For more than 500 years the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands have produced some of the finest knitwear imaginable. Given the extremes of weather experienced in the Islands knitwear provided much needed protection from the elements. The incliment weather encourages the unique Shetland sheep to grow a fibre which is softer and lighter in weight than convential wool of its type giving a distinct soft handle to garments knitted from this wool. What began as a necessity has been perfected, refined and adapted over the centuries. Women who ran the croft and home knitted whenever time allowed. It was not an uncommon site to see a woman knitting as she carried peat in a “kishy” or basket from the peat bank to her croft house.
