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From the Edge of the World: Foula Wool

Published by louise

During my search for great British yarn to knit with this year I have had some wonderful recommendations.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I was recommended a wool which comes from a very local source.

If you are a fan of Shetland wool *from* Shetland you are no doubt aware of Jamieson & Smith and Jamiesons of Shetland (Often confused as the same company, which they are not) and you might also have heard of Shetland Organics CIC.
As a local and a knitter I felt I should have kicked myself for not knowing about Foula Wool.

For anyone not familiar with the island of Foula, it is home to a population of around 30 people and has a breathtaking landscape. The island lies off the west coast of Shetland and is accessible only by sea or air.

The island is maybe best known for being the setting of Michael Powell’s film The Edge of the World (It is astonishing enough that a tiny, 5 sq mile island off the west coast of Shetland should be chosen as a filming location but the fact that it was made 76 years ago is a bit of a marvel to me. See it, if you can!) and although I have never yet been, it has always held a bit of mysticism for me! Probably because I usually see her lovely sharp peaks slicing through the shrouded mist, or glistening in hazy sea sunshine!

I was thrilled to hear of a yarn company on Foula and I quickly found the website and ordered up a few yarn cakes to play around with. Seven lovely, natural, Shetland sheepy shades, springy, soft and flecked with the natural variations in colour, the wool comes in DK weights from 25g – 100g.

Immediately, the thing which struck me about the website was their fresh outlook on traditional Shetland wool. Not only is the site bright and unfussy to navigate, there is a lot of information about the traditions of Shetland colour knitting and a really interesting background into the Foula sheep and the characteristics of the wool.

I really wanted to find out more about the company and how the sheep from the island differ from other Shetland sheep – Magnus and Justyna were very kind in obliging.

What was the driving force in starting the business?

The idea to start the business came from a concern for the sustainability of keeping Foula sheep out on Foula. Over the years the islanders on Foula have managed to preserve a quite unique Shetland sheep gene pool and we want to make sure we are doing our bit to keep this going.

If we allow the island population of sheep to drop below a certain level then it is inevitable that a portion of that genetic resource will be lost. We are hoping that if the Foula Wool yarn business is successful it will help to encourage people in keeping the Foula sheep going.

Tell us about the Foula Sheep, what makes them different?

The Foula sheep are an un-modernised strain of the Shetland sheep breed that have been raised on Britain’s most isolated inhabited island, without any pressure from cross breeding or flock book standards. This has produced an animal that retains all of its natural survival instincts and is endowed with an abundant variety of colours and markings.

A flock of Foula sheep is about as far removed as it is possible to get from the classic image of docile white sheep grazing peacefully on a flat green field. I like to think of them as Viking sheep, a bit windswept and interesting.

Does the fleece come from the whole community or specific crofts?

At the moment we buy fleeces from a number of the crofts on Foula, but we do hope to be able to offer everyone on the island who keeps sheep an outlet for their fleeces that will be better able to reflect the value of their own efforts in keeping and raising Foula sheep.

Do you choose/sort the fleeces yourselves?

Yes, we do all of that ourselves here on Foula. One thing my father taught me was never send a poor quality fleece out to the wool broker – one bad fleece will drag down the price of the whole batch. Thankfully, this means he passed on a lot of knowledge about how to pick out the good fleeces. It comes down to how the fleece behaves when you start to interact with it. The more fleeces you handle then the easier it gets to spot the differences in quality.

Are there any drawbacks to running a business from such a remote location?

I suppose you could say that the difficulty in posting the orders out might be a drawback. The island can get cut off with no ferry or plane for days at a time when bad weather restricts these services. However, in a funny kind of way I think this might actually add to the whole appeal of the Foula Wool experience. Our customers have all seemed to be very understanding so far anyway.

Do you plan to add different weights of yarn along with the DK?

Yes, I think this is something that we will be trying to do, we have not made a decision yet about whether to try a lighter or heavier yarn next. We would love to get any feedback from people about what they would like from us.

Finally, describe your wool in 5 words

Soft, sturdy, plenty of character!

Thanks so much to Magnus and Justyna for “visting” KnitBritish. I really admire their ethos – it is brilliant that they are striving to preserve the native flocks and have a great knowledge about wool. As a result of maintaining a unique strain of the breed, they are bringing us a unique yarn.

I have been working on a little project, which is currently blocking, and I really found the Foula yarn much different in feel and character from other Shetland yarn. It is plump and stout ply and much softer as you may think. Shetland yarn has a great stitch definition and that is so evident in the Foula yarn.

I really like that they have chosen to produce a DK – it is not a very usual weight in Shetland wool (and I mean Shetland wool *from* Shetland, which traditionally tends towards jumper weight or lace) but it is certainly a popular one with knitters.

Foula Wool really seem to have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to we discerning knitters – a great philosophy and aims for the local crofting community; a fantastic product; a great website featuring the wool shop AND a smorgasbord of information from land to sheep to wool to knitted fabric!

It isn’t just me that is raving about them either- Tom of Holland has been tweeting and blogging with some delicious Fair isle swatches in this yarn and about a future cardigan project.

I will blog soon about my make, which heavily features wool from Foula…

In the meantime, head on over to their website and have a look at their range – from cakes to hanks, in meterage which will suit small-project knitters to the more adventurous projects! A thoroughly pleasing yarn to work with and see knitted up and a truly local wool!

Knitting on the Threshold

Published by louise

This has been an exciting time for new knitting patterns from some of my favourite designers. There have the Tin Can Knits gems Handmade in the UK (which I plan to review in a later blog), the Raindrops sweater and the teaser of their Simple Collection. The Wool People Vol 5 has also been recently released with gorgeous pretties from Keiran Foley, Gudrun Johnston, Veera Vallimaki, et al.

Since Karie Westermann began pre-sales of her first collection I had been drumming my fingers excitedly. On Monday it dropped into my Ravelry library.

The ideas behind Doggerland: Knits from a Lost Landscape are a mixture of inspirations from Mesolithic archaeological finds and ideas of landscapes – both real and personal. The title of the book refers to the landmass that once connected Britain to mainland Europe – an area that once bridged Karie’s homeland of Denmark, to her home now in the UK.

The patterns which make up the book are going to be released every couple of weeks (which delights me and makes me impatient in equal measure!) and the first of these is Ronaes…

I have cast on in Jamieson and Smith Shetland Supreme in Yuglet, which is slightly heavier than the recommended yarn so I have swatched to get the right needle size & gauge.

Karie is using wools local to the North Sea regions – another reason to love the heck out of the collection (love your local wool!) – and wanted to keep the wool pretty organic and largely undyed. The yarn used in Karie’s version is Garthenor Shetland 1 ply – I like the rustic look of the wool and you can bet I will be frequenting their stall at Woolfest in a couple of weeks.

I am only on the short rows, but love the look of the piece already – I really like the texture of garter stitch in Shetland wool.

What excites me about this collection is the connection to landscape and the past, and also a sense of otherness – something I often feel keenly in my own landscape.

I look forward to seeing more of the collection and how landscape, time, past and otherness all come together and are created & interpreted into knitted garments.

I wanted to explore what are known as “liminal places” – places in the landscape that function as thresholds. I wanted a pattern that could be both a shawl and a scarf. I also wanted to design something reminiscent of the Ronaes site as I imagined it looking some 6,000 years ago. The shape and textures of the shawl mimic a crescent-shaped beach or shallow coastal area with the garter stitch reminiscent of tidal marks left on a beach.

– Karie Westermann, from Doggerland

I love that idea of liminality – it makes the ethnologist in me curl my toes (in the good way!) – the idea of a threshold between times and also a threshold between artefact and the inspired garment totally resonates with me.

I cannot wait to experience the rest of the collection and you should definitely check it out too! You can buy the collection on Ravelry, you can join in with the Doggerland chat and Ronaes KAL and you can wait impatiently with the rest of us for the next pattern!

Woolfest Bound!

Published by louise

Did I ever tell you that I have the loveliest lovelyfella ever?
He’s booked our travel and accommodation down to Woolfest as a surprise – Whattaguy!

Within mere moments of finding out I had already begun to formulate a wishlist, but more than the love of wool (if there could *be* more!) I am really looking forward to meeting and putting real faces to the Twitter profile pictures.
We will be at Woolfest on the Friday (after a week visiting lovely friends in Edinburgh!) and I hope to cram in as much wool-loving and twitter/ravelry people meeting as possible!

In other news, Sunday was a pretty beautiful day – nice enough for me to bare a third of my legs, at least!
We went to the beach and while it was a little breezier by the sea it was an opportune moment to snap a couple pics of my Tin Can Knits Caramel Slouch hat, which I previously blogged about here.
I love the colour of the Shilasdair merino, which reminds me of Kola Kubes! I do think it was a slightly heavier weight aran which is why i didn’t get a lot of slouch blocked in (coupled with my massive heid!) but I love it!

I am really looking forward to TCK’s next book, Handmade in the UK, which I think gets its highly anticipated release this week. Lots of beautiful patterns knits in gorgeous UK yarns, like Orkney Angora & Juno Fibre Art.
I think I will probably want to knit them all, but Windswept is definitely making “come to needle” eyes at me!

At the moment I am knitting something lovely in some lovely wool!
…too little info, too vague! Well, I will be blogging about it soon and tell all then, but here’s a wee peek!

Knitting symmetries

Published by louise

My knitting needles have been busy again….

This is my Ishbel, the beautiful pattern by Ysolda.
I had never attempted a triangular shawl before and it was also only my second attempt at top-down shawl construction.
I can understand why 12269 people on Ravelry have knit Ishbel – it’s a simple garment, yet totally elegant.
I knit it in Na Dannsairean 4ply – BFL with neps, in a very Arctic blue – from Helen of Ripples Crafts.
I thought I was being very clever & had calculated enough yarn to knit the larger StSt triangle with the shorter lace repeat….
… I did not!

Thankfully Helen had a small quantity of ‘Winter Seas’ left over from a project of her own and I managed to continue the repeats for the large size shawl.

I am absolutely thrilled with it! The wool has a gorgeous lustre and it shows off the vine lace a treat. I often think some beautifully dyed yarns can compete with lace patterns, but not here, not at all.

I love the symmetry of the triangular shawl, it’s really pleasing on the eye as well as it is to knit up. I don’t know why I avoided them before! I foresee more in my knitting future!

Talking of symmetry, I was knitting up some of the odds & ends into squares and I couldn’t help thinking there was something familiar about one. It wasn’t until I passed my desk this morning that I realised what it was.

I often think colours can follow or even lead you. I had a day shopping in Edinburgh last summer and when I emptied the bag I found everything I had bought was blue or purple!

Do you find inspiration comes from unusual places? Or do you often see a symmetry after the fact?

Tin Can Knitting

Published by louise

We are still waiting to hear of baby rumblings, but none as yet and so there was time time to block this wee cardi!

This is Lush, by Emily Wessel of Tin Can Knits and it is an early pattern release from her upcoming book Handmade in the UK

I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted one for myself, but how nice to knit a mini version as a practice?!

I loved knitting this from the beginning. The pattern is written beautifully and clearly and quite succinct for a sweater pattern.

You begin with the delightful lace yoke and wet block it (which took too long! I almost got the hair dryer out I was so impatient to get knitting!)

Then join the yoke and pick to the stitches for the body and collar!

I used the last of my BFL from the Halo cushion and some of my (almost gone, precious, discontinued) Blacker Corriedale and Alpaca. I love the natural colours. I was going to choose some cutesy baby buttons, but I stayed with the natural look!

Great pattern and knit and I am really looking forward to the book release for more great patterns knit in British fibre.

I also finished another TCK project, this time by Emily’s designing partner Alexa Ludeman, which is Caramel Slouch
It’s currently on a second block though , as it is not quite as slouchy as I like. This is no fault of the pattern – it’s my big heid! I usually knit extra slouch into hats and I didn’t this time. Also my yarn erred a little on the side of chunky, I’d say…

It is a delicious merino from Shilasdair, which is bred for them in the Borders. The yarn has a beautiful velvet & slightly felted feel: a very luxurious yet, I’d say, a robust yarn. I think the fact that it is fulled slightly already will cut out the inevitable merino pilling and can imagine cabling will be gorgeous in this.

There is a cabled lace brim on the Caramel Slouch, but as its stretched over a dinner plate at the mo, you wouldn’t see it in all it’s glory. I will take better pics once I get more slouch blocked in.
Again, this was a beautiful knit & a nicely written pattern. I think those frightened of both lace & cables would find this a great project – it is so nice to see cabling on the brim and I really love the construction of the hat. I think I may have to knit one for each of the neblings!

Halo Cushion

Published by louise

I finished 3 WIPs this weekend. Three! *does dance*

Two of these are for the imminent arrival of a friend’s baby and this one was in real danger of becoming an UFO.

I wanted to make something that wasn’t the usual bootees or blanket and while thumbing through Erika Knight’s Natural Nursery Knits that I saw the lace pillow pattern

I did have a couple of misgivings – the lace panel, as I thought, did draw out at the bottom and top of the piece and it was not rectangular. I did not want to block it too aggressively to correct this as my moss stitch was a nice texture and I didn’t want to open it up; also I wanted the pillow to be lovely and plump and doing so would have made the cover bigger. [The pillow, incidentally, was purchased here and I am very pleased with its feathery plumpness!]

As a result I had to fudge the seam when it came to this part. I don’t think it looks *too* bad, but I would swatch a little before I tried this pattern again to try and minimize this.

Does anyone have a trick for stabilising lace within a project to stop that stretch in the fabric? Or maybe there is a type of stitch that skews the fabric less? I would love to know.

I was slow in knitting the lace edging and really this needed a few more repeats to be suitably gathered. I blocked mine fairly well and still I needed to unpick the cast off and do 3 more repeats. It is clearly a bit taut, but hopefully baby won’t mind!

I am really happy with the finished object though. I have never knit on an edging to a seamed edge before and that was a bit fiddly (probably won’t be doing it again any time soon!) and that wool is just so soft that Halo was really the first name that came to mind.

This was British Yarns Bluefaced Leicester, which I bought from Laal Bear’s Etsy shop. I have knit quite a few things with this wool now and I really do love it. It is as soft as cashmere and just knits up beautifully…in fact one of my other FOs this weekend was made in this yarn, but more on that in another post.

It feels so nice to have finished up a few projects – gives one a sense of relief and simultaneously a wonder of “what can I cast on now?”!

Odds & Ends

Published by louise

My projects for KnitBritish do appear slow in coming, if the blog is anything to go by!

I assure you I am not just buying British wool, but I am working with it too! My needles aren’t working any less, but I seem to be starting projects before finishing ones and putting off finishing others due to the prospect of knitting finicky edgings!

What I have come to realise is that I have only knitted one thing for myself so far. This contravenes the pledge I make every year – that I am sure many knitters also pledge….

I MUST KNIT FOR MYSELF!

While thinking about my year of knitting British I quickly came to the conclusion that the patterns I knit would need to be small-ish and quick enough to generate lots of project blogs (ahem! There WILL be more!) and already I am thinking that I could get a real head start of the gift knitting for birthdays, expected baby of friend and, dare I say it, maybe even some Christmas gifts ( don’t gasp, I may be optimistic, but I am rarely *that* organised)
Then I thought those five words again! Even if my F&Fs have lovely knitted gifts made from British fibre, what shall I have to show for my year? – apart from this blog, naturally!

While organising my stash, I found the answer. My odds & ends balls from my projects so far – and the odds & ends of future KnitBritish projects – little projects in themselves! When i cast off a project I am going to use the remaining yarn to knit a square of whichever size the end allows.

I’ll put that square aside and add to the pile after every pattern. At the end of the year I will try and piece it together; I might have enough for a scarf, a runner, a wall hanging, a blanket… Just something that represents everything I made in the year and celebrating UK fibre, as well as everyone who goes into producing it from animal to the finished yarn!