on Wovember — our month-long celebration of WOOL is now drawing to a close. Today, it is very easy to use the internet as a platform for a campaign, but in the 1950s, the Woolmark Company / International Wool Secretariat had a rather different idea to publicise the virtues of wool. They held a competition in… Continue Reading There is no substitute for WOOL
on Today we feel incredibly honoured to feature Oliver Henry on the Wovember blog. Known to Shetland friends and locals as “Ooey Ollie” (ooey = woolly), Oliver has been sorting and grading wool at Jamieson and Smith for almost 45 years. In so many respects, Oliver really is the Shetland Woolbrokers, and what he doesn’t know… Continue Reading Wool Is . . . a guest post from Ooey Ollie
on One of the companies which I admire very much for its work with British Wool is The Natural Fibre Company, a specialist wool mill at Launceston on the Devon-Cornwall border where wool growers can pay to have their fleeces spun into yarns. As well as offering this service to wool growers, The Natural Fibre Company… Continue Reading Woolsack and Sue Blacker
on I hope you are all enjoying our Wovember guests posts, and that it is proving interesting for you to share our exploration of the many stages which lie between wool growing on the back of a sheep and ending up as wearable clothes. I feel strongly that the more transparent this process is, the harder… Continue Reading Introducing Diane, AKA The Spinning Shepherd
on For this evening’s post we shall get an insight into what happens when you mix an understanding of the specific properties of different sheep breeds’ wool with a creative vision for knitwear and garment design. Because that sentence is a bit of a mouthful, I have condensed it into a handy Wovember equation: Sheep Fleece… Continue Reading Excelana – from sheep to skein
on Did you know that in 1678 an act was passed in the British Parliament decreeing that the dead must only be buried in WOOL and not in any other sort of textile? A guide to Justices of the Peace on how to enforce the “Burial in Woollens Act,” dated 1710. It seems that the act… Continue Reading Sinister Saturday WOOL fact
on It’s time for the WEEKLY, WOOLLY ROUNDUP! Thanks again everyone for all the Wovember work you’re doing to raise the profile of WOOL FOR WHAT IT IS on your own blogs, in your knitting projects, in your felt-making and – yes – in your Christmas plans. I learned this week about Christmas Tree Skirts from… Continue Reading Woolly roundup
on One of the themes running through these WOVEMBER posts concerns how the word ‘WOOL’ conjures certain imaginative associations. Our imaginative associations are gold dust to advertisers and brand experts, and Kate has written about – amongst other things – the specific lure of the word ‘wool’ and its evocation of ‘cosiness’ when it is addressed… Continue Reading A smuggling story featuring sacks, cloves and fells.
on We are absolutely delighted this evening to be featuring Deb Robson as our guest blogger. Deb has been extremely supportive of our WOVEMBER aims, emailing us on the very day that we published this site with warm words of encouragement in spite of having a schedule absolutely full of fibre-related and WOOL-centric classes to teach. If… Continue Reading Deb Robson’s take on endangered sheep breeds
on Following the Prick Your Finger post, we thought it would be interesting to feature work by artists and makers who use WOOL in their practice. It is hoped that this series exploring imaginative uses of WOOL will shed more light on what WOOL means. Today I want to introduce you to Irish artist Caroline Walshe,… Continue Reading An Snag Breac