on ‘Combing fibre in the back garden. These are Louet mini combs and as they are my only combs they have to work very hard indeed. The fibre, I think, is a Texel X from Strathearn Fleece and Fibre in Perthshire. It makes great jumper yarn. Dutch knitters used to make Ganseys from Texel yarn, it… Continue Reading Combing fibre in the back garden
on At the Highland Wool Festival, in May, I was really lucky to have met Louise and George, who are Yarn Garden. Yarn Garden have been dyeing yarn for over a year now and you might have seen them at yarn events or wool shows with their lovely greenhouse-come-potting shed full of seedling trays of delightful yarn.… Continue Reading Wovember words: Dyed in the wool passion
on We promised the other day when we showed you this lovely photo of Sally Antill taken by Jeni Reid that we would share some posts written by her during Wovember. Sally Antill and her other half – Michael Baxter – are breeding Soft Fell sheep. The idea is to produce a meat carcass acceptable to… Continue Reading Sally Antill: Soft Fell sheep and their fleece #1
on This song appears in a collection of Island and Highland tunes compiled by composer Hugh Robertson, in the 1950s. I had heard it referred to before as the Shetland Spinning Song, but that is quite incorrect as it features the kind of beautiful non-lexical vocables (think to Hickory-dickory-dock) which are present in Gaelic purit a… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Island Spinning Song
on ‘Blocking lace in the bath. A familiar sight to many knitters. The yarn is handspun BFL single, dyed with nettles. The pattern is Gossamer Stars by Kat Coyle.’ – Jeni Reid
on When I did my degree at the School of Scottish Studies, I loved nothing more than sitting in the sound archive and listening to field recordings and oral histories, which have been collected there since the school was founded in 1951. Over the last 60 years there are thousands of recordings of songs, music, tales,… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Shetland Claith
on It seems that every member of Team Wovember has a soft spot for Magnus and Justyna Holburn’s Foula Wool. Kate has designed a hat/tea-cosy knitting pattern called Tea Jenny. Tom is working on a men’s Fair Isle cardigan knitting pattern, to be launched later in Wovember, and Felix is a general admirer and desperate to… Continue Reading Foula Wool Q&A
on After a long and largely sunless Winter, SPRING is finally here! In my garden here in Reading, there is an apple tree with new growth bristling in its twisty branches; the papery petals of the hellebore flowers are in bloom; a scattering of vivacious green leaves are sprouting along the hedges; and neat little clusters… Continue Reading Spring has sprung!
on Wovember readers, we have not forgotten you, neither have we forgotten the issuing of Prizes for your wonderful photo and blog competition entries! Today team Wovember members T & F met to trade woolskills, to talk about Wovember, and to delight together in WOOL. Here is Tom, combing fibres identified as Romney in Deb Robson’s… Continue Reading From the phones of Team Wovember!
on Kate Lynch joins WOVEMBER this evening, to talk about the ultimate house & garden WOOL project – dyeing with plants (perhaps from the garden?) to create woollen textiles for the home! Making it meaningful: Thoughts on using natural dyes this Wovember. Wovember highlights and promotes wool as a valuable natural resource. It is a versatile… Continue Reading Kate Lynch on Wearing Wool…