our new advent calendar is selling fast!
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All articles filed in sheep
Colour at the woolbrokers
a symphony of Shetland shades
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a chat with Misa Hay
There is no getting away from the fact that, whatever business you are in, this year has been a very weird one. Having to change the nature and direction of what you are doing – often very rapidly – is never an easy thing, and this year there have been so many of those changes.…
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Light and lambs
Hello everyone, it’s Tom here. I thought I’d pop in to share some of my photos from our recent Hebridean trip to the isle of Berneray (Eilean Bhearnaraigh). As a photographer, I find the ever-changing weather and shifting quality of light in Scotland’s Western Isles really stimulating in my work. On this trip we were…
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Scottish Smallholder Festival
Last year I had the very great pleasure of meeting Rosemary Champion. As well as producing wonderful local yarn and meat from her own Rosedean Ryelands, Rosemary is a huge source of inspiration and advice to folk all over Scotland (and beyond) as The Accidental Smallholder. If you have any sort of interest in raising…
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Blidö weekend
What would your ideal weekend involve? Picking and eating delicious wild strawberries? Discovering a beautiful landscape on foot? And getting to spend some quality time with its inhabitants? (The Roslagsfår sheep are so sweet . . . as are their characterful piggy neighbours!) Visiting an exceptionally well cared-for wee museum and hearing all about island…
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Shade card sheep
As a small yarn producer, I am often asked whether I sell shade cards, but I’ve never been quite sure how to present them. When my dear pal Felix got married recently, some fabulous wool-wrapped sheep featured among her many woolly wedding favours. Those wee sheep rather took hold of my imagination and I just…
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Uradale
One of the really fascinating aspects about our Shetland Oo project has been finding out more about what motivates Shetlanders who work with wool, and what really makes them tick, both personally and politically (because yes, in so many ways wool is political). Ronnie Eunson and Sue White of Uradale farm, near Scalloway, are particularly…
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Shetland Tannery
As part of our work researching and documenting Shetland Oo, this past August, Tom and I met Natalie Cairns-Ratter of the Shetland Tannery. I’d acquired several of Natalie’s beautiful sheepskins on earlier Shetland visits, and was intrigued to learn more about the tanning process, and how her company came about. Small-scale tanning was previously a…
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haps, sheep, and me
Hiya! It is I, Bruce. For weeks – nay months – pretty much all I have heard about is haps. Kate has been writing about them, and making a book about them, and apparently she now just can’t stop knitting them. Now, these haps are all well and good, but other exciting things have been…
Read MoreBuachaille – coming soon!
We are getting very excited here, as we are anticipating a large woolly delivery, and it will soon be time to announce the launch of our new yarn. I thought it was time to tell you a little more about it. (my favourite sheep, from Colours of Shetland) I am a great advocate for using…
Read MoreChris’ croft
The Spring edition of 60 North is out! And its a great issue. Those of you who have my Colours of Shetland book may recall mention of my archeologist friend, Chris Dyer, whose knowledge and inspiration helped me to develop my ideas for my Scatness designs. Well, Chris recently started to raise his own Shetland…
Read MoreLayter – a celebration of sheep and wool
In case you haden’t noticed, today is the first of WOVEMBER! I thought I’d begin the month by showing you a garment that, like no other I can think of, truly celebrates the glorious variety of British sheep and wool. It was designed by my good friend and fellow WOVEMBERIST, Felicity Ford, AKA, Felix. This…
Read MoreShepherd hoody
You may remember that, last year, I mentioned how thrilled I was to be invited, along with Kirsten Kapur, to design a sweater for Susan Gibbs and Emily Chamelin’s project The Shepherd and The Shearer. Well, the sheep have been shorn, the yarn has been spun, the patterns have been written, and a lovely booklet…
Read Morerams return!
Last week, myself and the Rams and Yowes blanket, took a trip North. The rams were returning to the place where they began . . . . . . the Shetland wool from which they were knitted was sorted and graded here . . . . . . and now they are home again. If…
Read Morerams and yowes
Hmmm . . . do I spy . . . some sheep? . . . . many sheep? . . . and many rams? 120 yowes and 48 rams?!! Yes! It’s the rams and yowes lap blanket! In case you were wondering, yowe means ewe in Shetland dialect and, just like the sheepheid design from…
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KDD & Co 