This season's knitty.com online knitting magazine has a wonderful article about the marketing campaign of Sir John Sinclair, Laird of Orkney, and his efforts to prove that Shetland wool was just as soft and desirable as the (much harder to attain) Spanish merino. I thought it might interest some of my fellow fiber artists and history nerds:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/KSFEATshetland.php