Donna Smith
Donna Smith is a textile designer and maker living in Shetland. Following her degree in Marine Biology, she decided to set up her own business, which was sparked by an interest in making felt from fleeces from her family’s flock of sheep. Donna uses a variety of textiles and techniques and is currently focusing on her interest in knitting patterns and teaching knitting.
‘I was born and brought up in Shetland and have always lived here other than the four years I spent in Aberdeen studying marine biology. After I graduated, I returned to Shetland to live and after a few years working in research and teaching I went to college to study Art and Design. In 2001 I set up my business sparked by an interest in making felt from fleeces from my families flock of sheep.
Currently I design and write knitting patterns and teach workshops and classes in knitting and design.
I am very fortunate to have grown up in Shetland with its rich textile heritage as well as being surrounded by knitters. I am very interested in the knitting techniques used in Shetland and am passionate about helping to retain these skills. I learned to knit at a very young age, but after a fairly long break from knitting, I returned to it again seriously (some might say obsessively!) a few years ago. I was patron of Shetland Wool Week in 2015, a fantastic event held in Shetland each year to celebrate Shetland wool and the crafts associated with it.’
Her classes and lecture will be in English. In 2015 she was patron of the Shetland Wool Week, were she wrote the welknown ‘Baa-ble-hat‘ pattern (see picture below).
You can follow Donna on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Her patterns are sold on Ravelry. But you can also visit her own website with a shop.
Program:
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