This week’s Last Week on the Web has a bit of a theme: British wool and the state of the industry. Being that I live in the United States and am not directly involved with any yarn production, British or otherwise, I don’t have first-hand experiences to share, but this is a topic that’s been popping up quite a bit lately. It began with the Campaign for Wool, patronized by none other than Prince Charles, five years ago and as such discussions of British wool has come up time and again. The first post in Knits in the News has a little bit of history to it; if you want to read more about the history of knitting and British wool, I highly recommend Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft by Sandy Black.
Knits in the News
British innovators are coming up with new ways to use British wool.
Kate at A Playful Day did a wonderful profile on Blacker Yarns, a company that makes a variety of lovely British-breed yarns.
Kate Davies also did a piece on the people she worked with to create her new yarn line.
Rachel Coopey took at look at John Arbon Textiles.
And I think I forgot to share this earlier, but here’s an incredibly important piece from Rachel Atkinson on the farmer side of the British wool industry. It’s eye-opening.
Off the topic of British wool for a bit, The Guardian finally realized what we knitters have known: pom-pom beanies are all the rage.
In more fashion-y news, CABLE-KNIT NAIL POLISH (ish). Whut.
Julie at Knitted Bliss shared some great holiday decorations to knit. You know you need some projects for Thanksgiving—if nothing else, keeping your hands busy may help you not eat all the pie. (I said “may.”)
Yale defensive lineman (that’s a football thing, if you’re not into sports) took up knitting just to see if he could. I like his spirit. Ignore the incorrect spelling of “purl”—it’s hard, I know, but let’s champion people trying new things.
21 Life Lessons You Learn at a Sheep and Wool Festival. There’s a whole lot of truth in here.
Techniques
I really like the person who wrote this blog and basically knit a whole bunch of giant swatches for SCIENCE. Blocking science, that is.
Patterns
Alexis Winslow, author of the amazing Graphic Knits, just self-published a mini-collection, called Speckle and Stone. It’s gorgeous and I want to make all of the projects.
Moment of Zen
Such a great round up, I’m so impressed with all the cool things people are doing with British wool, and I’m always really excited when a local industry is able to make a comeback. Thanks so much for the shout out, too! 🙂
Thanks Julie! I hope British wool will see a similar revival to some of the North American wool stories we’ve seen lately, and that they can build each other up and help spread the joy of locally sourced wool around the world. Lofty goals, I know!