About

My Journey

I have had a love of all things crafty from a very early age. I learnt how to sew and embroider from my mother, I pestered my grandmother to teach me to knit (my first attempt was very ‘abstract’) and spent hours making long chains of French knitting. In my early teens I discovered Saori weaving at a textile fair and added weaving to the top of my hobbies. Several years later, I stumbled upon the Ashford YouTube channel and discovered their spinning tutorials…

I had always wanted to have a go at spinning after watching BBC’s The Good Life, and started my journey with a handmade drop spindle and hand carders – gifts from one of my lovely friends. I eventually upgraded to a second hand Ashford Traditional when I bought my first raw fleece, and the rest as they say, is history.

This blog documents my journey with fibre, my attempts to tell the story of each sheep breed as I work with it’s wool, the fibre challenges I take part in, and the projects I make. My content has diversified over time, and I also write about the historical, cultural and environmental aspects of wool and fibre, particularly during Wovember.

Fibre & The Environment

Wool fascinates me and I will happily waffle on about how sustainable it is to anyone who will listen. Each sheep’s fleece has different qualities and since humans domesticated sheep, most breeds can no longer shed naturally, meaning like us – sheep need their hair cut. Wool is therefore a useful waste product, yet the price of wool/kg is so low many farmers end up burning or composting it. Coupled with a textile industry that continues to produce harmful synthetic fibres, this presents a huge environmental problem and is something I try to challenge in my own small way when working with wool.

I source my fleeces from small producers (locally where possible), paying a fair price to support the welfare of the flock. I use all parts of a fleece where possible; bits of fleece that are too heavily soiled to be salvaged or are clumps of pure kemp go into the compost bin as sheep’s fleece is high in nitrogen. Nepps, second cuts and carding waste become stuffing, and water left over from the suint baths I wash my fleeces in at the end of the year is used to water the garden.

I also work with plant and other non-wool fibres, but steer clear of synthetics as much as possible (the only exception being where not using it would mean throwing it away – old acrylic yarn scraps etc.).