Ready for an adventure? Join us for a vintage knitting retreat in the Shetland Isles! Led by Fiber Ambassador Sydney Crabaugh of Squid’s School of Vintage Knitting, we’ll spend 8 of our 10 days weaving through this incredibly unique cluster of islands rich with knitting history. Initially gathering for one night in Aberdeen, we’ll have a wee tour of Aberdeenshire before flying off all together to Shetland! We will leave no stone unturned as we wander through the north, south, east, and west of these magnificent islands. From time spent in the museums to exploring ancient archaeological sites, a fair isle design workshop to walks along the scenic cliffs and seaside, there is something for everyone on this tour! Joined periodically by local guides and Shetland knitwear designer Ella Gordon, you will find yourself immersed in Shetland culture from past to present. Both lodgings on Shetland have been chosen for their distinct history and charm, including a 16th century laird homestead! With delicious local food, visits with sheep, and plenty of yarn, you and your fellow knitting enthusiasts will leave the island a Shetland expert. 

To Register 

A Registration Form and a non-refundable $1000 deposit are required to join the trip. Once you submit your online registration and deposit payment is received, your spot on the tour is secure. See our Terms & Conditions HERE.

Have questions? Please contact us at info@rowantreetravel.com

This trip needs at least 10 participants in order to proceed (i.e. the trip is "guaranteed"). We strongly advise you to wait to purchase your flights until the trip is guaranteed by us to go forward. Unless otherwise stated, our regular Terms and Conditions apply to this trip and for any cancellations (click here to see our Terms and Conditions).

Tour Activity Level 

We would describe this trip as a Woolly Wander.

Mobility Comfort Level = Mobility Level 2+

The tour includes a nature walk of 1-5 miles which can be either shortened or skipped in favor of relaxed knitting time. There will also be archaeological sites with uneven ground and some accommodations with no ground floor rooms or elevators.

Review our Tour Activity and Mobility Comfort Levels here.

Travel Insurance 

Rowan Tree Travel highly recommends purchasing travel insurance. You may purchase through our preferred partner Arch RoamRight by clicking here or through your own provider.

Arranging Your Flights 

In order to gather easily for the tour, we provide an arrival and departure "window" at a major transportation hub - typically an international airport at your destination country. Flights scheduled outside the provided windows may result in additional transportation costs and missed tour activities. For this reason, we greatly appreciate your cooperation in booking travel that accommodates our specifications. Please do not purchase airfare until the tour is guaranteed by RTTF to go forward.

Please Note the Following 

Rowan Tree Travel reserves the right to alter any part of this itinerary in order to address weather conditions, unforeseen circumstances or to improve the participant experience.

ABERDEEN

Welcome to Scotland!  Our adventure begins in Aberdeen, two hours northeast of Edinburgh! We’ll have time this day to get to know one another and do a bit of sightseeing around Aberdeen, the most populated place we’ll be for a while.  Let’s roam through a couple local shops or museums and soak in the delights of Scotland. We will have a welcome dinner all together this evening before resting our heads at our beautiful hotel in downtown Aberdeen. 

SHETLAND & LERWICK

We’ve made it to Shetland! After arriving at the airport, we'll make our way up north to our home for the next three nights. This historic wooden hotel sits overlooking the bay; take a stroll and try to spot some seals before we come together for dinner.

Our first full day in will be in Lerwick, the most populated city in Shetland - a whopping 7,500 residents. There will be some free time to explore Lerwick in between a trip to the Shetland Textile Museum and Jamieson & Smith, the mothership of Shetland wool! Surrounded by countless colors of yarn, you will be led through an afternoon workshop learning how to design your own vintage fair isle beret using true-vintage Shetland motifs and patterns! You’ll have guidance with color choices, chart ideas and beret construction, but now is your moment to be the yarn artist and bring your own vintage creation to life! 

LERWICK

Choose your own adventure!  Since yesterday was a jam-packed day, we choose to start things off slowly today. Enjoy a lie-in or a leisurely breakfast down in the restaurant this morning, or perhaps get a few rows of knitting in! In the late morning we will meet up to walk around the corner to the Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary, a non-profit organization that gives aid to injured or abandoned otters and seals. We will get to know about all the amazing work they do on Shetland, and say "hi" to whoever is currently residing in their care.

From here, you can choose to stay back and relax at the hotel with your knitting, or you can join in for a guided hike around Hillswick Circle! This walk will be approximately 5 hours, with 5 miles / 7-8km walked in total, including a lunch break in between and stops for photos along the way. This is classified as a "moderate" walk, with rough terrain at times and some steep inclines, but nevertheless with breathtaking views of the island. We'll meet back up at the hotel for dinner all together and can share stories from our day! 

SCALLOWAY

We have a full day of fun ahead of us! We will bid farewell to St. Magnus and start our journey in Scalloway at the only organic Shetland sheep farm on the island: Uradale farm. Ronnie will meet with us to give a talk about contemporary sheep farming on Shetland.  We'll have a meet-and-greet with the sheep before getting some time to shop the Uradale yarn.  Believe me, you’ll want to have a shopping list at the ready before looking at all of their stunning, special colorways made from the sheep visible just out the window!  Next, we'll meet with Joanna Hunter, a contemporary Shetland knitwear designer with a rich family history of knitters. She’ll talk to us about vintage knitwear on the island.

With the original house built in 1588, our next hotel boasts a rich and lively history with the families that have resided there over the centuries. We will get to roam the halls and have cozy evenings for knitting in the “long drawing room” after some fabulous meals made in-house over our final days in Shetland. Perhaps we’ll even encounter a ghostly knitter! Ella Gordon will join us with a huge collection of vintage Shetland knitwear for us to ogle over! 

LERWICK & HOSWICK

We are back to the "big city" today for a bit more exploring! In between free time in Lerwick for shopping and site-seeing, we will also dive into the history of Shetland knitwear. At the Shetland Museum & Archives, we'll be taken through a private, guided tour of the knitwear exhibited at the museum - which houses hundreds of years worth of knitting history. Hearing about the varied and rich history of knitting on the Shetland Isles is sure to inspire us to cast on about 10 new projects afterward (thank goodness there is a yarn shop nearby). 

A slight drive down the coastline will bring us to Hoswick, where we will explore the visitor center with its historical knitting and textile artifacts on display, as well as some artisan shops from local knitwear designers and jewelry makers. We'll then enjoy a very tasty dinner in downtown Lerwick before heading back for some sippin' and knittin'!  

UNST

It’s time to head to the most northerly part of Scotland: the island of Unst! We’ll be joined by a local guide for the day as we slowly make our way northward, stopping for a cuppa in Yell before the short ferry ride to Unst. Here we’ll travel way back in time to the Viking era, and explore the Unst Viking project with in-person demonstrations of what viking life would have been like. Lunch will be at the delightful Victoria’s Vintage Tearoom before we go to the Unst Visitor Centre that showcases intricate and awe-inspiring displays of antique Shetland lace. If we're lucky, we may even get to spend some time with the renowned knitters who live on Unst! 

ABERDEEN

Our last days in Shetland, then back to Aberdeen!  We are down to the final days here, but we are going to make the most of them! There are a few more sites to visit during the day, and then we have a treat in store! After dinner this evening, we'll regroup in the Long Room for some live traditional Shetland folk music. Bring along your knitting and a dram while listening to the lovely tunes of the island. Perhaps we can even lure a troll or two out to listen along with us! 

Then the time has come to leave for a final adventure through Lerwick and the south of Shetland. Conveniently near the airport is the gorgeous, historic area of Jarlshof where there will be time to explore the ruins and feel like an archeologist. We'll then eat a delicious lunch at the Sumburgh Hotel before we set off for the airport. With full hearts and even fuller suitcases we will bid our final goodbyes to the island, and take the short plane journey back to Aberdeen where we’ll stay for the night.

Farewell! 

Sadly we will bid farewell this morning and send you all on your merry way. Thank you for a wonderful trip! 

Sydney is a voracious knitter, designer, and knitwear historian. She has been knitting and studying fashion history for over fifteen years and recently turned her passions into a career at Squid's School of Vintage Knitting, an online school devoted to the education and love of historical knitwear. Her work in the knitting world is also supplemented by her academic background in film history, and she tries to combine the two as often as possible. In collaboration with Rowan Tree Travel, Sydney works to develop tours that have a historical or vintage bent, often with elaborately themed and niche activities! With over ten years of working in the fiber industry, Sydney continues to love meeting other knitters and sharing fiber experiences with them more than anything else. You can find her at patreon.com/squidschool or over on instagram as @squidneyknits. 

Anna is an avid knitter and fledgling spinner with a general passion for all things fiber and textile. After being intimidated early in her crafting, Anna feels strongly about creating a welcoming environment within the fiber community for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. She enjoys knitting and fiber traveling, test and service knitting, a good challenge (knitting or otherwise), and is likely to have at least 3 WIPs at any one time. She lives with her husband and three fur babies (dogs) in Minnesota.