Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It came from an idea for using the superb knitting skills of the island women. Mary Baker was the wife of the newly appointed Sanday headmaster, with the superb organisational skills from her former career as a hospital matron, and an accompanying belief in setting the highest standards – and she successfully sought out top international knitwear designers at fashion shows and made the case for them to use knitters in Sanday for production. The work began with crochet squares, and developed into jumpers – and eventually they were producing knitwear for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and Harrods in London.
The community company, Isle of Sanday Knitters, brought in additional income to island households, and provided new challenges and opportunities to many people, and really changed lives. Ages ranged from late teens to late 80s, and at its peak the company was enlisting knitters from Shetland to Wolverhampton. For most of its three decades, Sandra Towrie was designing and knitting, and she has now written a book telling the story. For much of that time Tom Rendall was company secretary, and he joins her to look back at a remarkable story. This was the Grimond Lecture in the 2025 Orkney International Science Festival.
It came from an idea for using the superb knitting skills of the island women. Mary Baker was the wife of the newly appointed Sanday headmaster, with the superb organisational skills from her former career as a hospital matron, and an accompanying belief in setting the highest standards – and she successfully sought out top international knitwear designers at fashion shows and made the case for them to use knitters in Sanday for production. The work began with crochet squares, and developed into jumpers – and eventually they were producing knitwear for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and Harrods in London.
The community company, Isle of Sanday Knitters, brought in additional income to island households, and provided new challenges and opportunities to many people, and really changed lives. Ages ranged from late teens to late 80s, and at its peak the company was enlisting knitters from Shetland to Wolverhampton. For most of its three decades, Sandra Towrie was designing and knitting, and she has now written a book telling the story. For much of that time Tom Rendall was company secretary, and he joins her to look back at a remarkable story. This was the Grimond Lecture in the 2025 Orkney International Science Festival.
