snàth handspun yarns
island handspun yarns and handknits made in the Scottish Hebridean Isle of Islay
Snàth in Islay’s Scottish Gaelic means thread or yarn, and snàth olan means woollen yarn. In a sense, this also relates to the threads of tradition, continuing the long history of handspun woollen yarns in the Scottish Highlands and Islands made using locally grown wool fleeces.
My wool and luxury fibre yarns are made mainly from wool fleeces produced by neighbours on Islay’s farms. After shearing, fleeces are collected then sorted, washed, carded and finally handspun by me on vintage spinning wheels in my farm cottage.
Reflecting the colours of the island’s landscapes and seascapes which inspire my work, specialist hand-dyed fibres such as fine wools, silks and alpaca produced by local/Scottish producers or small independent UK dyers are blended with local wools to create these unique yarns.
Individually designed handspun yarns or handknits may be specially commissioned. Enquiries are very welcome; please contact me using the form below. Unfortunately, due to the complexities of export regulations for a small business, yarns or knitted items can only be sent to UK addresses.
Thank you to all who visited my blog after Kate Davies published her book of knitting patterns and more; “Inspired by Islay”. It was really fun and interesting to work on a piece in the book, telling the story of historic and current textile work in the island. Working with Kate was a pleasure.
One of my resolutions for 2018 has been to update this blog more regularly with handspinning news from Snàth. Do please check back again soon, as I’ll be posting photos of newly spun yarns for sale in 2018 and other woolly projects as they are developing.
