A new tradition

Today we're delighted to feature a guest post by Fiona Parker and Daniel Rye, who supply us with amazing Navia yarn from the Faroe Islands. As part of the Slow Fashion movement, they're committed to bringing traditional skills and twenty-first century styling to a wider market, and we're very pleased to be part of that. The Faroe Islands - a tiny archipelago in the North Atlantic - mean a lot to us. We met there, lived there, and now we import Faroese yarns. As UK and Ireland agents for Navia we are helping to spread the word about these wonderful wools and an amazing knitting tradition. Navia (from the word Scandi-navia) was started 10 years ago by Óli Kristian á Torkilsheyggi, a young entrepreneur whose family has been in the wool business for generations, and who also finds time to tend his own flock of sheep. When we visited last summer, he helped our four-year-old daughter feed milk to a young lamb. Navia yarn is a blend of Faroese wool with Shetland wool, and Australian lambswool. Òli Kristian is a perfectionist who is always seeking to improve the quality of his yarns, and to find new colours and blends. The Faroe Islands have a rich heritage of knitting patterns, which Navia have taken into the 21st century by commissioning some wonderfully stylish patterns from a talented team of Faroese designers. Every 6 months or so a new pattern book is published, which we then translate into English. The photos for these patterns are taken by Òli Kristian’s sister, Beinta - it is a real family business! We are so thrilled that This is Knit is the first shop in Ireland to stock Navia yarn and patterns, and we hope that readers of this blog will get a chance to visit the shop to see and touch these gorgeous yarns for themselves! We've just got some stunningly gorgeous sample garments from Navia to display in the shop, so drop in and feel the finished product for yourself if you can. We'll be sure to feature them in a blog post here very soon too, so there's a treat in store for colourwork fans! All images in this post © Navia Yarn