on ‘Handspun scraps from making a PI Shawl (pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman) I made the shawl from handspun BFL singles which were dyed by using local leaves and plants. And some onion skins from the supermarket.’ – Jeni Reid
on Earlier this year I read Knitting Yarns, (Norton, 2013), which is a beautiful collection of essays from authors such as Anita Shreve, Sue Grafton and Elizabeth Berg. It is a superb anthology exploring relationships with wool and knitting and is truly worth a browse in your library or bookshop. One of the absolute stand out… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Where it begins
on Sam the Ram, Whitefaced Dartmoor sheep from Paula Wolton’s flock In contrast to the historic films presented last week which reveal the story of how wool suffered with the advent of artificial textiles in the 1950s, this evening WOVEMBER shares the trailer for a very different sort of film: one that celebrates the lives past,… Continue Reading OneHutFull: Friday night Vi-EWE-ing!
on ‘The Wool Shed, Jamieson and Smith Woolbrokers, Lerwick, Shetland. These are the hands of the managing director, Oliver Henry, or as he is more commonly known – The Wool Man. Oliver’s talks about sorting and grading fleece are one of the highlights of Shetland Wool Week.’ – Jeni Reid
on One of the wondrous things about WOVEMBER is how much WOOL information comes through in your comments. A few years ago several remarks on this post informed me that a Bellwether is a castrated ram that wears a bell around its neck and leads the rest of the flock about. The bell enables the shepherd… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Bellwether
on Yesterday Kate Graham talked about the successful sheep sponsorship scheme she ran this year. Having read the sponsorship thread on the Shankend Farming group on Ravelry and seen the sponsors excitedly chatting about their sheep and fleeces Louise asked for some of the fleece fosterers to talk to WOVEMBER about their experiences of the scheme.… Continue Reading Sponsors of Shankend Sheep
on ‘Cat heaven. If you ever want to make a cat happy, just leave some fleece or knitting sitting out.’ – Jeni Reid
on Following from this post about sheep counting words in Cumbria, TEAM WOVEMBER have been doing some sleuth work re: other sheep-counting words in different places and regions. According to a source quoted below, a variation on Yan Tan Tether Mether Pip was used in Lincolnshire, with a further version was reported to have been in… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Een Teen Thuther Futher Fipps
on In the second of this week’s WOVEMBER posts featuring Kate Graham and her farm at Shankend, Louise finds out more about the sponsorship scheme Kate runs. Earlier this year I had read an article about Ralph Lauren buying yarn from a farm in Oregon to clad the entire USA team for the Winter Olympics in… Continue Reading Shankend Sheep Sponsorship
on ‘My chilly legs modelling leg warmers. The blue is Aran yarn, possibly Rowan Magpie and the stripes are handspun BFL which was dyed with little packets of Kool Aid. They smelled marvellous.’ – Jeni Reid