next, FI on long wires and the belt. It was hard. I did mitts on short wires, with the yarn on 1 finger on my right hand. Now it was to be yarn on 2 fingers on my right hand, and that 2nd finger didn’t want to work! But it did eventually.
From there, FI yokes, practise to make it perfect, then again, selling. Always learning more and more as we knitted. As a teenager I knitted yokes and learned to use the V -bed knitting machine. I made myself a FI allover. Then I found haps, and I loved them.

But I now knew the basics of design in FI and Lace; all without a printed pattern.
Now it is, as we say, “all in our heads”.

There is always something new to learn; we never stop.