A Yarn tour of Edinburgh and the Woolly Good gathering yarn festival
In this post I’ll be sharing my recent experience of touring the yarn shops of Edinburgh and visiting the Woolly Good Gathering yarn festival.
Here’s a peek at my yarn haul to whet your appetite…
Why I visited Edinburgh as a yarn lover
Over the past few years, myself and a couple of designer friends have begun getting together to visit yarn shows and spend some time sharing our designer experiences, tips, trials and ideas.
It’s become a really useful and inspiring annual tradition. This year we went further afield than ever and visited Edinburgh for the Woolly Good Gathering Yarn festival.
Edinburgh is a city bursting with creative energy and more yarny goodness than you can waggle your crochet hook at. As well as the Scottish traditions related to fibre, from cashmere to tweed and houndstooth to all the tartans, Edinburgh has lots of independent yarn shops. Naturally we took the time to explore some of them whilst we were there.
I’ve pinned the places we visited on the map below, including 4 yarn shops and the site of the Woolly Good yarn show.
Independent yarn shops in Edinburgh
We visited four yarn shops whilst we were in Edinburgh. But it’s also worth mentioning that there were a number of other wool clothing shops which also sold Scottish yarn from local breed sheep, spinners and mills. It is pretty hard to go far in Edinburgh without stumbling over some gorgeous wool in some shape or form.
Below is my mini review of the shops we visited during the tour, listed in order of visiting. Mainly they’re located in the suburb type areas of the city, but all were walking distance (half an hour at most) from the centre, where we were staying.
I’ve also listed what I bought from each shop. Everything was purchased with my own money – no freebies here – I bought it because I loved it or wanted to try it out. I’m working on a video of my full yarn haul so you can see it all together. Watch this space and make sure you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel to see it first.
If you want to see the live motion version of the tour, you can also check out the Crochet Studio Session podcast episode which talks about the whole trip.
Be Inspired Fibres
Be Inspired Fibres Yarn Shop was the most fabulous Aladin’s cave of yarn.
With yarns stacked from floor to ceiling, it was a veritable buffet. It’s probably not for everyone because it involved a bit of rooting around to uncover all the different treasures and the categorisation was tenuous at best.
That said, the cosy space was an antithesis to all of the instagram perfection you see online. It was a hardy yarn lover’s dream in many ways. The kind of space where you could accidentally stumble into yarn-Narnia.
The lady who owned it was the key to it all really. She knew where to find anything you could want. I was looking for some fluffy lace weight yarn, either alpaca or mohair and she immediately recommended a few options, pointing them out in the store, most of which were also new brands to me.
Discovering new yarn brands and fibres is one of my favourite things about shopping at independent yarn shops. (As well as supporting small businesses based on personal passions of course.)
The shop had a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and we chatted to lots of the other customers as we squeezed past each other between the yarn towers.
I bought two balls of Isager Alpaca 1. This was on my list as I am using it for a current project and needed a couple more balls. I’m working with the undyed version so fortunately didn’t need to risk mismatching dye lots!
The Fibre Yard
The Fibre Yard was the second yarn store we visited and it was an absolute delight.
It’s been open less than a year (at time of visiting) and was beautifully organised without feeling overly curated. It had a warm and relaxed feel, with a sofa for crafting and a daylight lamp so you could really see what colours the yarns are.
Speaking of colour, they had a huge range from brights (my faves) to neutrals and more muted tones. They seemed to have colour ranges for everyone’s taste, but still made it look coherent, which is no mean feat.
I had to take a picture of this Norewegian wool called ‘Troll’ wool for my bff since birth, who does not knit or crochet but is half Norwegian, and whose Norsk mum has always loved a troll ornament.
I came across more new yarn brands here – different ones to the previous location – and fell in love with a fair few of them… In particular, Kaos yarns, which I had been eyeing up online previously, was the one that took my heart, and my money!
I bought quite a bit of the Kaos brushed alpaca laceweight which I plan to use in a forthcoming crochet design. This isn’t the final pallet I went with but gives you a good idea of what I have in mind.
Below you can see it worked up into a (knitted) sample swatch… how could I leave something that makes something that pretty in the shop?
I really felt the joy and woolly enthusiasm in this shop. The owner was so welcoming and knowledgable and I just felt at home right away.
Here is a snap or myself, Rosina from Zeens and Roger and Fay from Fay DH designs (who I was touring with) looking like excited kids after our purchases.
Ginger Twist Studio
Ginger Twist studio was the last visit of the first day.
They were having a late night opening to celebrate the Woolly Good Gathering coming to town and had also organised a knit night in a nearby cafe (which we were sadly too late and too hungry to make it to).
This shop was an absolute feast for the eyes and for hands primed for squishing yarn. The bright rainbow of sweaters and un-wound hanks of yarn hanging out created such a unique display.
Ginger twist sells their own hand dyed yarns, seen in the pictures, as well as lots of other interesting third party yarns.
Hanks, skeins and balls of yarn were stacked floor to ceiling and, once again, I discovered some new-to-me fibre blends and brands.
I had great fun chatting to one staff member in particular who blew me away with their knowledge of the fibres (turns out they were also a spinner).
Because I am still learning all about different fibres and methods of spinning and whatnot, I really value shops with assistants who know their Masham (another new fave fibre) from their Corriedale and their S twists from their Z twists (and the wobbly one in between that I learned about but can’t remember the name of).
This shop also sold fabric and had a haberdashery area in a kind of open back room, so it was nice to see a wider selection of goods.
Ginger Twist felt quite knit-centric. I think we only saw one crochet sample in the whole place, but crochet was discussed enthusiastically, so perhaps that representation will begin to shift with time (as I’ve started to see in other shops over the past few years).
I ended up buying a yarn ball shaped tape measure (because you can never have too many tape measures) and a 50g skein of Kinross 4 ply.
This Kinross was a super interesting yarn which is made a little different. The process leaves more of the lanolin oil in the fibre. This means that when it’s washed (i.e. when you block it) it blooms beautifully as the fibres are released… I’m paraphrasing the techniques here, but I’m looking forward to playing with it to see if I understood it correctly!
Once we finished at Ginger Twist, we went to get some food at a place they recommended (in a building that used to be a public toilet no less) and then crashed out for the evening in our apartment in the centre of the city.
Kathy’s Knits Yarn Shop
Day two saw us visit the 4th and final yarn shop, which was on the way to the festival. That was Kathy’s knits.
This felt like more of a traditional yarn shop. More widely available yarns as well as some gorgeous local Scottish wools too. This gave it wide ranging price points, so is great for a variety of budgets.
It was a cosy space with had tons of books and magazines as well as yarn. Kathy was very knowledgeable, particularly about a new yarn that had just come in which got Fay all excited.
Here’s Rosina having a browse through the Journal of Scottish yarn (a great publication which doesn’t shy away from crochet like many of the more fancy knitting magazines).
I didn’t buy anything here in the end, mostly because I was too excited about getting to the show. But I am still thinking about how much I loved all the slightly flecked colours in this J.C. Rennie & Co yarn. I was just a little ‘crunchy’ for me!
The Woolly Good Gathering Yarn Show
And finally, around Saturday lunch time, we arrived at the main event. It was time to squish the yarn!
About WoolyGood Gathering
The yarn festival is spread over two days, run by local yarn lovers (including the team behind Moorit Magazine) with a focus on community as well as the quality and range of the vendors.
Their website tags it as ‘the Edinburgh Festival for knitters, crocheters and yarn lovers‘ and I think that’s a great aspiration.
I loved how inclusive it was of crochet – as many yarn shows are heavily focused on knitting and crochet only gets a casual glance. You see the independent Moorit crochet magazine stand pictured below.
There really was a great community spirit over both days. It felt very relaxed, though the Saturday morning felt a bit overwhelmingly busy at times.
If you prefer a calmer browsing experience then give the first couple of hours a swerve. This isn’t specific to woolly good. Afternoons are always more relaxed and spacious at every yarn festival I’ve ever been to.
There was a huge array of independent vendors, fibre related talks, pop up vendors, misic, good food and overall just a great atmosphere.
The Yarns and my purchases
There was such a great range of yarns at the show. There was definitely more of a focus on showcasing Scottish yarns and vendors which, for a southern thing like me, was really refreshing.
I really learned by squishing a lot of it, how soft Shetland and other Scottish wools can be. You don’t have to buy merino to get soft wool…
Some of my current favourite vendors were there including Mammie and Florrie and Knotted by Nish for all the brights, and Zakami yarns for the soft and more muted tones.
I bought some laceweight brushed merino from Knotted by Nish. If you look at my haul picture (at the start or towards the end of this page) it’s the big hank with the bold pinks. The colourway is called Amour… and love it I did. She had a sample sweater of it knitted doubled up with four ply and it was the dreamiest thing!
Brushed merino is a great alternative for those who love the idea of fluffy yarn but don’t get along with either mohair or alpaca. I’ve been wanting to get my hands on some of this since yarndale last year so wen’t straight for it. I also learned that they make it by brushing out merino boucle – who knew!!?
As well as some familiar sights, there were also loads of vendors who I had never come across before. This is what really gets me excited at these shows.
One which caught my eye was The Border Mill. Their yarn is made in Scotland and they use Rose Fibres in their blends. You read that right. Rose!
This blew my mind and I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day, so I went back at the end of the day and bought two 50g skeins of their Border Mill Alpaca Rose blend.
I love that they, and indeed many other vendors, have started offering yarn in smaller hanks. Hand dyed and boutique yarns can be expensive, so buying a smaller, 50g hank will get you enough to make a small accessory and makes it a slightly more accessible way to try out new yarns.
Minis offer this option too of course, but you’re more limited to what you can create with a single mini. (Though if you have lots of them then you could go for my Mitred Minis pattern… excuse the gratuitous plug!)
I did buy a couple of other non-yarn bits whilst I was there, which included a knitting pattern from Fibre workshop (I know, knitting!) and a ‘doodle deck’ of cards from For the Love of Yarn, each card has a fun colourwork chart, so it’s like a power pack of inspiration. Oh and I grabbed a cute tote bag from the show merch stall to carry it all home.
Workshops and Talks
On top of all the yarn, notions and potions that were on offer, the festival also had an extensive schedule of workshops and talks which you could book in advance.
We had just booked on to one talk which was titled ‘The History of Crochet in 100 Objects.’
I’m so glad that we did. It was an absolutely fascinating talk by Eleanor Gilchrist who is doing a PHD on the subject. She has spent a lot if time investigating where crochet appeared, how the tools evolved, when the first patterns (if you can call them that) were written and how the craft grew and spread.
I discuss this more in my Studio Session Podcast (Episode 8), but safe to say I, and everyone else in the packed out room, learned a lot. I do hope that eventually she puts all her work into a book.
This talk really felt like a crochet cherry on top of what was an absolutely wonderful festival. It really did have everything you could ask for of a yarn show, except perhaps an unlimited budget…
Final Thoughts on Edinburgh as a (Yarn) City
If you hadn’t guessed. I absolutely fell in love with Edinburgh. I have visited the city a few times in the past, but not for around 20 years. The first time, I played during the festival in a steel band… but that’s a whole other story!
Edinburgh just had such good energy. The activities and company probably had a lot to do with it, but I loved how the yarn shops took us off the beaten tourist track into smaller creative communities.
Coming from the not too dissimilar (but also very different) tourist city of Cambridge, I can sometimes be a bit dismissive of the classic sight seeing areas and attractions. Although we did do some of these whilst we were there, and they were great, I was just much more interested in the creative side of the city.
I know very little about the areas we visited, but in particular where Be Inspired was located and Stockbridge, where the show was, just had really strong community energy. I’m sorry I don’t have a more tangible way to describe it, but I’ll just share that I looked at their property prices on rightmove on the way home…
I would love to go back for longer. But not sure my bank balance would support that any time soon… especially as I also accidentally bought a Harris tweed coat whilst I was there. And yes, it’s pink.
I mean, when in Edinburgh… wool… right?
Whilst on our wanders around the city, we also got to stop in on some of other wooly shops and stumbled across a lovely makers market, as well as taking a walk along the famous Royal Mile up to the castle. So before I sign off, I thought I’d share a few last images of some of the inspiration I got from outside of the show and the yarn shops… there was a lot of colourwork, a lot of colour, a lot of stroking fabric and a lot of squeals, ooohs and ahhhs… it was great 🙂
And Like I said, we had to take a quick visit to see the castle. I wasn’t mad that we got there as the sun was starting to set either… It’s a proper fairytale castle on the top of a hill too.
Before I knew it, my 60 odd hours in Edinburgh were done and I was winging (literally) my way back down south. The view from the plane felt like the perfect end to an inspiring, exhausting and woolly good escape.
I hope to see you again next year Edinburgh.
Until then.
Happy Hooking
Dx
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