WoolWork

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Woolfest swag

Published by louise

It feels like yonks since Woolfest, positively yonks.

I have been revisiting my swag and some pictures to refresh my memory.

I think this event must hit all bases, whistles and bells for wool lovers and for me British wool was abundant.

I made my first purchase within ten minutes! We meandered down to wooly knit’s corner.
I had heard lots of lovely things about wool from here, but I had found their old website a bit fussy to navigate and always meant to look again later (it’s much less fussy now, go look after reading this ) the first thing my hungry, knitting eyes saw was a massive hank of 4ply Hebridean wool – a breed I hadn’t knit and at an amazing price! Given my outsize carrier bag it was clear I’d run out of luggage space with purchase one!

Next visit was to Sky Blue Pink for buttons! I couldn’t get very close to their stall at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival , so I was very pleased to see them here & was VERY controlled & only bought a few! I believe they also have knitting kits using British wool!

After a brilliant rare breeds show, the LovelyFella thought he was “slowing me down”, so took to the coffee & cakes while I really got into the woolfest swing!

I was really keen to add different breeds to my stash (that’s what knitting British is all about!) and so kept my eyes peeled & found Gotland & Jacob/Suffolk Marl from lovely Sheepfold . I love the range on their website & it was so great to see the yarns in the flesh!

Yorkshire Woollybacks had a great range of breeds and… after seeing the fellow in the flesh… I had to buy some plump & sturdy Ryeland DK. I can see this making cosy mitts for winter.

I found the wool clip a little later in the day & was really pleased to find more wool that my stash was lacking. I love the contrast of the BFL & Zwartbles, dark & light, smooth & textured. I do like a feast on all the senses in my yarn, but the wool (I suspect the latter) is very Sheepy scented.

Another couple of ticks off my list at the wool clip was a great “lucky bag” of coloured Herdwick & Swaledale rug wool. As the name suggests this is far from skin softness, but I can just tell this is going to be a wonderful texture in a felted cushion.

I found John Arbon too. I was coveting some socks, but was drawn like a moth to a nnnneeeewwwww yarn! Exmoor sock! This yarn is delightfully lustrous but it feels very strong. The colours are a delight and I adore the lilac,grey smoke.

(Note to self: learn socks!)

One stall I also Pre-planned to visit was Higher Gills Teeswater I love the curly longwools (cannot imagine them tripping their tresses in Shetland, though) and I came across these chaps early into my KnitBritish research and they really went over and above in the woolfestiness – free patterns and a lovely free project bag to carry it home in.
I bought myself some aran and a chunky cushion kit for LovelyFella’s mum.

Yes, I was very happy to see yarns I knew and meet yarns I didn’t, but there were also the infamous yarns!
From the moment I walked in the door I was on the look out for one stall in particular… One shed, in fact!
BaaRamEwe had the best (and award winning) stall in shed-form and it was full to the rafters with TITUS!

I am a sheep & I am firmly jumping on this bandwagon…UK alpaca, Wensleydale & BFL in a beautiful array of colours. It feels like squiding a marshmallow!
I will be earmarking these for gift knits for sure!

There were so many woolly stars at Woolfest, I await next year’s event with relish!

Thanks to the lovliest LovelyFella, Clint, for arranging it all and never looking bored once, even though he was in a marts, surrounded by sheep and wool

ETA: I forgot to mention that the totally amazing WTWTA wool frieze was part of a display by the Materialistics and it blew us away. Totally wonderful and a joy to behold.

Woolfest!!!!!

Published by louise

I will blog when I get home about my woolfest purchases, but I had to do a little post, post-woolfest!

What a wonderful couple of days (amid un-wonderful things happening at home). We travelled from Edinburgh to Carlisle on Thursday & caught the bus to Cockermouth. The rain was pretty torrential at times but did little to dampen our spirits.
After dining on wonderful local fayre at the Trout Hotel, we retired for an early night in woolly anticipation.

The place was amazing! A wool enthusiasts dream – a wonderfully woolly maze of natural & rainbow colours. The woolfest chaps totally surpassed themselves – not only with variety of stall holders but also on food & entertainment.
The biggest credit goes to the LovelyFella who arranged it all & didn’t look too bored!

More Woolfest wonderfulness later, about to leave Carlisle for Edinburgh! I have just been to the post office to Special Delivery my swag home as it took up too much room in the case!
Big hello to all going to Woolfest today! I hope the rain stays off!

Trip down Roslin Glen

Published by louise

My shape of my little Pre-Woolfest trip to Edinburgh has changed due a few dramatic things that happened last week, but I managed a little touristy action today.
Although l lived in Edinburgh & the surrounding areas for years I still love to explore it.
My kindred pal, Maureen, is a tour guide at Roslyn Chapel and seeing as I haven’t been in at least 12 years I was long overdue. Before that though, we took a wander down Roslin Glen.

There are some beautiful trees in this area, but this one was quite breathtaking and possibly the biggest tree in the glen… Well biggest compared to her nearby chum…

I have never seen a branch grow so much that it has planted itself into the ground.

Roslin Glen is a magical place and deserves much exploration. I like the walk down the glen road from Rosewell, which leads you slowly down into the glen. with trees as far as the eye can see you could forget how close you are to Edinburgh.
Had I been a week or so earlier the area would have been abundant with ramsons and bluebells, but there were gems still…

We ended up down at Roslin Castle, an amazing, towering ruin. Down by the river here is one of my favourite contemplative places, but I have never really explored around the base of the castle & bridge … It’s a tad slippy underfoot but a worth the scrabbling.

Once we refreshed with a coffee we went into the chapel, how lucky was I to have my own personal tour guide?
If you have never been to Roslyn it is well worth a visit (& the £9 fee) all the staff are so knowledgable and they have a real fervour for what they do.
The place has a real atmosphere – no matter what you believe about the place & its history, it is a fascinating and beautiful place.
I was sad not to have net William, the famous chapel cat…he was nestled between two visitors on the pews, listening to a talk!

Afterwards, mine guide took me to her other place of work at the local studies library – a busman’s holiday, but I do love a library! It’s a great resource there, they have access to some amount of Midlothian history! Maureen told me she loves playing detective and piecing together information requests from the public! If you have links to the area or are interested in local or family history this is a great place to start your search!

A long day, but so pleasant to find comfort in the places I know and love and discovering new in the old

(Please excuse any spelling, grammar, et al… It is 2am & I blog from my phone in a dark room!)

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!

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