Back in 2017, a friend and knitwear designer traveled to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and wrote a guest post about it for the Indie Untangled blog. Around the same time, another knitting friend made the trip as well, and it started to feel like the place to be if you were a yarn lover.
So the next year, I booked my first international fiber trip.
Of course, I loved browsing the festival and discovering yarn that was hard to find back home. But what surprised me most was how it changed the way I experienced Edinburgh itself. Instead of simply sightseeing, I was seeing the city through the lens of its fiber community. Cafés, pubs and historic buildings were filled with crafters from around the world. Local yarn shops and Scottish makers introduced me to the country’s wool traditions in a way I wouldn’t have experienced as a typical tourist.
It made the city feel a little more magical.
That trip showed me that fiber travel isn’t just about attending a festival or buying yarn. It’s about experiencing a place through its textile traditions and the people who keep them alive. Whether you’re chatting with a local dyer, learning a regional knitting technique, or visiting a sheep farm, you come away with a much deeper connection to the place you’ve traveled.
Ever since then, I’ve wanted to create opportunities for other knitters to experience that same sense of discovery. That’s what eventually led me to launch a new extension of Indie Untangled called Wool Traveled: thoughtfully organized journeys that connect us with the people, places, and traditions behind the wool we love.
This year, Indie Untangled (in partnership with KnittingTours.com) has planned Wool Traveled: Scotland & Shetland, a fabulous 10-day adventure exploring the fiber and knitting traditions of this part of the world. We will be talking more about this at the end of the post.
What makes a fiber trip different?
At its heart, fiber travel is exactly what it sounds like: traveling somewhere new with fiber as your guide.
Rather than simply visiting the major sights and popping into one or two yarn shops (while your non-crafting companion rolls their eyes) you go deeper. That might mean visiting a working sheep farm, touring a mill, visiting a textile museum, learning a regional knitting technique or hearing directly from the dyers, designers and craftspeople whose work is tied to that place.
5 Joys of Fiber Travel
Now that you know what fiber travel is, let’s look at the 5 joys of fiber travel.
1. Discovering Local Fiber Traditions
One of my favorite parts of fiber travel is discovering traditions that are deeply woven into a region. I love seeing pictures of sheep, but it’s completely different to stand in a field and watch a farmer calling their flock over.
During the trip to Ireland that I organized with KnittingTours in 2025, I learned about the cooperative of farmers who were reviving the country’s native sheep breed and business owners trying to revive worsted spinning mills.
When you’re learning about regional sheep breeds or immersed textile history, you come away with a much deeper appreciation for the wool you’re knitting with and the people behind it.
2. Visiting Fiber Events & Yarn Shops
Of course you can visit your local yarn shops at home, but walking into one in another country feels completely different. They’re often filled with the work of local dyers and yarns made from local breeds. I also love meeting local crafters and seeing what projects they’re working on.
Fiber festivals are also an amazing way to get a sense of the local craft community. In Edinburgh, attendees relaxed between shopping sessions by grabbing a cup of tea and a slice of cake in the cozy lounge. In Barcelona they enjoyed a glass of wine al fresco.
Plus, it allows you to find those one-of-a-kind fiber souvenirs with amazing stories behind them.
3. Learning New Skills
A fiber trip often provides an opportunity to learn something new. Sometimes that’s through a workshop, but often it’s as simple as watching someone demonstrate a technique you’ve never seen before or hearing a local maker explain why they’ve done something the same way for generations.
On our trip to Ireland, instructor Úna McDonagh taught us some of her family’s traditional cable patterns. There was something special about learning those stitches while looking out the window at the sea, a landscape that has shaped generations of Irish knitters and the fisherman sweaters they created.
I also love how much you learn from your fellow travelers. Spend a week with a group of knitters, spinners, and weavers, and you’re almost guaranteed to pick up new techniques and tips, pattern recommendations, or a favorite yarn source!
4. Meeting Other Fiber Enthusiasts
If the idea of traveling with people you’ve never met sounds intimidating, I completely understand. But in my experience, that concern disappears surprisingly quickly.
Everyone arrives with at least one thing in common: a love of fiber. That makes conversations easy when you’re knitting on the bus, sharing a meal, or comparing purchases at the end of the day.
Some of my favorite friendships in this community have started on trips like these. In fact, many of the knitters who traveled with us in Ireland still keep in touch via a group chat and are planning future adventures together.
5. Time To Create
There’s something special about sitting down to knit in the lobby of a cozy inn after a day of exploring, or on a ferry ride.
Fiber trips naturally encourage you to slow down. There’s plenty time to knit, talk, take in the scenery and simply enjoy where you are. I always come home feeling creatively recharged and accomplished.
Knit with me in Scotland
If reading this has you dreaming about your own fiber adventure, I’d love for you to join me next spring.
From April 5-14, 2027, I’ll be leading a 10-day journey through Scotland and the Shetland Islands in partnership with KnittingTours.com. We’ll explore Edinburgh, visit sheep farms, textile museums and beloved yarn shops, and learn from local knitters, shepherds, designers and wool experts along the way.
It’s the kind of trip I wish had existed when I first traveled to Edinburgh in 2018, and I can’t wait to share it with fellow fiber lovers.
To learn more and to sign up, click here.
Final Thoughts & Words of Encouragement
Fiber travel combines so many of the things I love most: creativity, learning, community, and the chance to experience a place in a completely different way.
Even if an international trip isn’t in the cards right now, you can still embrace the spirit of fiber travel. Plan a weekend around a yarn crawl, visit a sheep farm, attend a local fiber festival, or gather a few knitting friends for a getaway.
You could also plan a trip to see us at Indie Untangled 2026 on October 16.
However you do it, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to see the world through wool.
Have you ever been to a fiber travel event? If so, where did you go? Share your experience in the comments below!
