The Amazing Benefits of Wool

An informative project in collaboration with local illustrator Julie Dennison Hi, I’m Terri, a knitwear designer under the name Terri Laura, but I’m also a Shetlander who grew up on a family croft. Then I got married and moved 30 minutes further north on a croft with a family of my own. Wool in its […]

Preserving a Heritage Craft: The ShetlandPeerieMakkers

Do you remember who taught you to knit? It’s an interesting question, many of us remember an older relative constantly knitting in our youth and at some point, we must have shown an interest and been taught how to form knits and purls. Shetland has a long tradition of knitting, mostly for trade as the […]

Learning from History

As a lifelong lover of natural fibres and hand crafts, it’s hardly surprising that I should find myself living in Wales and becoming fascinated with its textile history. Wales is a land of mountains, hills and rivers. In many places it is populated more densely with sheep than with humans, for over a thousand years […]

Shetland: A Unique Place with a Unique Language

Language and place are intimately connected. A community and its culture grows and evolves in and with its environment – its collective experiences, knowledge, history and identity are all embodied in its language. In short: language is the breath of a culture. The Shetland archipelago is located in the middle of nowhere, smack in the […]

Travelogue: British Wool Machine Shearing Course at Fernhill Farm

At dusk, as I trundled down a leafy lane near Cheddar Gorge, I was excited to turn into Fernhill Farm to get some sleep in a refurbished Claas Forage wagon before starting a British Wool 2-day Machine shearing course. Motivation The British Wool website hosted shearing courses at various locations so I booked the course […]