The timing wasn’t ideal. Just weeks after giving up her job at the art college in Dundee to go self-employed with her knitting business, we went into the first lockdown. “It happened so fast”, Lyndsey says. “I’d applied to do all these markets and was getting ready to put myself out there when it all came to a halt.” So she took it all online which, she says, was probably good in the long run as it gave her time to build up visibility at a time when people were supporting small businesses. Ever since writing in her primary school yearbook that she wanted to be a designer and her grandmother teaching her how to knit, Lyndsey was destined to be doing this and embraces all things creative. She still does a bit of teaching at the art college in Dundee and works at Knit Shop, the independent knit factory founded by designer Donna Wilson which is committed to the revival of the Scottish Textile Industry.
The yarn used in her colourful pieces is important to Lyndsey. Her art degree involved researching wools and she now only uses lambswool due to its high quality. In particular, wool by Todd & Duncan, who have a mill on the banks of Loch Leven. What’s great, says Lyndsey, is that their dyes are environmentally friendly so the water they use can be cleaned and returned to the loch once dyeing is finished. This, for her, is key.
