Well, it’s been a little while since I posted! The last couple of months have been full and yet I have very little to show for it; we’ve spent quite a lot of time outdoors, taking full advantage of the soft Scottish summer weather and that’s been lovely… but it’s actually been a bit of a frustrating period workwise! Since moving here and starting my shop, I’ve learnt a lot about the joys and challenges of working on my own and, while I really love the creative and physical freedom of running my own show, I do find working on my own in a newish city a bit tough- I just get a bit lonely! Although I’m quite introverted and need my own space, which means that production work quite suits me, I’m realising that I actually prefer to work as part of a team and that, when things get busy or when I have a series of different things on, I can become overwhelmed making all the decisions and doing all the things myself. It’s all good learning and I’m really grateful to be doing what I do- I just need to put a few things in place so that I can bounce ideas off others in my field and break up the long stretches of solo production with joint projects!
So I’m really excited to be collaborating with my ace friend Rachel Atkinson in just such a way… If you don’t already know of Rachel and her Daughter of a Shepherd yarn, her wonderful story of transforming her father’s Hebridean fleeces, deemed pretty much worthless by the British Wool Board, into stunning yarn gives hope to many of us knitters and fibre producers that wool has a real and tangible value beyond compost, landfill or carpeting. Many farmers face this challenge of what to do with their wool, at a time when it is worth less than the cost of shearing, and I think Rachel’s knowledge of what handknitters want in a yarn in the post-merino age (and her willingness to take us along on her yarn-making journey) shows what is possible if you are able to combine good wool, good business sense and good spinning skills.
Daughter of a Shepherd Hebridean
Daughter of a Shepherd Hebridean
Rachel contacted me a few months ago with the idea of using the beautiful Hebridean tweeds produced by Ardalanish, weavers on the Hebridean isle of Mull, to make a limited run of pouches to sit alongside her yarn at Yarndale. I was thrilled to have the chance to both work with Rachel, whose work I really admire, and to use such beautiful fabric; I had read about Ardalanish before moving to Scotland and have dreamed about working with their yarns…
I was out on Mull and Iona with Scotto and my mother-in-law in June and so we stopped at Ardalanish to pick up the fabrics that Rachel and I had chosen. We were lucky enough to be able to have a quick tour and chat with Anne, who, along with her family, took over the weaving studio in 2011 (after “retiring”!). She does a much better job at telling the story of how the studio came to be, of the machinery and those who work it and the sourcing of fibre on their website but I can certainly say that, after talking to her and seeing their setup, I feel very pleased to be part of bringing their fabrics to a new audience! Ardalanish is a great example of how to combine small island life with a strong business sense, an appealing aesthetic and good people.
I managed to get a few shots on my phone while excitedly oohing over their beautiful tweeds, yarns and clever range of lovely but practical goods made from them:
Tweed on the looms at Ardalanish- natural wool shades and woad
Ardalanish tweeds
All the colours of the Ardalanish rainbow
Ardalanish Shepherd Plaids
We chose four fabrics from the range, all of which pair their own homegrown Hebridean fleeces with those of silvery-grey Shetland sheep local to the area, and we hope that they highlight the beauty of the Guinness-black Hebrideans as much as we intended… (I should mention that all non-sheep colours in the Ardalanish tweeds are dyed with woad, madder and other plants so you can imagine that I was a bit pressed not to choose any of them!)
Poches in Ardalanish Tweed
Pouch in Silver Diamond Twill
Pouch in Hebridean Tatttersal
Pouch in Silver Keystone
Pouch in Hebridean Dark Herringbone
Rachel and I are so thrilled with how they turned out! For all you folk going to Yarndale, you’ll find them on the Daughter of a Shepherd stand- but if, like me, you’re not going but would really like one, Rachel is keeping a few back and will have them in her shop in early October. And, assuming that they are as well-received as we hope, there will be more- just keep an eye out on our social media and, as always, I’ll announce the next release in my monthly newsletter.
If you are going to Yarndale, have a ball! And please say hello to Rachel and her sheep for me- she is taking her lovely Hebridean spring lambs, Knit and Purl!
