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

++++++++++

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 

Isle of Auskerry 

Orkney Shepherdess

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!

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