Update: Open Letter to The Campaign for Wool

Wovember kicked off early this year, back in September with this Letter to the Campaign for Wool. We’d not planned on starting Wovember so early, but felt called to action by so many grassroots wool workers feeling unsupported by the Campaign for Wool (CfW) and their wool conference un-ironically dubbed “The Davos of Wool”. We… Continue Reading Update: Open Letter to The Campaign for Wool

A Peep at the Wovember Prizes

As always, here at Wovember we love to award prizes for our Wool-along and for our IG photograph competition. Prizes which speak of wool and of sheep. We have been bowled over by all the wool work you have been knitting, spinning, weaving and so on this Wovember and have also loved seeing your pictures… Continue Reading A Peep at the Wovember Prizes

yarn that tells the story of Uist

This week our theme is centred on wool empowerment. Earlier in Wovember we heard from Dana MacPhee, director of Uist Wool, on the project’s inception and setting up their mill. Today we are pleased to welcome mill manager Hazel Smith to give her personal account of her involvement with the project.  Uist Wool. Our name, I believe,… Continue Reading yarn that tells the story of Uist

Hebridean Seafaring Sheep in the UK

We’re on our last leg of the EU tour of sheep and wool and have landed back in the native land of team Wovember: the UK. We’ve featured loads of content about the UK on the Wovember blog in the past so rather than trying to summarise everything we know about wool from this country… Continue Reading Hebridean Seafaring Sheep in the UK

Svenska får och ull – Swedish sheep and wool

Today on our EU tour of sheep and wool we are in Sweden, where the word for sheep is får and the word for wool is ull. Wikipedia list the following breeds as being native to Sweden – Dala-fur; Gotland; Gute; Roslag and Rya. However, several additional Swedish breeds are mentioned in the fantastic The… Continue Reading Svenska får och ull – Swedish sheep and wool

Week 4 of the #Wovember2016 instagram photo competition…

As we mentioned in this post Wovember has been hosting an annual photo contest on instagram. You still have a few days left to enter! All you have to do is use the hashtag #Wovember2016 on any images which show the ways in which you are appreciating and celebrating sheep and wool this Wovember. You… Continue Reading Week 4 of the #Wovember2016 instagram photo competition…

Ovejas y lana en España – sheep and wool in Spain

Today on our EU tour of sheep and wool we are in Spain where the word for sheep is oveja and the word for wool is lana. Spain is where the infamous merino originates from and to give some historical context, we shall begin by quoting from the excellent tome The Wool Trade Past and… Continue Reading Ovejas y lana en España – sheep and wool in Spain

Slovenske ovce in volna – Slovenian sheep and wool

Today continuing our EU sheep and wool tour we are in Slovenia where the word for sheep is ovce, and the word for wool is volna. The two sheep breeds listed as being native to Slovenia are the Jezersko-Solčava breed and the Bovec sheep. The Jezersko-Solčava sheep originate in Jezersko. ETA:  we also learnt from one… Continue Reading Slovenske ovce in volna – Slovenian sheep and wool

Journey of a wool yarn #2

Earlier in Wovember Louise spoke to Joy McMillan, from The Knitting Goddess about her plans to design a 100% Yorkshire wool yarn. In conversation with Louise and Joy was Claire Tunney, of Fourways Dorsets, whose fleece was going into the yarn. You can listen to their interview here. An important part of the process of creating… Continue Reading Journey of a wool yarn #2