on Following on from the beautiful photo essays by Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm that launched “Growing Wool“, “Harvesting Wool” and “Processing Wool“, here are some wonderful photos from Susan detailing “Working with Wool”… Knitting with wool. Dyeing wool. Mulching carrot plants with wool. All content and photos © Susan Gibbs and Juniper Moon Farm,… Continue Reading Working with Wool in pictures, by Susan Gibbs
on Here is one of the blog-posts submitted to WOVEMBER as part of our competition! Thanks to Joanne Elizabeth for these thoughts on “Working with Wool”. Wool is Home ‘Knitting. A simple wool shawl, my own design. Tortoise and Hare Gauntlets, designed by Kate Davies’ – Joanne Elizabeth Wool plays a significant role in my life.… Continue Reading Joanne Elizabeth on Working with Wool…
on Staple: “wool grows on the sheep in definite locks as distinct from the way in which hair grows, for example, in a cat. These locks are the staple, a word which, during our long history, has symbolised the power and dignity of the wool trade. We may be sure that, in whatever setting we may… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS #18
on In a sense this is the most nebulous of our blog-post categories, because everyone from whom we’ve heard throughout WOVEMBER is in one way or another “Working with Wool”. However in another sense, we wanted to create a space for sharing the specific aspects of the various crafts and skills connected with wool – such… Continue Reading Working with Wool…
on This is the second in our WOVEMBER two-part ‘closing the gap’ special, which featured Lesley Prior this morning and Finisterre this evening, talking from different perspectives about their shared project involving WOOL. This morning Lesley described some aspects of the work involved in growing the wool that Finisterre use for their apparel; we heard more… Continue Reading Finisterre on Processing Wool…
on Napping: the process of raising the fibres on the surface of the cloth to give blankets a soft, fluffy appearance. This was done by combing the surface of the blanket with a teaseler, made from inserting teasel heads (a type of thistle) into a wooden bat. The ‘gig mill’ was a development from the hand… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS #17
on Today we have two connected posts lined up for you – one from Lesley Prior for this morning, and then this evening, a Q&A with Finisterre, who are the company producing garments from Lesley’s raw fleece. In terms of our WOVEMBER ‘closing the gap’ theme, we thought it would be especially apposite to show two… Continue Reading Lesley Prior on Processing Wool…
on Now we have had a few days of exploring how wool is processed – both domestically and commercially – we thought it would be amazing to showcase a very special project which brings all that processing together! In 2011 the Kennet Valley Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers undertook a historic recreation project, based on… Continue Reading The Newbury Coat
on As we will see in tonight’s post about somebody who does not have to ‘close the gap’ between growing wool and wearing wool: “Without a thorough knowledge of his raw material, a craftsman cannot do good work because he understands only imperfectly the reasons for his actions. Few craftsmen have the privilege of using a… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS #4
on These photos were contributed to the WOVEMBER 2012 competition by Ericka Olsen Stefano… WOVEMBER wonders if they are Snow White Blacknoses, as featured in this documentary film, and what their wool is like? Can anyone enlighten us? ‘I’m sending in three photos of sheep in Switzerland. The unusual looking breed is from the upper Valais,… Continue Reading Snow White Blacknoses?