yarn shops in the Scottish highlands?

I'm not a yarn man but here is a suggestion. Google searches such as: Ft. William, yarn shops. You might have some good luck. I have seen yarn shops in some of these places but have not payed any attention to them

Follow Monte's advice, a quick google should show a few. Fort William, Portree, Kirkwall are the principal towns in their areas and will have shops for the locals which sell wool. Even somewhere like Tobermory is likely to have somewhere that sells wool if not necessarily a dedicated wool/crafts shop.

In all the places you can use it as an ice breaker to ask. If you are googling, finding the post code district of where you will be staying, this is the first half of the post code. Kirkwall for instance is KW15. 'Wool shops KW15' should be all you need to find one in google for Orkney (it is J and J Smith, Albert St, Kirkwall)..

You didn't mention plans to visit Shetland, north of Orkney, but for what it's worth, we stopped last August at a yarn shop in Sandness on western Shetland Mainland. They weren't doing any combing/dying/spinning when we were there, but they opened the shop for us, drawing back a heavy drape that coves the shelves of skeins to protect them from fading in UV light. They had just about every color imaginable, along with some quality knitted goods.

Shetland wool is famous for its super-fine texture. We were told that sheep quartered among poorer vegetation produce better wool. Sheep for eating are kept where the grass is better, which makes for better meat. Sheep outnumbered the Shetland ponies!

There used to be a wonderful knitwear shop in a Ullapool. It was for sale so I am not sure if it is still there. It it is, you should stop in and check out the sweaters and they may have suggestions for you.

• Skye--Shilasdair looks good.
  
• Between Orkney and Inverness--Depending on how you travel this shop in Brora looks interesting.
  
• Elena Costella Studio--this is located in Perth, which could be on the way from Aberfeldy to Edinburgh, if you are going that way...

And this website looks interesting.

You can locate yarn shops all around the world with reviews at this site:

http://www.knitmap.com

Thank you for all the suggestions - it should be fun to check them out!. And that's really useful information about how the postal codes work - I can also use it to track down antique shops.

Before I went to Scotland in December I expected to see lots of yarn shops. I totally thought I'd get to stock up on wool. Didn't see one the entire time! Ended up buying wool in Iceland on our way home haha.