WE ALL know that the Highlands and Islands have had a long and very tangled relationship with wool. There's the ancient rural traditions of spinning, weaving and knitting – and of course the dark period of the Clearances which saw people displaced from their land to make room for sheep.

But now a resurgence in the popularity of crafts like knitting, crochet and weaving is boosting the Highland economy. The inaugural four-day Loch Ness International Knitting Festival, which begins next week at Eden Court in Inverness, will see more than 3,000 visitors arrive, boosting tourism, promoting traditional crafts and generating £1 million for the economy.

Councillor Audrey Sinclair, who is the Chair of The Highland Council’s Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee, sees the rise of knitting as part of a general trend in popular culture. “With programmes such as The Great British Bake Off and MasterChef we’ve seen a recent surge in interest in traditional skills and it would appear that knitting is no exception.”

One of the knitters taking part in the festival, opening on Thursday, September 29, is Di Gilpin, who's knitting business began life in the Hebrides.

“I originally set up my business from an old Mission Hall in Struan on the Isle of Skye in 1983. I moved there after taking a six-month gap from teaching and exploring the island on foot with a tent and a rucksack full of wool. At that time there were no knitting shops on the island and apart from machine knitting, little interest in hand knitting. So I decided to start a wee knit shop and to design some of my own patterns. It all grew from there”.

Throughout the UK, knitting has become more and more popular in the past decade. According to The UK Hand Knitting Association, “crochet” was number three in Google’s Top 10 searches of 2014, and knitting came in at number five.

The number of knitters and crocheters in the UK, the association estimates, comes to around 7.5 million. In 2013 knitting saw a 750 per cent increase in popularity, and craft skills contributing £3.4 billion to the UK economy.

The association also gives a list of 40 celebrity knitters, including Hollywood actors Meryl Streep and Ryan Gosling, as well as One Direction’s Harry Styles.

The Scottish passion for knitting is very much in evidence on Orkney, as members of the local guild, Orkney Arts and Crafts, continue to knit and crochet using local materials.

Jean Tulloch of JT Knitwear is particularly keen to use wool from the islands famous Ronaldsay sheep: “With my family connections to the island of North Ronaldsay, I am a passionate supporter of [our] rare breed native sheep, known for being the seaweed-eating sheep due to being confined on North Ronaldsay's beaches.

"The wool is processed at the island mill and I use only 100 per cent North Ronaldsay wool, spun into knitting yarns for both my hand and machine knitting. I make sweaters, cardigans, hats, socks, gloves and scarves in the full range of beautiful natural colours from these sheep”.

As well as being full of knitters, Scotland is full of knitting-related industries. Scotland’s textile sector is well on the way to achieving a 50 per cent increase on present exports by next year and produces between 6 and 6.5 million kilos of wool annually, the UK Wool Marketing Board says.