He said knitting was a necessity for Shetland families 50 or 60 years ago but these days knitting machines could do the job cheaper and quicker. In fact he went further, claiming that machine-knit was "as good as any hand-knitted garment" which was "unfortunately a dying art".

That may be the case, but there is a lot of pleasure to be had from making an item especially for another person and in receiving a hand made item. Not quite the same when all you do is pay over cash for something mass produced.