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One of our favourite designs is our Ebb Tide pattern. It’s a shadow weave that reminds us of the rivulets of water winding their way across the sand when the tide goes out. We’ve used it for scarves, shawls and baby blankets, and for a long time we’ve wanted to weave throws with it too. But scaling the design up to that size on our pedal powered looms is a major technical challenge. We’ve been scratching our heads for years about how to do it, and finally we’ve cracked it. Here’s how …

In a pickle with pick repeats

This might get a bit technical, but we’ll try to keep it simple. Our looms are Griffith Rapier Handlooms, built by Griffith Textiles near Newcastle. They were originally designed for weaving Harris Tweed – something we can’t do because we’re not based in the Outer Hebrides – but they’ve been serving us faithfully here on Skye for many years.

Each of our looms is set up to weave patterns with a 16-pick weft repeat maximum. In plain language, that means after every 16 weft threads going across (the ‘picks’), the same lifting sequence of warp frames repeats. This has nothing to do with colour, but with the structure of the cloth – how the threads cross and interlace. For example, a herringbone pattern looks intricate but is actually only a 4-pick repeat.

Our Ebb Tide pattern has a 16-pick repeat and works beautifully for lighter fabrics. But using the same 16-pick structure for a throw or blanket would have made the fabric too tight and stiff, not soft and flowing as it should be. To fix this, we decided to double up the weft threads and weave a hopsack variation of the pattern. That meant the repeat had to expand to 32 picks – but our looms were only ever built to handle 16 at most.

Doing without a dobbie

For years, we’ve been puzzling over how to get around this limitation. Many modern looms, even handlooms, use an electronic system called a dobbie to lift the frames in different sequences. But we love that our looms are pedal-powered, driven entirely by our feet – no electronics, just mechanics.

In our case, the pattern is controlled by a tappet chain – a loop of shaped metal pieces (tappets) that lift or leave down the warp frames in a set order. For a simple 4-pick herringbone, for example, the chain would tell the loom to lift frames 1 and 2, then 2 and 3, then 3 and 4, then 4 and 1 – and back to the start.

To weave the 32-pick Ebb Tide throws, we needed a chain eight times longer than a herringbone repeat. So, we built an extension to carry the extra weight and added more tappets and fittings. Craig, a very kind and resourceful local high school teacher, redesigned the part that guides the chain through the mechanism and 3D printed a new version for us. It can now carry the much heavier chain – and works beautifully.

On a roll

After all that effort, the modified loom runs perfectly. We’ve already woven several rolls of the new Ebb Tide throws, and the first ones (in grey and white) are already in the shop – and flying off the shelves! We’re now working on a blue and grey version too.

Whether or not you’ve followed every bit of this technical story, we hope you enjoy the results. These throws aren’t just beautiful – they’re also woven from 100% local Isle of Skye wool, making them something we’re truly proud of.

Get a closer look at the process in our short video below. And see the finished product in the Throws & Blankets section of our online shop.

Weaving Ebb Tide Throws

Colour is all around us, and it’s easy to take for granted. But when it comes to weaving, there’s a lot more to colour than you might think. Our new Skye Wool Bell & Ling Tweed is a great example of how colours, and the way they are created, can shape the entire look and feel of a fabric.

Creating colours

We often get our Skye Wool colours custom dyed to achieve the exact effect we want. We work closely with specialist yarn dyers in the Scottish Borders and Yorkshire, who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their craft. They dye for some of the world’s biggest fashion houses but fortunately they’re also happy to work with small artisan producers like us.

When it comes to dyeing wool there are essentially two methods: in the fleece, before spinning; or on the cone, after the yarn has been spun. We use both types depending on the effect we’re looking for.

The new Bell & Ling Tweed is a great example as it combines both methods. For this design we set out to re-create a typical Skye summer hill scene:  two species of heather, Bell and Ling, intermingled amidst deep green leaves.

Cone dyeing

We had the purple Bell and Ling heather colours specially dyed for us using the cone dyeing method. To begin with I took lots of photos of the two types of heather. I then sampled the different colours on the computer and sent them to the dyers to reproduce the two chosen shades on yarn.

Getting the yarn colour right isn’t easy as different base materials (e.g. paper or wool) have a big impact on the final appearance. Light conditions have an effect as well. It takes a lot of skill to weigh up everything and achieve the best possible result. We usually need a couple of samples – a small amount of spun and dyed yarn – before we’re there. Once we’re agreed then the dyers make up a dye vat and immerse the required quantity of yarn in it on special cones. When it’s dyed the yarn is rinsed and wound onto regular yarn cones. And importantly, the dyers will keep our unique colour ‘recipe’ for any future orders.

For our Bell & Ling Tweed we added another layer of colour complexity by twisting together the bright and pale purple yarns. Bell and Ling heathers often grow closely together, and we wanted to re-create that ‘intermingled’ effect by combining the colours before weaving.

‘In the fleece’ dyeing

The green yarn in our Bell & Ling Tweed, representing the leaves of the heather, was dyed for us ‘in the fleece’. For this method the fleeces are first scoured, which teases them apart into smaller tufts of wool. These are then dyed.

The tufts of wool can all be dyed one colour, but more often several colours are used and then the fibres are blended to create the overall desired effect, as we did here.

To start off with I sent the spinners a mood board to show the effect I was trying to achieve. They mixed up colours in different proportions to give me a range of samples showing the colour blends.

After a bit of back and forth we took the necessary leap of faith and settled on a recipe made up of five different colours. The exact combination is secret (even to us!) but as an illustration, 300kg of green yarn might comprise 100kg dark green, 100kg blue green, 50kg light green, 25kg pale red and 25kg tan.

Blending these fibres essentially involves blowing them around in a big chamber to mix them up. This mixture is then fed into the carding machine where the colours get properly blended and equalised. While the final blending creates a more uniform look, the different colour components are still visible in close-up. This gives the final fabric more depth and a three-dimensional feel.

We were thrilled with how these yarns turned out and think the finished tweed perfectly captures the heathery scene. The wool for this tweed is all from local Skye sheep and we liked to think of them wandering the heather covered hill while we were weaving it. It is perfect for garments, curtains, soft furnishings, and upholstery – or anywhere you’d like a hint of Skye’s summer hills in bloom.

We liked this yarn so much we also made it into a ‘plain’ green tweed (though it’s far from plain), called Heathland Tweed.

A word on natural dyes

We’re sometimes asked whether we use natural dyes. The answer is yes, we do! We’ve worked with Skye-based natural dye company Shilasdair and have really enjoyed using their colours for specific projects. We’re planning to do more of this in the future.

However, for the scale we typically work at – dyeing yarn for whole bolts of fabric – natural dyeing isn’t currently feasible. For those larger volumes we work with larger British dyers, who follow the strictest environmental standards. This commitment to environmental responsibility is essential in all dyeing processes, whether natural or synthetic.

Colour is just one of the elements of our tweed design and production journey. You can find out all about all the various processes in our Sheep to Tweed story. To get a closer look at all our tweeds and order samples visit our online shop.

We love making products with local island wool. We’ve shared a few stories about the start of the process – shearing the sheep – and lots about the weaving side of things. So we thought it’s time to shine a light on what happens in the middle: getting from Skye fleece to Skye Wool yarn.

The local sheep are clipped (sheared) in June or July. You can find out more about that in our Summer Clip blog. We use a mixture of white wool from Cheviot sheep, and brown which mainly comes from Hebrideans, Black Cheviot, Zwartbles or Ryeland.

The first step is to collect the fleeces, or people drop them off with us. We buy from more than 30 local crofters and farmers from all around the island. It can involve quite few scenic trips with the trailer, best done on a fine day …

The fleeces then have to be graded. This involves carefully examining each fleece to select the best wool to be spun into our special yarn. Last year we invested in a spacious new shed so we can grade and store all our local fleeces on the croft. It’s big but still fills up fast!

Wool grading is a lengthy but essential process. We’re looking for wool that has a soft handle and good ‘crimp’ to it. Crimp is the fibre’s natural waviness which makes the wool springy and creates pockets of air, great for warmth. The best wool tends to come from the sheep’s side shoulders and the top of the hind legs. The white wool we buy comes from one-year-old sheep, called hoggs, and the brown wool comes from both hoggs and older ewes. The younger the sheep, the better the fleece – so less needs to be removed.

We’ve been learning this ‘on the job’ and getting quicker at it every year, which is good because we’ve steadily increased the amount of wool we’re buying. It’s hard work but I love getting ‘hands on’ with the wool.

We grade out everything that’s not good enough quality.  We remove the ‘kempy’ wool – brittle, coarse, hollow fibre usually located at the lower hind legs (britches). We take out wool that’s heavily coloured with marking paint or tangled with heather, grass or other vegetation. We also remove the belly wool which has short fibres and can be discoloured, and the grotty bits (technical name, ‘daggings’) around the sheep’s bottom. Nice.

None of this goes to waste, mind you. It’s a brilliant mulch on the veg patch. We’re also experimenting with getting some thick, hard-wearing yarn spun for us for use in floor mats.

When we’ve finished grading it’s time to start packing the wool – another long job. We graded over 2000 kilos of wool last year, resulting in a total of 20 bags. No wonder Roger looks happy when it’s done.

The next step is to send the graded fleeces off for washing (also called scouring), carding (separating into individual fibres) and spinning into yarn. We can’t do this locally for the quantities we need so we send it off to a spinning mill in Yorkshire. They do a great job.

Four months or so later the Skye Wool yarn arrives back in Skye, ready for weaving. It’s always an exciting moment! We create four natural shades of by blending white and brown wool in different proportions: all white, all brown, 85/15 white/brown to get a light grey, and 60/40 to get a mid-grey. This gives us a lot of potential for patterns even before getting any of the yarn dyed. Then it’s time to get weaving…

Want to see what we create with this yarn? Have a look at our current Skye Wool products in the online shop and find out more about Skye Wool.

See more in our Fleece to Yarn video

This month’s blog takes a look at a traditional tweed process that is an important part of Scotland’s cultural heritage: waulking.

Waulking (in Gaelic luadh) is an age-old method of hand-finishing newly woven tweed to thicken and soften it. In the Highlands & Islands this work was traditionally done by groups of women, working around a communal table or other flat surface while singing rhythmic ‘waulking songs’ (òrain luaidh). This activity survived in parts of the Hebrides – including in the Minginish peninsula on Skye – until the mid-20th century. Today, though, it is all done by machines.

Many waulking songs have been passed down through the generations, and you can often hear them performed by contemporary Gaelic musicians. Some passionate enthusiasts are taking things further. Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, the Inverclyde Waulking Group, is a remarkable group of women based on the west coast of Scotland. They believe it’s important not only to preserve these songs but to ‘work’ them to bring them alive.

The group gives regular performances combining singing with waulking demonstrations. A good dose of improvisation and gossip are an important part of the mix too. Very occasionally they will ‘work’ a proper raw tweed, which is where we come in. More on that later – but first, what is waulking exactly?

The waulking process

When woollen tweed is fresh off the loom, the weave is quite loose and the fabric can be stiff and rough. The purpose of waulking (or fulling) is to make it softer, thicker and more airtight.

The cloth is first soaked in a liquid called maistir to help set the dye and soften the cloth. Traditionally this would have been stale urine – but Sgioba Luaidh assure us that warm water mixed with ammonia does the job for them!

The wet cloth is then spread around a communal table for waulking. Women sitting around the table pass the cloth around while rhythmically beating it. The songs help keep the rhythm going. There are different songs for different parts of the process. The cloth is always moved clockwise, as anti-clockwise is considered bad luck. Each woman pulls the tweed towards her and then passes it slightly to the left before pushing it back, thumping the cloth on the table at the same time. 

The process takes around three hours, so it’s not surprising that music and gossip is an important element. As co-founder of Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, Frances Dunlop, says: “The whole process was – is – very therapeutic. In the songs you can express your every emotion; the hypnotic thumping of the cloth on the table helps to release all your tensions and frustrations; in the company of your friends you can have a good gossip, and talk over problems. It’s great ‘female bonding’!”

Once the cloth has shrunk by about 20% and the texture feels thick enough, it is time to wash and rinse it.

It’s then squeezed out before going back to the table to be rolled up on to a board. The women work the tweed as they roll to ensure it is straight. This part of the process is accompanied by another set of songs. After one day rolled around the board it is rolled again the other way to ensure it lies flat. Then the tweed is dried properly.

Waulking at Auchindrain Township

We’ve been lucky to collaborate twice with Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, and hope to do more in the future. The most recent was last year at Auchindrain Township in Argyll, where the pictures above were taken. With its restored longhouses, outbuildings and visitor centre this historic farming township is a beautifully preserved evocation of 19th century Highland life.

Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh agreed to hand-finish a 10 metre length of our Skye Wool tweed. I was lucky to join in the process, though I admit not for the full three hours. I also excused myself from the singing! It was a very special experience. Working alongside these amazing women in a hands-on process that truly involves all the senses, I felt a powerful connection to the past.  

Have a look at our video to see the journey from raw tweed to finished roll.

Our previous collaboration was a few years ago when the group gave a waulking demonstration with one of our first ever lengths of Skye Wool. Our short film of that event is one of our most popular videos – watch it on YouTube.

Our hand-waulked tweeds

For obvious reasons it’s not practical to hand-finish the bulk of our tweeds today. Today this job is done for us by Schofield Dyers and Finishers in the Scottish Borders. You can find out about the process in the ‘sheep to tweed’ section of our website.

So the small lengths of hand-waulked tweed that resulted from our two collaborations with Sgioba Luiadh Inbhirchluaidh really are special. We knew we had to use them to create something exceptional – but what?

We struck on the idea of using them to make hand-fasting ribbons.  Hand-fasting is a traditional Celtic ritual that symbolises a couple’s commitment to each other and is now a popular addition to many Scottish wedding and civil partnership ceremonies. Imbued with tradition, and very limited edition, our hand-waulked tweed seems the perfect way to ‘tie the knot’.

We’ve created two versions of the handfasting ribbon – the Green Herringbone version you can see here, and a Natural Diamond Twill version using the tweed from our earlier collaboration.

If you’d like to hear some traditional waulking songs have a browse through Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches, a rich online resource dedicated to audio recordings of Scotland’s cultural heritage. And to find out more about waulking,  Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh’s website is a great place to start. Even better, check out their forthcoming events to watch Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh in action!

“But what do you do in winter?!” That’s a question we often get asked by our visitors during the summer months. And the middle of January seems a good time to try and answer it!

Winter can be challenging here as anywhere, but there are plenty of compensations. It’s actually Roger’s favourite season – he was definitely designed for northern climes. Being surrounded by sea we don’t get as much snow as the Scottish mainland but things do generally ice up for a week or two each year. This can be a bit tricky when it comes to manoeuvring up and down our drive.

Of course the winter is when the mountain scenery really comes into its own. Seeing the first snows on the Cuillins is always a wonderful moment. As we love getting into the hills we always keep an eye on the weather and try to make most of the sunshine. Being the quieter season in terms of visitors means we have a bit more flexibility to go for it when we see a weather window and the perfect patch of snow. 

Short days mean long nights – not so great for walking, but brilliant for getting on with the weaving. The workshop can be quite the hive of activity after dark. Photographer Andrew Tobin captured this perfectly when he visited us recently for his book ‘Skye At Night’. Here’s a peek at some of his photos, to be published next year.

As weavers we can’t write a blog about the winter without mentioning the best bit: it’s a chance to wrap up in woolly warmth. Our local sheep know a thing or two about keeping cosy in the cold and we love dreaming up new ways of using the gorgeous warm fleeces they provide us with every year. Have a look at our Skye Wool page to see how we work with local farmers to make the most of this natural and renewable resource.

If you’re tempted by a winter visit to Scotland have a read of this Visit Scotland article for some hints and tips. Andrew Tobin’s book will be published in 2025 with the profits going to Skye Mountain Rescue. Find out more on the Skye At Night website.