Janette Budge

Expert Overview

Janette Budge was born in Shetland and has lived in Shetland all her life. She began my working life in IT with the local council and after 10 years retrained as a Clinical Aromatherapist. Like many she was taught to knit at a young age, around 6 years old. She's knitted for the most part of her life as a hobby but not always fair isle.

She is keen to share the Shetland knitting heritage to the younger generation and beyond as the skills and techniques aren’t being passed down within households as they once were. For this reason she always incorporates Shetland knitting techniques in my workshops.

Her involvement with Shetland Wool Week, Shetland PeerieMakkers and the Shetland Guild of Spinners Knitters Weavers and Dyers has also fuelled her desire to return to my her first love, fair isle especially yokes. She grew up surrounded by them at home as her mum was a piece worker for a local broker. Knitting fair isle yokes onto machine made bodies in the 1970’s as many women did around that time.

She's always been drawn to colour and loves playing with colours in her fair isle patterns. She gets her inspiration from everywhere, from nature through the landscape at particular times of year, from an occasion such as a wedding or significant birthday or from a person through their personality and character.