a shetland knitter working on a V-bed machine, photo by
Tom Kidd
Historically Shetlander's have always had to have a few things on the go, originally we were crofters and fishermen and this meant there was always quiet times, be it bad weather, dark nights or rough seas you had to find something to do. In the height of Shetland knitwear fame many homes were equipped with large v-bed knitting machines like the one you see in the picture above for people to combine machine and hand knitting and to earn a bit of extra money. Prior to the Oil Boom of the late 1970s/early 1980's many homes echoed to the sound of the knitting machine.
'
by the mid 1960's, when the local press reported that knitting was beginning to become more profitable than crofting, many Shetland families were encouraged to purchase Passap or Knitmaster machines specifically to turn out sweater bodies, as well as yokes in their own home'
An excerpt from Kate Davies 'Yokes'
Working in one of the many Knitwear factories. Photo: Unknown
With the introduction of oil and all its job opportunities and wealth it was no surprise that locals packed away their knitting machines and took advantage of the Oil Boom and all its rewards. The skills of these cottage industries saw a deep decline, luckily there were still people in Shetland who had these skills and we are lucky to be able to work with some of them.
We have designed a range of traditional Yoke cardigans using both our 2 ply Jumper Weight and Shetland Heritage yarns, we have partnered up with a selection of Shetland knitters to help us produce them - The body and sleeves are hand frame knitted for us by a maker in Whalsay, one of the outlying Islands and then we have a number of local knitters who put in the yokes and finish the garments in their own homes.
The continuation of the Shetland Textile industry is always very important to us, that's why we are ensuring to pay our knitters a good price for doing the work, we understand and appreciate the skills the knitters have and want to pay them rightly for these skills. We have the initial stock available on the website
here but we will be adding to it as colours come back from the knitters.
We are very excited about our new range of garments, and we hope you are too! If you don't fancy buying a ready made yoke the pattern is taken from Sandras'
Hairst Yoke pattern which is available as a kit.
Happy Knitting!
