A growing online community has helped bring back to life an old island craft that has been teetering on the brink of extinction for decades.
Shetland lace knitting is an integral part of the islands’ cultural heritage but is on the red list of the charity Heritage Crafts’ old British skills that are at risk of being lost forever. Shetland lace knitting has been classed as endangered since 2021.
Elizabeth Williamson, 46, is one of the few Shetlanders that still makes her living from making and tutoring in Shetland lace knitting techniques.
A lace stole. The fabric is made up of wool from Shetland sheep
SHETLAND MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
Williamson learnt to knit when she was three, and to make complex Shetland lace at ten years old from her mother Betsy, who learnt from her mother.
“In Shetland, we have a whole
