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 […]

Book Excerpt: Raw Material: Working Wool in the West, by Stephany Wilkes

Raw Material: Working Wool in the West takes readers through the state of American wool as we follow author Stephany Wilkes through the process of becoming a certified sheep shearer. Along the way, we meet people along the wool supply chain and learn about the challenges faced by wool growers and processors. Alternating between humor, […]

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 […]

Portland Sheep and Why I Love Them

There are said to be around 90 different breeds of sheep in the UK and, from all these, when we started keeping sheep five years ago we chose Portland. Portland are a very old breed and were likely already in the UK when the Romans invaded in AD 43. They take their name from the […]