Latest Posts

Woolly Mucker Review: Lore from The Fibre Co

Published by louise

Look, everybody! It’s a blog post…it’s an actual blog post!

If you listened to the last episode you will know that the last few months have seen a lot of personal upheaval. That hasn’t meant that the world of KB has stopped –  I recorded for two special episodes and there was yarn to tell you about too. Sadly moving house was not conducive to yarn reviewing, but our wondrous woolly muckers were keen to assist again. I am very grateful.

It was really lovely to get an email from Claire, from The Fibre Co , who wanted to tell me all about their new yarn, Lore and she offered a skein for woolly mucker road testing! Read More

Episode 109 – A very quick catch up!

Published by louise

Hello! Welcome back after a late summer break!

I’ve not had any time to rest on my laurels and I’ve recorded for 2 special episodes which will be coming out over the next few weeks. I felt that we needed a very quick catch up before those, as it may be a wee while before our next regular show!

Just a few quick things to tell you about, no notes or links today.

Grab a WIP and a wee beverage and let’s have a quick catch up!

UPDATE: Due to space I can no longer host the audio files on the blog, please use your favourite podcatcher, or right click the podgen link to open the podcast episode in a new window

 

| Important information

Music: Singin’ in The Rain (demo) by David Mumford – On FreeMusicArchive and shared under Creative Commons Attribution license.

 

 

Episode 108 – From a little van of woolly hopes & dreams: Louise Spong & South Downs Yarn

Published by louise

Dear listeners, this month I am delighted to introduce you to Louise Spong.

I say “introduce”, but I mean “to the podcast, for the first time!”, as some of you will already be acquainted with Louise and her company South Downs Yarn; you may have bought her yarns and maybe you read her articles at Wovember last year.  I’ve been chatting to Louise online for a long time, but only met her last month! I’m very happy that she agreed to sit down and chat with me for the podcast, we talk about the Southdown breed; Louise’s draw to the breed and the impetus for her starting her business; we discuss the need to understand slow as a concept in the wool creating process and we dip into some of the issues wool explorer’s may have found in sourcing Southdown for the exploration this month.

I heartily enjoyed chatting with Louise and I think you chaps will really enjoy listening and perhaps learn some interesting stuff too.

UPDATE: Due to space I can no longer host the audio files on the blog, please use your favourite podcatcher, or right click the podgen link to open the podcast episode in a new window

Read More

Episode 107 – I will never just stick to the knitting.

Published by louise

Today’s episode is mainly about wool and knitting, but the title stands as a good reminder that my views do often extend beyond this!

UPDATE: Due to space I can no longer host the audio files on the blog, please use your favourite podcatcher, or right click the podgen link to open the podcast episode in a new window

You can also listen on iTunes, the podcast app, or search your favourite podcatcher, if you prefer!

Shownotes

The words sh*t and piss are used a couple of times in this episode, and is *mostly* relation to my landlord mostly! This is in the first few minutes. I will mark this episode as explicit for those who need a sweary trigger warning!

| My views extend beyond craft. The content I decide for my social media and my podcast is up to me. You don’t pay to download episodes and you don’t pay to follow me on social media. My content, like speech and thought, is FREE. We can definitely disagree and we can definitely enter into a discussion, but unrelenting confirmation bias from the echo-chamber is not welcome. Do click unfollow an unsubscribe. As my good chum says – it’s not me, it’s you. Read More

Episode 106 – cosy and tempting!

Published by louise

Back once again for another dose of all things woolly!

UPDATE: Due to space I can no longer host the audio files on the blog, please use your favourite podcatcher, or right click the podgen link to open the podcast episode in a new window

You can also listen on iTunes, the podcast app, or search your favourite podcatcher, if you prefer!

Woollin Dublin

I went to Woollin on 26th May and what a WONDERFUL event. I was blown away with the awesome team, how they created a great welcoming event and a lovely marketplace. It was lovely to be a punter at a yarn festival and I met so many pals, familiar faces and favourite vendors Read More

#NaturesShades 2018: Shawls

Published by louise

For me, a shawl is often a great canvas to show what your yarn and their shades can do! If you need a few suggestions for our #NaturesShadesAlong then feel free to take some inspiration from here, or dig into my suggestion bundle on Ravelry. If you didn’t need inspiration and now you have an even longer list then sorrynotsorry, ha! Read More

Nature’s Shades-along is coming back!

Published by louise

Back in January 2016, myself and Isla Davison hosted a craft-along which truly celebrated natural shades of undyed glory from our sheepy pals and fibre friends. We wanted to show the value of the amazing range of colours out there, we wanted to challenge the people who thought all British undyed yarn was brown and we wanted people to see how harmonious and also how striking natural shades could be.

Clarification 27-6-18

I’ve had questions as to whether Uist Wool’s Dile, Fras, Contraigh, Reothart, etc can be considered as 2 (or more) natural shades due to their variegated nature of different breeds. As the idea is to play with natural shades then no, you cannot use this on its own.

We will consider these yarns like a variegated colourway. You need to choose at least one other natural shade with these yarns. Thanks for understanding.

FURTHER CLARIFICATION 30-6-18

This seems to be confusing people.

ANY Variegated yarn (whether natural or for your dyed allowance) equals ONE yarn choice.

Read More

Woolly Mucker Review: Plaw Hatch Lleyn

Published by louise

Plaw Hatch Farm is a 200 acre biodynamic farm in Sussex, England. The shepherdess of the Plaw Hatch flock of sheep is Gala, [@FarmerGala on Instagram] and I was delighted when she got in touch recently to ask if the woolly muckers would like to try some of her organic yarn.

The Plaw Hatch flock consists of Lleyn and Romney and they also have some Jacob and the yarn that they have had spun so far has been Demeter certified and has been spun organically at the Natural Fibre company. Later in the year there will be more Romney, Jacob, Lleyn and X yarns, but Gala was very kind in sending some of their pure, organic Lleyn for myself and two woolly mucker reviewers to try out.

I gave both Louise (louisepants) and Katie (MissGoggins) the chance to know what the breed yarn was or go in for a blind review and both of them plumped for the mystery… so this is the first time they are finding out what the yarn is! Read More