WOOLNESS & ME: Managing anxiety with wool

We’ve been really struck by how honestly Woolness & Me contributors have written about their relationship with wool and wellbeing. Victoria Bennett has written one such post of her management of anxiety with sheepy, characterful wool in her knitting.  Working wool with my hands helps me to manage my anxiety. I asked my mum to… Continue Reading WOOLNESS & ME: Managing anxiety with wool

Wovember Words: "Yows"

You may already have heard farmers in the North of England speaking about yows or in Shetland, speaking about yowes. I have found it spelled with an e and without, but in both those contexts it is a regional dialect word meaning ewe. When in Shetland recently for Wool Week, the Shetland Library in Lerwick… Continue Reading Wovember Words: "Yows"

Wovember Words: Cats and Wool

For this last WOVEMBER WORDS post of 2014 we celebrate our feline friends. The strong association of wool with cats is indicated every year in the wondrous photos that you submit to our photo competition. Every wool worker I know with a cat attests to the special affinity that this beast feels for the following… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Cats and Wool

Wovember Words: Leg-waarmers song (1983)

At Shetland Wool Week 2014 Shetland ForWirds put on a wonderful evening of songs and readings in Shetland dialect, designed to introduce and celebrate the richness of the Shetland dialect and to share some of the beautiful terms for WOOL and WOOLWORK used in the past and today in Shetland. Laureen Johnson has very kindly… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Leg-waarmers song (1983)

Unst Lace

‘The island of Unst is famous for lace knitting. I was lucky to meet some of the knitters last year during Shetland Wool Week.’ – Jeni Reid

Wovember Words: Huff

Fellow TEAM WOVEMBER member Louise Scollay has insisted that for one of the posts I share the words to the Shetland Wool Week Song. I wrote this song for Shetland Wool Week 2013, and it is an unapologetic celebration of beautiful Shetland Wool. In one of the verses I talk about “huffing the wool fumes”;… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Huff

Chris Dyer: crofting aspirations

Here at WOVEMBER we recognise the importance of the wool journey and we have been very lucky to have had such insightful contributions looking at sheep farming. In today’s post we look at the experiences of first time crofter Chris Dyer. Originally from London, archaeologist Chris decided to take over a croft in Bressay, Shetland… Continue Reading Chris Dyer: crofting aspirations