Category Archives: Hebridean Woolshed

 

Seasonal Knitting

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Denise >

Here’s some seasonal knitting in my work-bag : a couple of Shetland Lace Scarves. As fast as I’m knitting them, you’re buying them!  They’re approximately 120cm long by 22cm wide, and very very light. The yarn is 100% Fine Merino, hand-spun by me with a ‘random’ selection of pre-coloured ‘tops’.

The Hebridean Woolshed : Shetland Lace Scarf
The Hebridean Woolshed : Shetland Lace Scarf

The price is £78.00 for either. Check our Hebridean Woolshed page for p+p charges.

To buy, email me to check availability. I can send an electronic invoice for secure payment by card.

 

Lockdown ‘Leisure’

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The difference in tone between the Hebridean hat and Hebridean mitten is not a trick of the light/camera : it is real.  The hat is a special because it’s made with the very finest Hebridean lambswool spun true worsted. Not apparent from a photo is that it is smoother, softer and more supple than the usual woolen-spun lambswool, and even slightly lustrous.

This yarn comes from one of the very first batches of mill-spun wool from our flock, when we sent to a small mill that specialized in worsted spinning. It was very expensive and we had to wait almost a year to get it back from them, so we’ve not made that choice again!  We’re holding this yarn back for special orders…

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BLF + Merino

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Jonathan >

I’m spinning a 4-ply yarn with just 2-strands.  That’s because there is a weight/thickness that, in the UK, is known as 4-ply, and which is somewhat thinner/lighter than Doubleknit (aka DK).  I’m spinning one strand with my own selection of pre-coloured Merino tops. The other strand is from a naturally oatmeal-coloured Blue-Faced Leicester.

The Hebridean Woolshed : Merino
Merino (coloured) and Blue-faced Leicester (natural oatmeal)

 

 

Shetland and Flax

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These two skeins were handspun with equal measures of Flax (in a natural creamy white) and Shetland wool (a natural peaty brown).  The Shetland is fine and soft – like the Merino, but has the fine crimp that traps air and makes the yarn and garments made with it ‘springy’ and warm.  The Flax, spun in a semi-worsted fashion, is smooth and slippy, and contributes to the finished yarn an easy drape, resilience, and a measure of sheen. It’s a great combination for a scarf.

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Re-opened!

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J & D > We’re Open! And we’ve a new look, too! This year, the stock in our shop is hand-made to an even greater degree than previously.  Scarves, for example : they’ve always been hand-woven (by Denise), of course, but now more of them are woven with hand-spun yarn, rather than mill-spun ; and there’s more of such yarns that are hand-coloured with plant-based dyes.

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Re-opening

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J & D > As of yesterday, the 29th June, in Scotland, non-essential shops accessible directly from the street have been permitted to re-open. However, it’s on the 3rd of July – just three days away! – that restrictions on travel in Scotland will be lifted (including restrictions on the ferries) and completely self-contained self-catering holiday accommodation can re-open.

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Liquidation Installation

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It could be a garden-related art installation : in which case the mass of plastic pots congesting the garden paths would be nicely symbolic of the massive accumulation of pots of various colours, shapes and sizes in the work-shed, upstairs in the storage loft. But if this is symbolic of anything, it’s of the need to liquidate assets in a time of crisis.

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Sweet Gale

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D > J and I have recently been collecting some early Bog Myrtle [aka Sweet Gale] leaves from the Eiseabhal common grazings just up the lane – there are vast areas of it there.  I’ve been in the dyeshed making some colour with four types of mordant.

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Phormium – Fast or …

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J & D > It was back in 2017 that we first made use of material from our Phormium plants [Phormium Tenax – New Zealand Flax] for dyeing wool. The results were impressive – as regards quantity of material available, yield of colour, usefulness of colour, ease of use, and – if tentatively, the all-important colour-fastness, too. But we weren’t sure, then, which part of the plant contained the greatest concentration of colour.

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