Hello, I’m Alison Rendall. I am Shetland born and bred, and my family are native Shetlanders for countless generations on both sides of the family. I grew up in the 1960 and 70’s in a pre-oil era where many of the Shetland ways of life remained largely untouched by progress, surrounded by expert knitters whom I completely took for granted, of course! I have been knitting since the age of about 5 years, originally taught by my Nan and went on to learn Fair Isle knitting at school at about age 8 years. Since then, it is colourwork knitting that interests me and I enjoy working out new colour combinations in the many beautiful colours available in Shetland wool. I am inspired by Shetland, its people, landscape and language. I was honoured to be Shetland Wool Week Patron in 2023 and used this opportunity to play my small part in promoting and safeguarding Shetland knitting, history and culture.

 

During my year as Patron I decided early in the year to highlight the special product that is Shetland ‘oo’ and make a point of learning more about the hard work that goes into rearing animals. I visited our friend and neighbour Hubert Moar who knows everything there is to know about native Shetland sheep. I followed a lamb on his farm from its birth to the shearing of its mothers fleece a few months later. It was during one of those visits that we set about creating our own yarn, the main criteria being that it had to be the highest quality pure wool from native Shetland sheep breed. Hundreds of sheep were freshly shorn, fleeces were hand selected, picked clean and packed into bags. Some were set aside for their beautiful natural colours and others were sent for dyeing. The result is a fine ‘wirset’ producing fine gauge Fair Isle knitting in shades that compliment my knitting perfectly. 

 

 

Murrister wirset - Shetland born and bred.

 

 

Glossary

Oo - wool

Wirset - yarn that has been spun and is ready to use