Number 9: A wool project with Provenance

Di and I met Alice Underwood at The Wool Clip in Caldbeck, Cumbria in the summer of 2016. She has her own flock of Manx Loaghtan sheep and spins yarn for knitting. She is one of the 14 women running The Wool Clip as a co-operative. Her passion for wool from rare and native British sheep breeds really got me excited about buying one of her kits of Aran Wool celebrating ten British breeds.

NUMBER NINE:

A wool project with provenance.

As the summer heat starts to suggest that it may be fading just a little, I am getting ready to start knitting up a cable bolster cushion cover from Sheepfold, one of Alice Underwood's original designs.

The natural hues of the undyed British native breeds range from a creamy white to a deep blackish brown. The British breeds have fabulous names! In my stash for this project are Boreray, Hebridean, Manx Loaghtan and North Ronaldsay which are Primitive breeds; Herdwick, Jacob and Swaledale which are English Hill and Heath breeds; Badgerface Welsh Mountain a Welsh Hill and Heath breed; Black Leicester Longwool and Blueface Leicester are the Longwool breeds.

As I put my nose to the wool I can smell the farm, the sheep and I feel deeply honored to be working with wool with this type of provenance, a rare treat indeed in this fast paced and mechanised world we live in. Some of the wool is soft to the touch, others are coarse and textured.

I am ready with circular and cable needles in hand. I will miss these gorgeous balls of wool in my studio but it's time to make a start.

My bolster with hand made buttons, thanks to Fred.