A growing trend for wool from dedicated flocks

by Ruth Strickley - for The Little Wool Company

Traditionally the idea is that British home grown wool is only any good for carpets. British wool is indeed very strong, with a high micron, but it's also brilliant for tweed and upholstery fabrics. There's more – a particular wool's use tends to depend on the breed it comes from, and where the sheep live.

As you can imagine because of the harsher weather, wool from northern and Scottish sheep breeds produces coarser yarns which are great for tweeds and interior textiles. The sheep living in warmer, dryer places like Dorset and Devon produce finer wool, softer stuff that's less harsh, the ideal for yarn for clothes. No wonder the UK's finest wool comes from the comparatively gentle, warm, calm landscapes where the Blue Faced Leicester breed thrives.

We've been breeding sheep in the UK since 4000BC or maybe even earlier, originally horned brown sheep like today's Soay. Preserved wool from the Bronze Age has been found, and it looks very like Soay wool. You don't spend at least six thousand years with an animal without getting to know it very well, becoming an expert in everything that keeps it happy, fit and healthy. Poorly or unhealthy sheep have poor wool. It takes experience and expertise to breed healthy sheep and keep them that way, and as a nation we've got plenty of that!

Its not all doom and gloom and increasingly British manufacturers are turning to British wool to create their products. One success story is Cherchbi, www.cherbi.co.uk who insist on gorgeous British Herdwick wool from a particular flock, isn't alone in its love for British wool. They also keep their entire supply chain in the UK. As Cherchbi says on its website:

" The Herdwick has a 1,000-year heritage and worthy reputation as Britain's hardiest mountain sheep. Reared primarily for it's specialty meat, the breed has EU protected food name status and appears on menus of many of the country's best restaurants. However the fleece is considered almost worthless and is sometimes burned.

Over four years and nine weave trials this low value fleece was transformed into a high quality cloth. Herdwyck No.10 is a pure wool, it's colour and texture derived from the distinctive Herdwick fleece. It is spun, woven and finished entirely in the British Isles.

The fleece originates in the Cumbrian Lake District and is spun into yarn in Kilcar, County Donegal. The spinning process is slowed giving the yarn greater strength. This is woven into cloth in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Extra picks are added into the loom creating an unusually dense weave. The tweed is sent to Galashiels in the Scottish borders where it undergoes specialist finishing. Finally, in Lancashire, the finished wool tweed is bonded to its cotton lining with a natural rubber core."

Another success story is that of Twool www.twool.co.uk who are based here in the South West.. They started life with the creation of the most lovely garden twine which we sell here. However it is almost too lovely to use and many people buy it for other crafting purposes. They have now expanded and produce a range of clothing and dog leads and beds. The purchase of their products protects the endangered Cornish flocks so it is worthwhile to purchase something that is not only beautiful but sustainable too.

As well as our own Shetland flock we sell the most deliciously soft, gorgeous alpaca wool and yarn, 100% British from the field to our shop. If you fancy knitting something lush, it's perfect! Technically its called yarn as only sheep products should be classed as wool but its lovely nevertheless. Did you know that as well as the yarn I have a range of alpacas socks and bedding. Nothing goes to waste. Any fibre that is too short for the processing is sold as bird nesting fibre for the garden and the brids love it too and make the most exquisite little nests with it.