on Today we reflect on why and when wondrous WOOL began to be blended with, or supplanted by, man-made fibres. We delve into K.G. Ponting’s important tome – ‘The Wool Trade’ – to find the key roles that cost and rayon-viscose played in these developments. During the nineteenth century attempts were first made to cheapen wool… Continue Reading Wovember Words: The Advent of Man-made Fibres
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 This evening we will learn about a flock of coloured Wensleydale sheep which I met in 2007 and their shepherd, Julia Desch. Here is K.G. Ponting reflecting in his amazing tome – The Wool Trade – on the qualities of this particular breed: Another English long woolled sheep is the Wensleydale which takes its name… Continue Reading Wovember Words: On Wensleydales
on The distinctive voice of Elizabeth Zimmerman has featured in Wovember Words several times previously. Today we are sharing extracts from her notes on knitting a Pi Shawl. A round shawl, in fine wool, on a circular needle, is my invariable companion when space is limited, waiting-around probable, and events uncertain. First of all, fine wool… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Fine wool takes up little space
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 Sheep counting systems are a fascinating fragment of our dialectal history in Britain. Thought to be remnants of Brythonic languages there are variations in the dialect words that differ from Scotland, and throughout England and Wales. There is a similarity that runs through the systems and the ethnologist in me wants to travel back in time through the… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Yan Tan Tether Mether Pip
on Dear Wovember readers, welcome to Wovember 2013, where we will be celebrating another round of all things WOOL! The official start will be tonight, but I, Team Wovember Member Tom, have the privilege to start the first of Wovember with the first of a new series of Wovember Words. Some of you may know already… Continue Reading Wovember Words #1
on Alas, the last Wovember Words for Wovember2012. Wovember hopes you enjoyed reading all the snippets on growing, harvesting, processing, working with, and wearing wool as much as we had gathering them for you – and that it has peaked your interest enough to go and find one or two of these books for yourself to… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS #29 – Parting Words
on In the late 19th century, Dr Gustav Jaeger developed a philosophy of ‘sanitary clothing’ in which wool is given the spotlight. In contrast to ‘chilling materials’ such as linen and cotton, wool could absorb and pass away the ‘noxious exhalations’ of the body. In 1884 the Dr Jaeger’s Sanitary Woollen System was founded by English… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS #28
on Wool has some amazing qualities, all in one fibre, grown naturally: The first thing to know about wool is that it is hygroscopic – a great trait for clothing and an equally great word for your next crossword puzzle or cocktail party. Hygroscopic means that the fiber is able to absorb up to 30% of… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS #27