At the end of last September, I travelled to Shetland for Wool Week. I’d spent several previous months exploring a new-to-me world of yarn development, and the result – Buachaille – was about to be launched with the Seven Skeins Club. At home, so many boxes of yarn had arrived that the bathroom floor had begun to bow and sink; and, while Ella and I were talking about our vintage knitwear collections in the Shetland Museum, Tom was sitting in our living room surrounded by yarn, stringing thousands of tags. It was an exciting time, but we were full of trepidation too! What had we done?
Before our talk that evening, I’d encountered my supportive and beautiful friend, Felicity Ford, in the car park outside the Shetland Museum. She was carrying her trusty accordion, and proceeded to serenade me with a song she had written about Buachaille, much to the interest of Lerwick’s curious passers-by.
This song cheered, heartened, and amused me. It was, just like its composer, chock full of warmth and woolly enthusiasm, and it put me in exactly the right frame of mind to give my talk. I found myself humming it over the days that followed, frequently pictured the imaginary onesie whose virtues Felix celebrated in her song, and felt (as I have on numerous occasions over the past decade) incredibly grateful for her friendship.
Frankly, the Buachaille song says as much about Felix’s unique genius as it does about my yarn. I’m so happy that she has recorded it for us, and am proud to include it here for you today.
The lyrics are below, so feel free to sing along.
The Buachaille Song
by Felicity Ford, written for Kate Davies
Oh I would like to knit a onesie,
Covered in Kate Davies designs;
And I would work it all in Buachaille,
And I would wear it all the time.
And if I met with an enquiry,
Whilst out thus nattily attired,
I would explain my outfit,
In terms most vivid and inspired.
Because Buachaille is amazing!
Oh it makes me want to weep;
It’s made of love it’s made of mountains,
And it comes from proper sheep.
The kind that live up in the Highlands,
The ones that roam the Northern Isles,
The sort of sheep from round the borders,
The type in all the best textiles.
Sheep’s wool with subtle lustre,
And a nice warm friendly hand,
If you take a skein and hug it,
I know that you will understand.
Because Buachaille is amazing!
Oh it makes me want to weep.
It’s made of love it’s made of mountains
And it comes from proper sheep.
I love the colours of this great wool,
Which comes in Scottish landscape hues,
There are lovely misty greys there,
And some luminous bright blues.
There’s the green of the woodpecker,
Who laughs just like woodpeckers do,
And you really cannot argue,
With the redness of a coo.
Because Buachaille is amazing!
Oh it makes me want to weep.
It’s made of love it’s made of mountains
And it comes from proper sheep.
Oh I would like to knit a onesie,
Covered in Kate Davies Designs;
And I would work it all in Buachaille,
And I would wear it all the time.
I’d put OWLS up around the yoke,
And Boreal around the sleeves,
I’d make a wee hood for my heid,
Put paperdolls upon my knees.
Because Kate’s designs are amazing,
I am so glad she exists,
She’s made of love, she’s made of mountains,
And now she has created this.
Oh this Buachaille is amazing!
Oh it makes me want to weep.
It’s made of love it’s made of mountains
And it comes from proper sheep.
A few months down the line, we are on our third spinning of Buachaille, have happily moved the yarn from the bathroom to more appropriate storage; have conceded that the interminable labour of labelling and stringing yarn tags is not the best use of anyone’s time (we are moving to simpler skein bands); and having produced and reworked twenty patterns to support the yarn, are now working on a new collection. We are really enjoying our Buachaille adventure and hope that you are too!
That Missy Elliot sweater is AMAZING.
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♡
How cool!
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I have just found myself up to date with your blog and I am disappointed because I have nothing left to read :( I discovered it a couple of months ago and have read from your stroke onwards, following your trials and tribulations and journey to this point, with great joy (and occasional sadness too). I love the way you write and would happily buy a book of anything that you wrote about knitting (or, I suspect, anything else). Now I might have to go right back to the beginning and read up to 2010……
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Oh what a wonderful wooly tune!
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This is wonderful. Thank you.
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FABULOUS!!!!!!!!
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Fantastic song! Wool and music is the perfect association. I can’t wait to see Felix’s onesie!
Bravo to both of you.
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This. This authentic enthusiasm, love, hard work, and just…this. This is why I love KDD and KnitSonik. Oh, let me count the ways…but I could never count them so well as Felix. Thank you Felix for saying it for us!
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You’ve not made it til you’ve been serenaded, with woolly words, by Knitsonik on an accordion! Something to aspire to…
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Oh how exciting about the song, your business, and moving toward label bands . . . these things happen when one must become efficient. Thrill to hear sales are going well!
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Lovely song really! To top it all, the French person I am now knows how to pronounce Buachaille!
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Wonderful! Just as wonderful as the yarn whose name I struggle to pronounce :) ! But I may just get it if I sing this ditty enough!
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SO FITTING! Love the tune, the lyrics, the message.
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What an amazing yarn song! How fantastic is that? Well done both. I think Felix wants a onesie…..
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And my friend wants Felicity to put her song on iTunes.
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I am sure that knitting such a onesie would be a fantastic community project…
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Is this available as download ? I could here it in the car non-stop and drive my children mad :-))).
Good to know I should carefully preserve my Buachaille-tags.
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Please tell Felicity that is just the best thing ever.
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Bwahaha, that is genius!!!! I am a music teacher and professional performer (and knitter, of course, ha ha!) and I can say from experience that she has perfectly captured charm and cheeky with perfect wit and smile!!!
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Love Love Love the song and Love Love Love the wool from the proper sheep. Tune is stuck in my head now. Off to hug a skein now xx
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What a joy to have a friend like Felix – it’s delightful fun!
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Me applauding and crying “Brava!”
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What a fun song! (I figured “heid” must mean “head” … but had to look it up to be sure. ha!)
Good friends are terrific, aren’t they!
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That is so wonderful. Thank you for sharing. It brought a huge smile to my face and happy tears to my eyes. You are blessed to have such a friend.
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The Edith Piaf of fiber!! Fantastic.
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Wonderful song… makes me want to weep!
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This is wonderful! I have just listened to it and can’t help smiling and singing along too ❤️ I am smiling so much I forgot to hit the submit button to add my comment
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That put a smile on my face this grey Friday morning….
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That’s absolutely lovely!! It made me so happy, I hope I can try Buachaille in the future. BTW, I’m a big fan of your designs and your blog, Kate, and I’m a big fan of a lot of other Scottish things too. My number one dream is going there, specially to Skye. I also want to go to that store where you buy your amazing kilts, and drink lots of Brewdog beer cheaper (we have it here but it’s so expensive), listen to pipes, buy lots of wool, etc, etc. I want to plan it so I can go while there is a Edinburg wool festival, then maybe I will meet you too! Lots of love from a fan in Brazil!
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Brilliant! On so many levels! Joyfully anticipating your next endeavor! !:)
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That song is amazing, and now I’ll have it in my head all day. Cheers!
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Wonderful and catchy song, true words, what a great friendship!
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I adore it!!!! It made my day! ahahah!
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Hysterically funny & brilliant! Kudos to Felicity, but damn her – I’ll be humming this for the rest of the day!
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Perfectly delightful!
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Well, Felicity Ford is amazing, even if she doesn’t come from proper sheep!
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What a wonderful song and a great friendship you must have! I’ll smile all day!
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Brilliant!
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What an amazing tribute!!
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Oh Kate, you have no idea how happy this post made me… I LOVE the photo at the top of you three friends, you are all so fortunate in one another. Thanks for the smiles! xx
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Lovely and funny 🤗
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That is totally wonderful. What a stellar performance. What musicality. What timing.
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What a wonderful catchy song this is!
Now I am spinning und singing ….
Thank you Kate and Felix ♡♡
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How happy is that! Just glorious. Thankyou Felicity.
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This is such a great song, what a lovely friend Felix is….perhaps you should knit her the onesie as someone suggests earlier on, I heard her wool song for Wovember and thought that was pretty special but this was even better….think I’ll be lah lah lah-ing this all day x
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Wonderful song, you must feel very special having your own song! That’s because you are special and so is your yarn!
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Darling. Felicity is a wonder.
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Fabulous! Both song and yarn, and Kate and Felix! Loved it!
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I LOVE the song! I was happily singing along. Thank you for posting! I give it 10 baas!
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Ok, putting aside the gorgeous designs, obsession-worthy yarn, extremely clever and witty lyrics, and delightful performance – putting aside ALL THAT for the moment. The evident friendship and dedication between you two simply warms me all the way to the top. As if I were wearing a onesie. Covered in Kate Davies Designs.
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WON-DER-FULL!!!!! What a friend! What inspiration!
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Just lovely! It’s a catchy tune that made me smile.
Thanks.
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oh, wow . . . you two have truly touched my heart. Through Felix’s poetry and music, by Kate’s design and birth of a new wool, with the respect and fondness found only in friendship and clearly shared by the two of you, my heart is touched. Bravo to you both! (and thank you!)
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What a wonderful friend to knit you a lovely song.
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Oh so catchy this tune is! Who knew that Felix was a composer and singer in addition to being an inspiring colorist and knitter! And, the lyrics are true, true. Thanks to you both :-)
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What a hoot! Felix you have a lovely voice and the verses are very clever……….huzzah!!
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BRAVO! To both of you! As a musician and knitter I doubly enjoyed.
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I could’t help myself – I instantly got up and pranced and danced while singing Italian style! What great fun :-0!
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How special is it to have a friend who sings you a song expressing her love and appreciation for you, her dear friend?!?! Now that is one of those most awesome life experiences! Bless her heart!
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What a beautiful friend! That song is firmly wedged in my head and providing the rhythm for tonight’s knitting.
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Brilliant! I raise my glass to Felix!
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Love this! Now I finally know how to pronounce Buachaille!
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Bravo!!
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A delightful song. Put a big smile on my face.
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This is the best song ever! I LOVE IT!!!
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So wonderful! Only Felicity could do this so well!
I think I want to knit a Croft house hat, with Buachaille, and sing as I knit! My three favorite people in GB!
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LOVE it!!!!
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Absolutely wonderful!
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The song makes me want to go to Scotland and see the colours of the landscape and meet KATE !
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What a delight! Both the song and the wool.
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Brava!
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Wonderful song!
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I love this – two wonderful women bringing us more joy! And after EYF I can go and hug my own skeins of buachaille. Bit worried about what happens with the improper sheep though.
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Made my day. Song, yarn, all of it! Congratulations
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Oh how I wish I had a pint in hand to raise a toast to you and Felicity! Wonderful yarn and song
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What a wonderful, jaunty tune! I’m still smiling. It took forever to get Felix’s Shetland Wool Song out of my head – now this! It’s your fault that I shall be singing myself to sleep with this & dreaming of a soft mattress of Buachallie beneath me.
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Thank you both, Kate and Felix, for being out there in this amazing world of fiber enthusiasts!
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A delightful little song!!! What a wonderful friend indeed!!
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It simply is amazing! The song, the yarn and Kate!!!
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This made me SOOOOOO happy! Thank you for sharing. What a talented friend you have!
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Love it! A love song for yarn ;-)
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Wonderful song! It makes one smile, and the smile stays.
Thank you for sharing!
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Brilliant !
I must look after my yarn tags, they’ll be collectibles soon. :)
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SO wonderful. I will be humming it for days too.
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Wonderful!
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a wonderful song and great yarn!!
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How great to have a song written for your yarn! Did Felix design her Missy Elliott vest? She is a creative genius.
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Such a beautiful song, it would be brilliant to make a buachaille promotional video, a short film of Scottish landscapes with the song as a soundtrack. Nothing else..
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Well that put a proper smile upon my face! Thanks for sharing!
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Weeping? No, smiling the whole time. Wonderful song.
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That was just so lovely it made me want to weep.
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Oh thank you to Felicity for the lovely song and to you for sharing it. I felt like I was back in Scotland — what a wonderful memory!
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Love it, the song, the wool, Felicity’s book, your patterns.
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How lovely! Glad you are into the third spinning. I am eagerly awaiting my Rachel’s Yoke kit.
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This song is soo from the heart, it’s lively and lovely, it’s warm and full of friendship..
Lucky you…
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What a dear song,Kate.Are you going to design Felicity’s Onesie?
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Absoblumin’ lovely!
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BRAVO!!!! BRAVO!!! Love the song!!!
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Absolutely delightful!
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I love this so much. Thanks for sharing!
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You forgot the last two verses! I need to learn all the words! A lovely tune to accompany lovely yarn made of love and mountains and from very proper sheep! Love love love
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oops – they are there now I think!
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