on Today’s Wovember Words is a small excerpt from German writer Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel The Magic Mountain. It’s been a long time since I read this last, but I still remember the scene where a young Hans Castorp visits his ailing cousin Joachim Ziemssen in the Swiss International Sanatorium Berghof. Hans is initiated in one of the many rituals surrounding the lives… Continue Reading Wovember Words #6
on WOVEMBER readers may have noticed that all three members of TEAM WOVEMBER have visited Shetland, and have fallen a bit in love with these amazing isles! In the first year of WOVEMBER, Kate put together a beautiful guest post featuring “Ooey Ollie” talking about grading and sorting Shetland wool fleeces; last year we did a… Continue Reading Growing Wool in Shetland
on Today’s Wovember Words is brought to you by a member of the Wovember Ravelry group. She goes by the Ravelry name Corvid and is superstar glove knitter; do check out her project page if you’re a Ravelry member! Winding Wool, by Robert William Service. Winding Wool She’d bring to me a skein of wool And… Continue Reading Wovember Words #5
on WOVEMBER readers may remember that several posts featured Sue Blacker’s work with wool last year. Sue works across the wool industry in myriad ways, designing yarns and patterns for Blacker Yarns; Managing and Directing The Natural Fibre Company; and keeping her own flock of sheep. These posts harvested from Sue’s blog this year give some… Continue Reading Sue Blacker on Growing Wool
on The last triad of a trio of Oxford English Dictionary entries, as selected by Wovember friend Liz Ashdowne. This time we move from lamb to crone. lamb-ale, noun (see quotation). 1781 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry III. xxv. 129 Lamb-ale is still used at the village of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire, for an annual feast or celebrity… Continue Reading Wovember Words #4
on [vimeo http://vimeo.com/64629692] If you followed WOVEMBER last year, you will already know a little about the work that Lesley does for WOOL! Last year, Lesley and Finisterre provided an amazing series of posts detailing how the fibre grown on Lesley’s farm is turned into beautifully soft sweaters which are made entirely in the UK, and… Continue Reading Lesley Prior on Growing Wool
on As promised yesterday, here are some more lamby words. Wovember friend Liz Ashdowne has found them all in the Oxford English Dictionary! gimmer-lamb, n. A female lamb that has not been shorn. a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 4 From lambinge time‥till clippinge time‥they [sc. ewes] are called gimmer lambes. hob-lamb, n. A… Continue Reading Wovember Words #3
on We interrupt our schedule of posts from Shepherds during the ‘Growing Wool’ phase of the WOVEMBER postings to reflect on recent events in the world of blade-shearing, handspinning & handknitting, and to bring you news of the momentous use of this fleece, grown on the back of a now famous Norwegian sheep! Who else was… Continue Reading The revolution WILL be televised!
on Seeing that we’re talking about growing wool here at Wovember at the moment, here are some words relating to lambs. All three words have been carefully hand-picked from the Oxford English Dictionary by Wovember friend Liz Ashdowne. She got rather enthusiastic, so there will be some more lamby words tomorrow! chilver, noun A ewe-lamb: commonly… Continue Reading Wovember Words #2
on Some of you may remember that last year during WOVEMBER we featured a Q&A with Marion Woolcott about WOOLFEST? WOOLFEST is organised by The Wool Clip – a co-operative of 15 members who share the work of running a shop through which they are able to sell their woollen goods. The Wool Clip – photo… Continue Reading Pam Hall on Growing Wool…