Jamieson & Smith Shetland Wool Brokers Ltd

90 North Road, Lerwick, Shetland Islands, U.K.

Get Real Shetland
100% Pure Wool from the Shetland Islands

Mail Order specialist suppliers of high quality Shetland Knitting Yarns, Shetland Wool, blended Shetland Lace, Raw Fleece, Tops, Knitting Patterns, Lace and Wool Knitting Kits and Hand Knitting Accessories.

Organic Wool

A significant number of Shetland 's Sheep are hill grazed and enjoy pastures that are mainly free from man made chemicals, fertilisers and other pollutants.
In addition to this, Shetland 's farmers and crofters have traditionally used only a miniscule amount of man made fertilisers on their crops and fields, preferring to manage their land in a way that allows nature to do the job for them.
This also allows the 'park sheep' to enjoy a largely natural diet.

However, unlike a number of other businesses, we are reluctant to try and classify our products as 'organic' for the following reasons.

• We cannot control the methods employed by individual wool growers who may (or may not) be certified as an 'organic' producer
• The wool producers, themselve's would find it impossible to totally control the sheep' s diet.
• The wool producers sometimes add to the sheep 's diet using various commercial supplements.
• Before shearing the fleece, all animals are treated (either by 'dipping' or 'spotting') in order to remove parasites.  This process uses chemical treatments which, whilst they have no effect on the animal, are best avoided by humans.
• All raw fleece has to be cleaned (scoured) before it can be processed.  This, obviously, involves the use of chemicals applied on an industrial scale.
• Nearly all yarn is dyed during processing. 

For those that require a 'natural' product we offer our 'Shetland 2000' range of yarns which, whilst not totally organic, are about as close as you can get commercially.
If your preference is for a 'coloured' yarn, we also stock the Yarns International' range of knitting yarns that have been dyed using natural products.

Readers might also be interested in our 'A trip to Papa' page which describes, using photographs, a not untypical day in the life of a Shetland farmer shearing part of his flock