The nights are drawing in again, which in most island households means the wool basket comes back out from wherever it was shoved in June. If you are shopping for someone like that, Scottish island gifts for knitters have an advantage over the usual craft-shop fare – the yarn often comes off sheep the maker knows by name, and the person who dyed it, spun it or sheared it is the same person who packs your parcel.
Eight picks below from eight makers in eight islands – Shetland, Iona, Bute, Mull, Coll, Orkney, Tiree and Colonsay. There is undyed wool from a Coll croft, sea glass turned into stitch markers, handwoven tartan buttons from Tobermory, and a kit that makes two pairs of very small rabbit slippers. Prices run from £8.95 to £25, so there is something here whether you are filling a stocking or thanking someone properly.
The usual note – parcels leave the islands by ferry, so allow a wee bit of extra time if the gift has a date on it.
Sea Glass Stitch Markers – £8.95
Sarah Kay Arts, Shetland
Sea glass collected from around the Shetland Isles, drilled and mounted into stitch markers that actually get used rather than admired in a drawer. You choose your finish when you order – a crochet hook clasp or a knitting hoop – and the colours vary with whatever the tide gave up, though there are always three different ones. They arrive in an organza pouch, which saves you finding a gift bag. A small present that carries a bit of Shetland shoreline into somebody’s project.
Lùbadair Tote Bag – £9.50
Lubadair, Isle of Iona
Every knitter needs somewhere to keep the current project, and this bright cotton tote from Iona is aimed squarely at people who like to keep their hands busy – knitters, crocheters, menders, embroiderers and stitchers all get a mention from the maker. It measures 40cm by 38cm with a 30cm strap, so a jumper’s worth of yarn fits without a fight. The cotton is organic and responsibly produced. Bonus points if the recipient enjoys an obscure Gaelic word, since “lùbadair” is where the shop gets its name.
Shetland 50g Ball, Chunky Knit – £9.50
Ascog Wool, Isle of Bute
Natural grey yarn from Shetland sheep reared and sheared at Ascog Farm, a 150-acre stretch of pasture and hill in the Isle of Bute that has been farmed by the same family for three generations. It is undyed, so the warm hue comes from hints of fawn in the natural Shetland fleece rather than a dye pot. The wool is cleaned and spun by The Natural Fibre Company, and the maker gives the gauge as 20 stitches and 28 rows over 10cm on 4mm needles. Good for anyone who prefers their colour to come off the sheep.
Handmade Buttons in Red and Brown Tartan – £10
Sarah’s Weaving Shed, Isle of Mull
The cloth is handwoven in Tobermory, in the Isle of Mull, and then made up by hand into fabric-covered buttons, each one 3cm across and presented on a Sarah’s Weaving Shed card. Buttons are the bit knitters agonise over at the end of a cardigan, so handing someone a set of handwoven ones solves a problem they have not had yet. They finish a coat or a cardigan nicely, and they give a hand-knitted gift a proper flourish. A small thing with real craft behind it.
Hebridean Wool – £12
Coll Hebridean Wool, Isle of Coll
Sheared from the maker’s own flock in the Isle of Coll and sold in 50g balls, this is a deep chocolate brown that comes from the darkest part of the fleece at the base of the staple – no dye anywhere near it. There is still natural lanolin in the spun wool, which makes it quite water resistant and a sensible choice for anything that will be worn outdoors in an island winter. It knits up like an aran weight. Hand wash and dry flat, and it will outlast most things in the wardrobe.
6 x Windy Orkney Flag Stitch Markers – £13
Quiet Space Arts, Orkney
Six polymer clay markers made in Orkney, each shaped as an Orkney flag caught mid-flap in the wind, which anyone who has stood at a flagpole in Kirkwall will recognise as accurate. Three come as 8mm french hook rings that sit on the needle to mark a row, and three as small lobster clasps for marking a stitch or the end of a round, so they cover both jobs. They are light enough not to drag on the work and they slide along without snagging. Posted in a padded envelope by Royal Mail.
Hebridean Knitting Yarn, Aran Weight – £13
The Angry Triangle, Isle of Tiree
This shade comes from Hebridean sheep in Tiree and is 100% pure Tiree wool, worsted spun, which is what gives it that soft, cosy handle once it is worked up. You get roughly 120m in a 100g hank or 60m in a 50g ball, and buying three or more takes 10% off, six or more takes 15% off, so a jumper’s worth is cheaper than a scarf’s worth per gram. The makers will pop a gift note in if you leave one at the checkout. Their own advice on washing it is worth heeding – this is real wool, so look up your machine settings before you get brave.
Knitting Kit for Rabbit Slippers – £25
Colonsay Wool Growers, Isle of Colonsay
A complete kit for baby slippers with rabbit ears, holding enough Colonsay wool for two pairs – one natural grey, one natural cream. Inside are the needles, 100g of Colonsay DK weight wool, the pattern and a sewing needle, so nothing else needs bought. The slippers come out at newborn to three months, roughly 10cm along the foot and 8cm high, in a Blue Faced Leicester and Hebridean blend that is 100% Scottish wool. The maker is honest that some experience is needed – knit and purl, increases and decreases, and sewing up that is simple but fiddly.
Eight islands, eight makers
What ties these together is how short the distance is between the sheep and the parcel. The Coll wool was sheared by the woman who sells it. The Tiree yarn comes off a croft up the road from the tea croft. The Bute fleece was grown in a hill the family has farmed for three generations. For a knitter, that provenance is half the pleasure of the thing – they will want to know where it came from, and here you can tell them.
If none of these are quite right, the full yarn collection has a good deal more to pick from, including hand dyed skeins and undyed island fleece by the hank. The Isle of Tiree page gathers everything made in Tiree if that is the island you are after, and our earlier guide to gifts from Shetland has more for anyone with a soft spot for the northern isles.
Every order goes direct from the maker, so if you have a question about weight, yardage or colour, ask – they are the ones who grew it.
