on Today’s WOVEMBER WORDS post explores the term KnitBritish as it appears in Louise Scollay’s Knit British Breed Swatch KAL. To tie in with yesterday’s post by Tom, the yarn featured in this post is from South Downs Yarn. #BreedSwatchAlong | What are we doing? Using British breed wool, or wool from our local area, we… Continue Reading Wovember Words: KnitBritish
on As an amuse-bouche for tonight’s post with Louise Spong from South Downs Yarn, we hear from her about a very special shepherd’s crook. With Louise’s natural curiosity, it was not enough to just know about the hook. She actually made one herself! So, here’s Louise, on the Pyecombe Hook: Ah, therein lies a tale or… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Pyecombe Hook
on 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"
on For today’s WOVEMBER WORDS we examine a 1596 document by Leonard Mascal, as it is introduced by Barclay Wills in his own fantastic tome, ‘Shepherds of Sussex’. Words from both ‘Government of Cattel’ and ‘Shepherds of Sussex’ indicate the unchanging aspects and long history of much of the work involved in Growing Wool and it… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Government of Cattel
on Throughout WOVEMBER we will hear from people taking part in the KnitBritish Breed Swatch-along who discovering the unique characteristics of different single breed wool yarns. LOUISE will be here tonight with a post about the SAL – on how you can take part and how it has spurred participants on to really investigate the yarn they knit with. Ahead… Continue Reading WOVEMBER WORDS: From Land's End to John O'Groats, a sheepy journey of the British Isles
on For today’s WOVEMBER WORDS we explore an alternative regional term for ‘shepherd’ from the Romney Marshes on the Southern coast of England. During the Medieval period, Romney Marsh was one of the most densely populated parts of Kent; by the middle of the 17th Century, it had become the least populous part. The port of… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Lookers and Lookers huts
on Welcome to the inaugaural WOVEMBER WORDS post of 2015! For those of you new to WOVEMBER WORDS, this is a daily elevenses of sheep and wool themed literature to be enjoyed during your morning break. Founded by WOVEMBER MEMBER Tom in 2012 the archive of WOVEMBER WORDS articles can be searched by clicking here. This… Continue Reading Wovember Words: The Valley of Eden
on 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
on 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)
on Today’s WOVEMBER WORDS come from Wordsworth who gives a wondrous picture of the place of WOOL in Lakeland life in the early nineteenth century. Originally published anonymously in 1810 as an introduction to Wilkinson’s “Select Views in Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire”, Wordsworth’s “Guide to the Lakes” was later revised and edited by the author and… Continue Reading Wovember Words: Wordsworth on WOOL