Weaving, Yarn, Sheep & Crofts. Textile travel in Scotland

Try googling Weavers in Scotland - it brings up lots of places and ideas for you to consider.

A few ideas.

1. A day trip to Harris from where? Not really possible from any location. It's a very large island Lewis & Harris. There's a big Harris tweed shop in Tarbert by the ferry. Also check out the Harris Tweed authority web site.

2. In Shetland there is an excellent textiles museum in Lerwick and plenty of accommodation choices in Lerwick too. Check out the Visit Scotland website for accommodation.

3. In Skye we have Skye Weavers who are incredibly knowledgeable and will talk you through and show you the entire process and even let you have a go on their bicycle powered loom. You can also visit Island at the Edge which is a working croft and spinner.

See also this thread- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/scotland/shetland-wool-week

The Isle of Harris isn't really a day trip from anywhere, even Skye, except maybe North Uist.

Harris and Lewis are linked islands- basically one Island, which is Harris at the South end (where the ferries from Skye and North Uist arrive) and Lewis at the north end (where the airport is, and the ferries from mainland Scotland arrive- both at Stornoway).

There are plenty of places to stay, to suit all budgets, on both islands.

I don't know if you have seen this website- https://www.harristweed.org/

On Shetland the great choice to make is where to stay- it is a much bigger place than you might think- see https://www.shetland.org/visit

I don't know why you are under the impression you can't weave tartan without a Scottish ancestry.

Not weaving, but definitely textile-related, is the Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels. An incredible work of art, history, and community. It is an easy train ride from Edinburgh of about an hour.

You should make a concerted effort to visit Stirling Castle , in order to see the recreated set of Unicorn tapestries . This project took over a decade to execute and is stunningly beautiful . A bit of the story here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Castle and a short video - https://youtu.be/qTRXUBht1z4?si=4z4j43MFic2NC3Eo

I was on Orkney for a week in August with a small group tour. We went to Hoswick to the Visitor Center there to have a presentation from the ladies on life on Orkney as both had lived there their entire lives. Both in their 70's I think and both are life-long knitters. The Visitor Center has a craft goods section and the folks there are very talkative! If you do include Orkney, I'd recommend dropping in there. There are a couple other textile shops in Hoswick, one was open the afternoon we were there, the other was closed. I

On Shetland we also visited the Croft House Museum which was interesting but it didn't have anything really related to textiles that I can remember. I ducked into a craft shop in Scalloway which was right next to a takeaway coffee place. In looking at googlemaps the photos were taken in 2015 so not current. There is also a really nice craft place on the main pedestrian shopping street in Lerwick. Again the googlemap street view is old and out of date but it's showing a store in that location as The Shetland Art Company. I ate in a restaurant that is located right next to it but is newer than 2015.

On Shetland, I enjoyed our hotel but it was pretty far out of town (near the Tingwall Airport) although ideally located for all the day trips we were doing. If I were there on my own, I'd probably stay closer in to town.

I also suggest you search on FB for shetland knitters. I just came across a FB page from someone who I think knitted the headband I purchased in Scalloway, lol. It is the same design she is using.

I'm not sure what time of year you are planning, but there is a Wool Week festival in Shetland the last of September which looks like fun even for those of us who are not artisans!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/scotland/shetland-wool-week

I wouldn't put tartan up on such a pedestal to be honest. Your interests in Harris Tweed and working with Scottish wool in other ways are much truer to the real Scottish traditions than tartan, or what it has become post - Queen Victoria.

We went on a tour of outer Hebrides this past summer in June. One of the highlights was visiting and watching and talking with a weaver. I can’t remember his name right now. (I am in Denver airport headed home right now, have to look at my notes). He demonstrated the weaving process. Then we also visited a tweed factory from start to finish the process of Harris tweed. We stayed at the Harris hotel on Harris.

As others mentioned…. Follow Shetland wool week on Facebook.

I two was in Shetland 2010 and 2022. I took the same Tour as Pam

You would probably have to fly over to an airport on the OH. We flew into Barra and back from stornoway via Glasgow

Kim

I love all the textile arts, and the first place I visited on my September trip to Edinburgh was Dovecot Studios, on Infirmary St just off South Bridge. The building was once public baths, and there is always a special exhibit going on as well as the tapestry studio viewing balcony--I especially enjoyed this as several weavers were working on enormous tapestries, just fascinating to watch. My only weaving experience is on a small Cricket loom so seeing essentially a piece the size of a living room rug was awe-inspiring. Someday I hope to attend Shetland Wool Week.

https://dovecotstudios.com/

Not sure if this is on target or not, but I have lately been enjoying a youtube channel by Andrea Alexander who is a textile student from New York (I think) doing a program at the Heriot-Watt Scotland campus. Just about the first week she was there, she visited the Scottish Yarn Festival. It looked massive and fun. Check out their website (Scottish Yarn Festival). You may enjoy Andrea's channel, too. As a textile student, she explores all things yarn. She made some nice purchases at the Festival. If you watch her video, you may get names of other events or producers.