Shetland Wool Week

Stitch Stools

And here they are... Stitch Stools made of Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Weight by Claire-Anne O'Brien.

Go see at Wool Modern, La Galleria, Pall Mall, London.

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The Cunningsburgh Show

    

A mammoth photo post of the Cunningsburgh Show this Wednesday. 

1.Entrance to the Wool tent  2, 3, 4.Oliver's fleece judging skills put to the test again 5, 6, 7. Some prize winning Shetland Sheep 8. Charlie Simpson and a herring feast 9. Cool footgear and a woolly dog 10, 11. More beautiful Shetland Sheep posing for the camera 12. Tractor love 13, 14. Elizabeth Johnson of Shetland Handspun's beautiful things 15 and 16. Yummy wool in the sun (which decided to make an appearance after weeks of grey, woop woop). 

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Love Wool UK

Jamieson & Smith are delighted to be a part of Love Wool UK - a free style celebration of wool that any individual or group can take part in, just by signing up. 

We've specially commissioned two patterns for free download, which you get as a lovely little present by signing up here.

1&2 Inga Scarf in Shetland Chunky 3&4 Sissal gloves in 2 Ply Jumper Weight

The future for Shetland Wool...

Shetland Wool in the Wool Store at Jamieson & Smith Shetland Wool Brokers

OK, so because of the increase in wool prices this year our yarn prices will be rising as of January.  For UK customers, this will coincide with the rise in VAT to 20%.

As it stands, this is a bit of a pest for customers. But that's not the whole story. The rise in wool prices is such good news for crofters and farmers all over the world, and has come about through hard work and initiatives like The Campaign for Wool. More and more, we are all coming back to a place where we see the incredible benefits, environmental and otherwise, of natural wool for use in our clothes, carpets and furnishings. 

The rise in wool prices is extra good for Shetland, because Shetland Sheep are in such decline (the total number of sheep has fallen by 28% over the last 10 years). Low wool prices is one of many challenges to the future of the breed so to help ensure that keeping pure bred Shetland Sheep in Shetland is viable, we paid our wool producers a much higher price per kilo this year. We were able to do this because of all our lovely yarn and knitwear customers, who know just how good Real Shetland Wool is! The crofting and textiles industries, and Shetland Sheep, are really important to Shetland in so many ways including culture, heritage, economic development, even the Shetland dialect!

So, this price increase will come into effect on the 4th January. All orders placed online until the 4th January will be charged at the current prices. When the online shop is updated on the 4th, the new rate will automatically come into effect. 

We will be away on our holidays over this period, but will start posting all of these orders off on our return on the 5th January.

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HRH

On Tuesday of this week Prince Charles was gifted with a Shetland Rug and a scarf of Shetland Lace, hand-knitted by Mary Kay in Jamieson & Smith 1ply Shetland Supreme.

Prince Charles with his undyed Shetland rug. He'll be cosy this winter!